Strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries is super easy to make. This cakey cobbler combines the best parts of cakes and pies into one. If you are looking for the perfect summer dessert that you can enjoy at any time of the year, keep reading.
Easy Strawberry Cobbler with Frozen Strawberries
Can You Use Frozen Berries in Cobbler?
Although many cobbler recipes use fresh fruit, as a chef I recommend that most people use frozen fruit. Since fresh fruit has to travel the long distance from field to consumer fairly quickly, it is often picked before it is fully ripe and has reached its nutritional peak. However, frozen fruit is frozen soon after harvesting, so growers can let the fruit fully ripen on the plant, giving Mother Nature more time to pack nutrients into the fruit.
In fact, according to a Health.com article,
“…in two out of three cases, frozen fruits and veggies packed higher levels of antioxidants, including polyphenols, anthocyanins, lutein, and beta-carotene.”
With more nutrients and more time to ripen, frozen fruit can sometimes be more flavorful than fresh fruit. The next time you want to buy strawberries, buy a bag of frozen and a carton of fresh. Unless you live near a farm or a farmer’s market, most consumers in the United States will likely find the frozen strawberries to be juicier and more flavorful.
Considering that frozen berries are more nutritious, tastier, and often more affordable than fresh ones, I recommend them for baking. However, if you have access to truly fresh, local, homegrown fruit, then by all means use that. Most do not, so frozen fruit is the best option. In addition, frozen fruit is more convenient since it is already washed and chopped. If you want to make a homemade blueberry pie or blackberry cobbler, using frozen fruit cuts out a lot of the prep work.
Cakey Strawberry Cobbler with Frozen Strawberries
Although my homemade crust is part of the reason why my strawberry pie recipe is delicious, I decided to do something different with my cobbler. Instead of a pie crust, I wanted a cakey crust. A fluffy, cakey strawberry cobbler is a completely different experience than a pie. The cakey layer absorbs some of the syrup from the fruit filling, making it moist, tender, flavorful, and sweet.
Cake cobbler recipes from chefs such as Paula Deen are plentiful, but I have never seen a cakey strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries. I wanted to help other home cooks make a delicious dessert, so I set out to develop a recipe.
Strawberry Cobbler Recipe Development
The first step in making strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries is preparing the fruit filling. Frozen strawberries are already washed, hulled, and chopped, so all I had to do was defrost them.
I could have followed my recipe for strawberry pie almost exactly, I decided to change the filling a bit. In my opinion, it does not make sense to make two desserts that taste almost identically. So, after defrosting the berries, I added sugar and lemon juice just like the pie. However, this time I also added lemon zest, cinnamon, and a bit of strawberry extract.
Although many people may skip the lemon juice in this recipe, I highly recommend that you do not. The first time that I made a strawberry pie, I did not add any lemon juice. While it was good, it was honestly a bit unremarkable. After researching recipes a bit more, I decided to add some lemon juice, and the second pie was absolutely outstanding. Lemon juice brings out the flavor in cooked berries, so whenever making a pie, cobbler, or jam, add some lemon.
The lemon zest added even more lemon flavor, and the cinnamon was an idea I got after researching other recipes online, too. I liked the lemon and cinnamon in my Argentine rice pudding recipe, so I used it in this, too.
Out of all of the ingredients, I feel that the strawberry extract was likely the least necessary. The frozen berries were already very flavorful, but I wanted to experiment a bit. However, like I said, I am sure this dessert would be great without it.
Once the filling was ready, I turned my attention to the cakey crust. Most cake cobbler recipes call for self-rising flour, so use it if you have it. I only had all-purpose flour, so I added a bit of baking powder and salt to mine. Although I used skim milk to make the crust batter, I am sure that you could use whole milk as well. In fact, at some point in the future, I want to see how buttermilk works, too.
The recipe starts by melting some butter in an 8×8 casserole dish. I melted the butter in the microwave, but many people also put the butter in the pan and then melt the butter in the oven. However, if you melt the butter in the oven, make sure that you do not let it burn.
Cake Cobblers: Do Not Mix!
The most important thing to remember when making this recipe is actually counterintuitive: do not mix. Once the butter was melted, I mixed the batter and poured it into the dish, remembering not to mix. I then spooned in the strawberry filling, attempting to distribute the fruit evenly in the dish without mixing the strawberries into the batter. Although most people would want to mix everything together, you must resist the temptation. If you do, you will likely ruin this recipe.
Even though it looked incomplete, I put the cobbler into the oven. I knew that once inside the oven, magic would happen.
The melted butter mixed into the liquid batter on its own and the baking powder created lift, causing the cakey crust to rise up and around the strawberries. This caused two layers, a cakey crust and a fruit filling, to form on their own without any stirring. Since all you have to do is “dump” the ingredients into the baking dish, this dump cake style cakey strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries is definitely easy to make.
Strawberry Cobbler with Frozen Strawberries Recipe Review
Once the cobbler was done baking, I let it cool a bit before digging in. As I had predicted, the cakey crust layer had formed on its own around the fruit. The crust in the center of the cobbler was covered in the fruity syrup, but the cake layer had managed to puff up around the edges to become golden brown and slightly crispy. Although pies should cool completely before serving to ensure that the juices have enough time to solidify, I went ahead and cut this cobbler while it was still a bit warm since cobblers are supposed to be on the juicy side.
This cakey strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries was easy to make and delicious to eat. The berries were soft but not mushy, the natural juices mixing with the sugar to create a deliciously sweet syrup. Although I can’t say for sure if I could taste the strawberry extract or cinnamon, the hint of lemon in the background was very pleasant and accentuated the berry flavor.
The cakey crust was sweet but not too sweet, the bottom absorbing some of the strawberry syrup. The texture of the cakey crust was fluffy and delightful, reminiscent of angel food cake. I also liked that it wasn’t overly sweet, so even though it was spectacular on its own, a scoop of ice cream would make it too sweet. That makes this cobbler perfect for a crowd.
I normally prefer pie crust cobblers, but this cakey strawberry cobbler with frozen strawberries was better than I expected. Strawberries are in season in spring and summer, so this cobbler would be perfect for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or the 4th of July. However, since this recipe uses frozen berries, you can make this at any time of the year. With its bright red color, it would be perfect for Christmas.
If you are looking for an easy spring or summer fruit recipe that does not recipe rolling out pie dough, definitely give this recipe a try.
Strawberry Cobbler with Frozen Strawberries Recipes
Strawberry Cobbler with Frozen Strawberries
Notes
Instead of lemon zest, you can use up to 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
The strawberry extract may be omitted without adversely affecting the recipe.
If you have self-rising flour, use 1/2 cup and omit the baking powder and salt
This recipe uses a total of 1 cup of white sugar: 1/2 cup with fruit, 1/2 cup in crust
Ingredients
- Filling:
- 16 oz frozen strawberries, defrosted (454 grams)
- 1/2 cup white sugar (105g)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- just under 1 teaspoon lemon zest (3/4 teaspoon)
- **HOWEVER: feel free to use up to 1 teaspoon or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract instead
- 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
- Crust;
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (75g)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- **HOWEVER: if you have self-rising flour, use 1/2 cup of self-rising flour and omit the baking powder and salt
- 1/2 cup sugar (105g)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons butter (half stick of butter)
Instructions
- Thaw strawberries and add extracts, lemon juice, lemon extract, and sugar
- Melt butter in 8×8 baking dish
- Once butter is melted, mix together ingredients for crust and pour into dish with melted butter, without stirring.
- Once batter is poured into the pan, spoon in strawberry filling mixture, trying to evenly distribute the berries throughout the dish without stirring
- Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes
- Cool for at least 15-20 minutes, if not 35-40 minutes, before serving
YouTube Video
Be sure to watch my YouTube video tutorial:
Links
https://www.health.com/nutrition/reasons-nutritionist-buys-frozen-fruits-veggies
