Southern Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream

This post was created as in partnership with Imperial Sugar. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

My Southern Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream is inspired by the popular Blue Bell version so we can enjoy this seasonal flavor all year round! It’s got a creamy vanilla custard ice cream base swirled with a blackberry sauce and plenty of sweet biscuit chunks.

Blackberries are one of our favorite berries and we look forward to blackberry picking at a nearby U-pick farm each year! Be sure to check out these other reader favorite blackberry recipes like Easy Blackberry Turnovers, Homemade Blackberry Lemonade, and Classic Homemade Blackberry Pie.

Blue Bell Copycat Southern Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream

It’s summer and that means lots of homemade ice cream! And fresh blackberries! And cobblers! This popular ice cream flavor was created by Blue Bell and it’s so delicious! But it’s not always easy to find, so why not make your own?

I love ice cream recipes with plenty of interesting mix-ins for both flavor and texture. There are so many fun ways to get creative! You could make this same ice cream with a raspberry, cherry, blueberry, or peach swirl instead just subbing out the blackberries for another type of fruit and it would be amazing.

Making ice cream is pretty easy if you have an ice cream maker with the kind of bowls that stay in the freezer until you are ready to use them. I highly recommend buying an extra bowl so you can always make two batches or have one bowl ready to go whenever the craving strikes for a batch of fresh, homemade ice cream!

Or sandwich it between two chocolate cookies for homemade ice cream sandwiches. You can even go the extra mile and dip part of the ice cream sandwiches in melted dark, milk, or white chocolate, then freeze for a gourmet-level treat. We visited a place in New Zealand that served ice cream that way – you select the flavor and they dip it for you – and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted!

Unlike many of my other ice cream recipes that use a custard base made with egg yolks, this one uses cream cheese, corn starch, and corn syrup to achieve the same result. It isn’t really a cheesecake base, but it does have a wonderful texture and richness to it that pairs beautifully with the bright, sweet-tartness of the blackberry swirl.

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Recipe Ingredients

There are three parts to this recipe, but don’t let that stop you from making it! Each of the elements come together pretty quickly and easily.

Vanilla Base

• Heavy cream & milk: The combination of the two give just the right balance of fat for an ultra-creamy mouthfeel.
• Sugar: This is a sweet cream ice cream base and the amount of sugar is just right so the ice cream isn’t overly sweet.
• Cornstarch: This ingredient helps thicken the custard base slightly in the same way that egg yolks typically would.
• Cream cheese: The cream cheese is less for flavor in this base, though it does add depth, and more about scoopability.
• Corn syrup: This helps prevent ice crystals from forming as quickly in the ice cream.
• Salt: To balance out the sweetness.
• Vanilla extract: Can’t make a vanilla base without some good quality vanilla extract, right?

Blackberry Swirl

• Blackberries: Fresh or frozen work just fine, although we tend to make this flavor in the summer when blackberries are at their peak. No need to thaw first if using frozen.
• Sugar: The sugar helps break down the blackberries and draw out their juices while also sweetening the sauce that gets swirled into the ice cream base.
• Cornstarch: This helps give just the right amount of thickness to the sauce so you aren’t just adding blackberry juice to an ice cream base.
• Water: Just to help get things going in the saucepan.

Biscuits

• All-purpose flour: Regular white flour makes the basis of these biscuits.
• Sugar: While the biscuits add a buttery element to balance the other parts of the ice cream, they should still be a little sweet.
• Butter: A little buttery makes these easy biscuit crumbles just like regular biscuit pieces.
• Egg: This helps bind the biscuit dough.
• Milk: Regular milk works just fine, although you could use buttermilk if you like.
• Baking powder and salt: To lift and flavor the biscuits.
• Vanilla extract: While this isn’t a typical biscuit ingredient, I like adding it to these sweet biscuits to tie the ice cream flavors together.

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Let’s Make Southern Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream!

Make the blackberry sauce

Start by mixing the berries, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan, then add the water and heat over medium heat until the berries release their juices and break down. The sauce will thicken slightly in about 6-8 minutes.

Press the berries through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove the blackberry seeds, then discard the seeds and cool the berry sauce completely and chill in the fridge while working on the other elements of the ice cream.

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Make the biscuits

To make these unfussy biscuits, start by combining the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter in using a pastry cutter until it resembles crumbs or the size of peas. You could also do this part in a food processor (affiliate link) to make things easier.

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Beat the egg, milk, and vanilla in another bowl, then add to the flour mixture and stir together until evenly moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 15-16 minutes until lightly browned and done, then cool completely and break into chunks.

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Make the ice cream base

To make the ice cream base, combine the cream, most of the milk, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with the remaining milk to make a slurry and set it to the side.

Let the cream mixture come to a boil and cook it for 4 minutes, watching it carefully to make sure it doesn’t spill over. You might need to decrease the heat a bit. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and cook another 2 minutes, stirring pretty much constantly but gently.

Remove from the heat and pour about ¼ cup of the hot cream mixture over the cream cheese in a large bowl. Whisk these together until smooth. Add the remaining cream mixture and stir in the vanilla extract. Set the bowl into an ice water bath to cool quickly, stirring occasionally, or stick the bowl in the fridge to cool completely for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Churning the ice cream

When your ice cream base is cold, pour it into the bowl of a frozen ice cream maker and insert the dash. Churn for 20-30 minutes until the consistency of soft serve. When there are just 2-3 minutes left, add about half of the broken chunks of biscuit to the ice cream and let them mix in. Add as many of the remaining biscuit pieces as you like, then turn off the machine. I like to reserve some of the biscuit pieces for sprinkling on top.

Transfer about half of the ice cream to a bread pan or other freezer-safe container. Pour half of the blackberry sauce on top, then add the remaining ice cream. Top with the remaining blackberry sauce and swirl gently with a knife. Sprinkle with any reserved biscuit pieces, if desired, then cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 4-6 hours to harden completely.

You can find the FULL RECIPE on Imperial Sugar’s site.

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Recipe Tips

• Storage: This ice cream uses real, fresh ingredients so it doesn’t store as long as most store-bought ice cream. But as long as you keep it in a freezer-safe container with a lid on it and a piece of plastic wrap pressed on the top, it should be good for at least a week before it starts to get icy.
• Easy to scoop: I recommend letting the ice cream sit out of the freezer for 5-10 minutes before scooping. Not only does it make the ice cream easier to scoop, but letting the temperature of the ice cream come up a little bit actually gives it more flavor. It’s why Italian gelato, which is served at a slightly warmer temperature than typical American ice cream, is so delicious.

Be sure to stop by Imperial Sugar’s site for the FULL RECIPE! I have partnered with them now for a few years and love their products for my baking needs!

More Ice Cream Recipes

• Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
• Tutti-Frutti Ice Cream
• Fresh Lemon Ice Cream
• Old-Fashioned Fresh Peach Ice Cream
• Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream
• Coconut Macadamia Nut Ice Cream