Cherry Crisp

We have really nice landlords, and this fact was reiterated recently when they returned home from a trip out to British Columbia to visit family bearing a big box of freshly picked cherries for us.  Cherries do not grow in Florida where I’m from.  They do grow in western Washington where I lived for several years, but I wasn’t blessed enough to live in a house with a cherry tree in the backyard.  So cherries, for me, have always been something bought at the store and quickly gobbled up fresh.

Imagine my excitement at now having all these cherries and plenty enough to bake something with.  I was actually going to try using my peach cobbler recipe, using cherries instead.  But when Jay’s eyes lit up at the mere mention of those two words, “peach cobbler”, I decided I’d save the cobbler for when I have peaches, and find something else to do with the cherries.  I found this recipe on the Cooking Light website,  and it was delicious!  Especially with a scoop of ice cream.  If you have lots of fresh cherries on hand, I definitely recommend giving this recipe a try.

Cherry Crisp

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 6 cups fresh sweet cherries (about 2 lbs)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 Tb lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp salt

Topping:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 Tb cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cups slivered almonds (I used pecans)

Directions:

Combine all the filling ingredients.  Pour into a greased baking dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt.  Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.  Stir in the nuts.  Sprinkle over the cherry filling.

Bake at 375F for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown.