Cherry Crumble or Crisp for Canada Day
I slept in on Canada Day and decided to take it easy cooking wise, by eating out of the fridge and freezer. Kale and Italian sausage soup with corn and green onion fritters and a corn dog really hit the spot for supper. (I bet you noticed that the vegetable portion of the meal is lacking. Never fear, I had a salad later.)
And then came dessert.
There are two kinds of ice cream in my freezer, but that seemed too simple, especially since I'd made no effort for the rest of the meal.
I have half a dozen peaches and half a bag of cherries in my fruit crisper. The peaches are destined for either ice cream or sorbet, in the coming week, so that left only the cherries to work with. I debated between making a classic cherry clafouti or a crumble/crisp and finally settled on the latter.
After removing the stems, washing and pitting/stoning the cherries, I measured how many cups I had ... 4 cups. Since I only need 2 cups of cherries for the crumble, I can still make the clafouti later this week. Or I can just throw the pitted cherries in the freezer and put off the decision for a while longer.
Cherry Crumble with French Vanilla Ice Cream
Fresh Cherry Crumble/Crisp - makes 4 regular or 6 small servings
For cherry mixture:
2 cups pitted, fresh cherries
2 tbsp sugar (this will produce a mildly sweet crumble)**
squeeze lemon juice
4 tbsp water
1 tsp cornstarch
For crumble topping:
3/4 cup flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted plus more to butter baking dish
** You may be tempted, as I was, to increase the sugar to 3 tbsp, however, I found that when combined with the topping, the result was a bit sweeter than I expected. If you serve it with ice cream you may find it to be too sweet.
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Lightly butter a baking dish.
To make the crumble topping, combine the flour, brown and white sugars, cinnamon and salt together. Mix well. Then pour in the melted butter. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it forms a crumbly mixture.
Place the pitted cherries, lemon juice and sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring the mixture gently at the beginning before the cherries release their liquid, for about 4 minutes or until the cherries are lightly softened. Mix together the cornstarch and water and add it to the cherries. Cook for about 1 minute or until the mixture thickens.
Turn the cherry mixture in your buttered baking dish.
Place the crumble topping on top ...
... and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the topping has lightly browned.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
Most of the liquid in the cherry filling mixture is absorbed by the crumble.
And then came dessert.
There are two kinds of ice cream in my freezer, but that seemed too simple, especially since I'd made no effort for the rest of the meal.
I have half a dozen peaches and half a bag of cherries in my fruit crisper. The peaches are destined for either ice cream or sorbet, in the coming week, so that left only the cherries to work with. I debated between making a classic cherry clafouti or a crumble/crisp and finally settled on the latter.
After removing the stems, washing and pitting/stoning the cherries, I measured how many cups I had ... 4 cups. Since I only need 2 cups of cherries for the crumble, I can still make the clafouti later this week. Or I can just throw the pitted cherries in the freezer and put off the decision for a while longer.
Cherry Crumble with French Vanilla Ice Cream
Fresh Cherry Crumble/Crisp - makes 4 regular or 6 small servings
For cherry mixture:
2 cups pitted, fresh cherries
2 tbsp sugar (this will produce a mildly sweet crumble)**
squeeze lemon juice
4 tbsp water
1 tsp cornstarch
For crumble topping:
3/4 cup flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted plus more to butter baking dish
** You may be tempted, as I was, to increase the sugar to 3 tbsp, however, I found that when combined with the topping, the result was a bit sweeter than I expected. If you serve it with ice cream you may find it to be too sweet.
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Lightly butter a baking dish.
To make the crumble topping, combine the flour, brown and white sugars, cinnamon and salt together. Mix well. Then pour in the melted butter. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it forms a crumbly mixture.
Place the pitted cherries, lemon juice and sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring the mixture gently at the beginning before the cherries release their liquid, for about 4 minutes or until the cherries are lightly softened. Mix together the cornstarch and water and add it to the cherries. Cook for about 1 minute or until the mixture thickens.
Turn the cherry mixture in your buttered baking dish.
Place the crumble topping on top ...
... and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the topping has lightly browned.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
Most of the liquid in the cherry filling mixture is absorbed by the crumble.