I love fruit crisp of any kind (my mom’s peach crisp is my favorite) and I come by it honestly: My dad’s favorite dessert is fruit crisp. So when he and his sweet wife Patsy came over for dinner a couple of months ago (the dinner is chronicled on this Saturday’s episode of my Food Network show) I made these yummy cherry almond crisps in individual ramekins.
My dad loved them.
The kids loved them.
Marlboro Man loved them.
Patsy and I loved them.
And the family was happy.
The lovely thing about fruit crisps is that you can use the basic recipe with any fruit you want: peaches, pears, apples, berries, cherries. And while I’d normally make a crisp in one big baking dish, the ramekins can be really nice because everyone’s dessert is self-contained and you’re not having to scoop out big, messy portions from a big ol’ dish. Not that there’s anything wrong with big, messy portions from a big ol’ dish. That pretty much describes everything I cook. But still.
I made the crisps again three or so weeks ago, just before I left on my book trip. The light was strange and so was my brain, so excuse the small handful of process shots I missed.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: My brain is a highly imperfect place.
The Cast of Characters: frozen cherries, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornstarch, almond extract, slivered almonds, and whipped cream for serving (though I wound up grabbing the vanilla ice cream.)
Start by making the crisp topping: Combine flour and sugar…
With brown sugar…
Cinnamon…
Nice pruny fingertips, Ree! You should be very proud.
Nutmeg…
And a teeny dash of salt.
Stir it all together to combine…
Then add a stick-and-a-half of butter cut in pieces.
And then—this is really important—use a pastry cutter to combine the flour mixture and the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. But the really important part is that you MUST forget to take a photo of this step.
That element is essential if you want to duplicate my process.
(Sorry. Airhead here.)
After you’ve cut the butter and flour mixture together, pour in a good half cup (more if you’d like) of slivered almonds, which are perfectly perfect in the crisp topping. They add crunch and flavor, and they also lightly toast while the crisps are baking and…oh, yum. That’s all I can say.
Stir them around, then set this aside for a minute.
Next, pour the frozen-hard cherries into a big bowl. Note that because I dragged my feet and was cooking some other things at the same time that day, I let the cherries thaw a little too much before mixing them. But the recipe works so much better when you work with totally frozen cherries!
In other words, don’t be like me.
Also add some cornstarch. They’ll give the cherries a little substance as they bake and will create a nice thick syrup (without being gloopy or overly cornstarchy).
Finally, add some almond extract, which absolutely catapults the cherry crisps into the stratosphere of deliciousness. Seriously. If you leave out the almond extract, you’ll never, ever forgive yourself.
Ever.
Have I mentioned it’s important not to forget the almond extract?
Toss the cherries around to coat them in the other ingredients. If your cherries are frozen like they should be (mine aren’t) the other ingredients stick to the cherries and there’s no juice at all. The juice happens in the oven.
It’s groovy.
Fill ramekins or small baking dishes with an equal amount of cherries…
Then top the ramekins with plenty of the crisp topping.
It’ll look like a lot, but it really does shrink/settle as the crisps bake and you want to have plenty of crust on top to compete with all the juicy cherries below.
After that, just place ’em on a baking sheet and bake ’em at 350 for at least 40 to 45 minutes, checking on them to make sure the top isn’t burning. Keep baking ’em until the top is golden and crisp and divine.
Oh, and this is important: Forget to take a photo of the crisps when they come out of the oven.
Of course, I’d never forget the ice cream shot. I’ve never forgotten an ice cream shot in my life.
I have no idea what that means.
I was off my photo rocker the day I made these. I think I was so interested in sinking my teeth into the crisp that the photo taking became secondary in importance.
Ah—finally! A shot of the crisp. It’s a little messy and gooey…but that’s actually a good thing.
Yum.
You will love these, guys. Frozen cherries work so well, and the almond extract—not to mention the almonds in the crisp topping—make life worth living. I’ve eaten them with both ice cream and whipped cream, and I truly can’t decide which way I prefer. Both options are totally divine. I think I’ll serve them with both next time, just to settle the matter once and for all.
Enjoy!
