On my way home from class this morning I made my routine stop at the grocery store to pick up a few edibles, and upon seeing the cherries available I found myself placing a bunch into my basket, even though I don’t particularly enjoy eating cherries. Don’t get me wrong – they’re good, but they’re not something that I actively seek out.
Today that mindset may have changed.
I wanted something to do with the cherries, but was unsure of how to proceed. The thought of making a crust made me want to cry, ruling out a pie or a galette or anything flaky. Cupcakes seemed inappropriate for the produce at hand, and I don’t have an ice cream maker, leaving a crisp as a perfect summertime option.
Unfortunately, I don’t own a pitter, so the pitting was done by hand with a toothpick, and took one entire episode of The Wire to complete. They didn’t look pretty at all, as it was my first pitting experience, but they definitely did the trick.
I added amaretto almost as an afterthought, and had I thought of it before mixing the cherries with sugar, would have certainly cut down on the amount of sugar used, but Jeff seemed to enjoy it regardless.
For the crust I elected to use pecans because it was what we had on hand. Almonds would definitely be every bit as good, and I’d venture to say that walnuts would be a tasty addition, too. Instead of cutting the butter into the other ingredients (which I really hate, thus the extreme disdain for making pie crusts) I elected to to use the food processor on my handheld blender. It worked pretty well, although I should have probably made a touch more than I did.
Cherry Amaretto Crisp
serves 5 – 6
Ingredients
330 g (12 ounces) cherries, washed and pitted
1/3 cup sugar (1/4 cup is probably adequate, possibly less)
1/5 tablespoons flour
1 liberal tablespoon amaretto
50 g (3 and 1/2 tablespoons, or just under 1/2 a stick) butter
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/5 cup whole pecans
Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and butter loaf pan. Wash and pit cherries. Mix with sugar, flour, and amaretto in a large bowl. Pour cherry mixture into pan and set aside.
In a food processor place butter, oats, brown sugar, and pecans and pulse until combined. Spoon over cherry mixture and cook in oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cherry liquid is bubbling through.
Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes and enjoy.
