Tart Cherry Crisp

It's cherry season here where we live.  This week I was lucky enough to get 2 bags of fresh picked "Pie Cherries" from my friend's tree.  As I was deciding what to make...cherry pie, cherry cobbler, cherry rolls, or cherry bread, (of course my husband always votes for the cherry rolls), I knew that I had to at least freeze half or more for later use.
Finally, I decided to do a quick and easy tart cherry crisp, for dinner dessert.  Let me show you.

You will need:
4 cups pitted tart cherries
2 Tabs. sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teas. nutmeg
1 1/2 teas cinnamon
1/4 teas salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Wash, pit and place 4 cups tart cherries in a 9-inch pie plate.

This is the hardest part of the whole recipe, (cleaning and pitting the cherries), but once you have this done, it's all downhill from here.


Note:  if you don't have fresh tart cherries, you can always substitute 2 cans, (14 1/2 ounces) of pitted cherries from your grocery store).

Sprinkle the top of the cherries with
sugar
only 1/2 teas. ground cinnamon
only 1/2 teas. ground nutmeg

In a small bowl combine
flour
brown sugar
remaining 1 teas. ground cinnamon
remaining1/2 teas ground nutmeg
salt

Add in the cubed butter, and cut into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

 Your crumble topping will look like this.

Sprinkle crumb mixture over top of the cherries.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the top is bubbly, and nicely browned.

Allow to cool for a few minutes.  Then you can serve it warm or at room temperature.

If you are a purist, (like I am), I love to eat it plain.

The cherries are slightly sweet, but not overly sweet.  The crumble has a nice flavor, due to the addition of just a small amount of spices.  So good, and summery.

My family like to top their crisp with a couple scoops of ice cream.  And they like their crisp warm, so the ice cream will melt down over the crisp.  Also, very favorable.

Try to get your hands on some tart cherries, and give this recipe a try.


Enjoy.