A golden, nutty, and buttery biscuit topping flecked with oats graces the top of this vegan berry cobbler recipe. The berries are just sweet enough and soften well in their juices with a hint of vanilla and lemon. With a couple scoops of cool and creamy vegan vanilla ice cream, this is an ideal summer dessert.

Summer fruit desserts are my favourite! I’m not the best baker, but a quick vegan berry dessert? I can do that. This home-y dessert is impressive, but super simple to throw together. The luscious flavour of seasonal berries does a lot of heavy lifting here! My vegan cobbler topping (plus extra vanilla ice cream) handles the rest.

I mix the berry filling in the baking dish for total ease. Arrowroot starch gives us some thickening power, add some cane sugar for sweetness to taste, vanilla, and a kiss of lemon or balsamic vinegar if you’re feeling adventurous!

What is a cobbler exactly?

• In the realm of simple fruit desserts, there are cobblers, crisps, crumbles, buckles, pies, betties, and I’m sure lots more.
• What differentiates a cobbler from a crisp is the biscuit-style topping. Crisps typically veer towards a loose and buttery oat mixture for topping.
• Cobbler refers to the “cobbled” appearance of the spooned/dropped biscuit portions on top.
• My cobbler “crust” mixture is made up of whole and light spelt flours, cane sugar, rolled oats, vegan butter, diy vegan buttermilk, baking powder, and salt.

To keep the vegan berry cobbler topping from getting soggy, I work with really cold vegan butter and give the portioned biscuits a little chill time before placing on top of the fruit filling and baking. In these photos, I used mostly strawberries as my filling, which tend to be juicier than other berries. The biscuits held up well–firm, golden, and with a little crunch on top.

I have lots of tips and suggestions for flour substitutions in the recipe notes! I hope that you get a chance to try this recipe soon. The farmers market berries are calling :)

Easy Vegan Berry Cobbler

My easy vegan berry cobbler features a buttery oat and spelt biscuit topping and juicy, tangy berries with the added warmth of vanilla. Top with vegan vanilla ice cream for the perfect healthy-ish summer dessert.

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 35 minutes mins

Total Time: 55 minutes mins

Servings 6 -8

Ingredients

Cobbler Topping

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• scant ½ cup non-dairy milk (I prefer soy here)
• 1 cup light spelt flour
• ½ cup whole spelt flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ cup vegan butter, very cold and cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup cane sugar
• ½ cup rolled oats

Berry Cobbler Filling

• 800 grams mixed berries (about 5 cups total–see notes)
• ¼ cup cane sugar, or more to taste (see notes)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

For Serving

• vegan vanilla ice cream

Notes

• I have not tested a gluten-free version of this recipe. If I was attempting to do so, I would ensure that my oats were certified GF, and I would replace the light spelt and whole spelt flours with 1 ½ cups GF all purpose flour (such as Pamela’s or King Arthur).
• White whole wheat flour and 100% whole wheat flour will sub for the light spelt and whole spelt flours. You could also use all light spelt or all white whole wheat!
• Strawberries and raspberries are much juicier than blueberries or blackberries! I like to use blueberries and blackberries for at least a third of the total amount for this reason.
• I chop strawberries in half for this recipe.
• You can use frozen berries! Don’t thaw them. Just drop them into the dish and stir with the other filling ingredients.
• If you like your cobbler sweet, I would go to ⅓ – ½ cup cane sugar in the filling.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350. Grab a baking dish that can hold 1.2 litres (5 cups).
• Make the cobbler topping. In a measuring cup, combine the lemon juice and soy milk. Give it a little stir and set aside for 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine the light spelt flour, whole spelt flour, baking powder, salt, and cold vegan butter. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, work the vegan butter into the flour until you have a meal-y, wet sand-like texture. Stir in the sugar and rolled oats, and then add the curdled soy milk mixture. Bring the dough together with a spatula until just combined.
• Portion the dough out into 10 balls and flatten them slightly. Place them back in the bowl and refrigerate while you make the filling.
• Make the fruit filling. In the baking dish, combine the berries, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and arrowroot powder. Stir to combine and then spread it out evenly in the dish.
• Retrieve the portions of topping from the fridge and place them on top of the filling. Slide the baking dish into the oven and bake until biscuit topping is golden brown on some edges and the berry filling is bubbly and juicy, about 30-35 minutes.
• Let the cobbler cool for at least 20 minutes before serving with ice cream.

Author: Laura Wright

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Keyword: 10 ingredients, balsamic vinegar, blackberries, blueberries, cane sugar, lemon, lemon juice, light spelt flour, non-dairy milk, oats, raspberries, rolled oats, spelt flour, spring, strawberry, summer, vanilla, vegan butter, vegan buttermilk, white whole wheat flour