Making Cast Iron Cherry Almond Crumble

I love cherries, and late spring/early summer is the season. Every store has them now. I typically buy quite a few to eat, bake and freeze.

I wasted a simple dessert today, something easier than a pie. So I decided on a sweet dough, almost a pate sucre, and a quick turn on the range top to make a simple sauce.

First, pit the cherries. I bought a Oxo Cherry pitter several years ago, and I love it. I can squeeze it, even with my arthritis, and I have very few “misses” where I have to open up a cherry and still dig out the pit. And besides, it’s bright red, so it’s easy to find in the drawer. I used a large cereal bowl full of cherries, about 3 cups.

The crust is almost a pit crust, with a twist. I use a little almond flour in it – I really love the flavors of almonds and cherries together. I just patted it into my 10″ cast iron skillet – no refrigeration or rolling required. And a reserved cupful to use as the crumble on top as well. I also used part lard, but all butter would work just as well.

For the cherry filling, I decided to briefly heat up the cherries on the stove top and make a bit of a glaze, rather than just put them in raw. Only a little sugar, and a little water, and a slurry of cornstarch was just enough to get the cherries to release some of their own juice. Actually I mixed up the slurry in the bowl the cherries were in, so I would incorporate any juice that happened to accumulate in the bottom

It was so easy, and only took 15 minutes or so to pull together, plus the time to pit the cherries. And if you want to dress it up at serving time, a little whipped cream or ice cream will to the trick!

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Cast Iron Cherry Almond Crumble

Easier than a cherry pie, this crumble combines almond and cherries in an easy crust patted right in the cast iron skillet. And if you don't have a skillet, use an 8 x 10" casserole.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cast iron dessert, cherry almond crisp, cherry crumble, cherry dessert, easy dessert, skillet dessert, uisng fresh cherries
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Base and topping

  • 1.5 cup flour
  • .25 cup almond flour
  • .5 tsp salt
  • .5 cup butter
  • .5 cup lard

Cherry filling

  • 3 cups pitted cherries
  • .25 cup cane sugar
  • .25 cup water
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1-2 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • .25 cup almonds, roughly chopped

Instructions

Making the base and topping

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F, and grease a 10: cast iron skillet.

  2. Whisk together the flour, almond flour and salt in a bowl.

  3. Add in the butter and lard, and cut in with a pastry cutter, a fork or rub with your fingers until it is crumbly and pieces of butter are about pea size.

  4. Set aside a heaping cup of the dough.

  5. Pat the remaining dough into the pan.

Filling

  1. Put the cherries in a large saucepan. Add the sugar and water.

  2. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the water and cornstarch to make a slurry. Pour over the cherries.

  3. Over medium heat, stir the cherries around to help release the cherry's juice, and until the sugar dissolves. The liquid will thickened pretty quickly into a glaze that will cover the cherries.

  4. Pour the cherries into the skillet and spread out cover the base.

Finishing up

  1. Crumble the rest of the dough evenly over the top of the cherries, and then sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

  2. Bake 40 minutes until bubbling and the top crumble lightly browns.

  3. Cool slightly. Serve warm or cold. Top with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.