It seems that cherries have always been a big part of American history. Every kid used to hear the apocryphal tale of how Kid Washington chopped down his dad’s cherry tree with his little hatchet, then confessed he did it, “I cannot tell a lie”. Sure kid. He probably couldn’t sit down for a week after that, if the story were true.
The other presidential cherry story I know is how cherries actually killed President Zachary Taylor. This Tommy Lee Jones looking guy. Turns out he’s at the Washington Monument in 1850 to celebrate the first phase of building it. That thing didn’t get finished til 1882 but that’s neither here nor there.
So, it’s boiling outside. It’s July in pre-AC pre-everything DC. Zach gets overheated and eats a whole shit ton of fresh cherries and chugs a lot of iced milk, and iced water. Then he gets a stomach ache (no shit Sherlock) and dies 5 days later of a really bad hot weather decision, and probably cholera from bacteria in all that ice. The Cherries got a bad rap but it wasn’t their fault. They dug old Zach up in the 90’s to check for arsenic poisoning, but no dice. It was likely the ice after all. Poor Zach.
I have always loved cherries and no horror tale of a dead old president who made a last meal of them can keep me away. We planted cherry trees when we bought our current house and now the birds and I fight over the crop. Needless to say I’m still buying cherries as I don’t have wings, so when I got a deal on cherries at $1.99 a pound. I jumped on it.
I couldn’t decide what to make first and I was feeling lazy, so I thought what’s the dessert with the least amount of work that I have everything here for already????? Cherry Crisp. You can have this on your table super fast. The hardest part is pitting the cherries. No cap.
Cherry Crisp
Here’s What You Need:
Filling:
5 cups of pitted cherries ( you can always used pitted thawed frozen cherries)
1/3 cup of sugar
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Crisp:
1 cup of rolled oats
2/3 cup of flour
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar (either light or dark)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter (1 stick)
Here’s What To Do:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
lightly coat a 9x9 or 11 x 7 baking dish with butter or non-stick spray.
In a large bowl gently combine all the filling ingredients, and pour them into the prepped baking dish. Set aside.
In a medium bowl mix together all the Crisp ingredients, adding the melted butter at the end. Mix everything together well so all the Crisp ingredients are coated and moistened.
Sprinkle your crisp on top of the cherry mixture evenly.
Bake it on the middle rack of your oven for 30 /40 minutes. It’s done when the Crisp is golden and the cherries bubbling.
I know this is going to be difficult, but you’ve got to let it rest for 10 minutes .
Serve this warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream as I did.
This was sooooooo good. It sent me looking for other cherry recipes to share so I’m going to be doing a few more.
Coming up next : Cherries, Indian delights, and cool dishes for hot weather!
Meanwhile, I’m always around for questions and comments and requests, just give me a shout out, and remember, over here it’s okay to play with your food!
The Colors of Indian Cooking has been around since 2009, and has always been a labor of love. My archive contains over 800 recipes and is constantly growing! We are a reader-supported publication. If you like what you see here, I hope you’ll consider supporting my work with a free or paid subscription.
The Colors of Indian Cooking is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
As a sweet treat, this has a (relatively) modest amount of sugar. I try to watch carbs and sugar generally but an occasional indulgence is good for the soul. I always hark back to the long and vigorous life of Julia Child when I think about these things.
Kathy, I also grew up being warned about dire reactions to overeating cherries, but I never once stopped enjoying eating them in large amounts each summer. I wanted to let you know I just prepared your cherry crisp tonight & we were not disappointed! So delicious and the crumbly crust texture is the best! Thank you for sharing your recipe with us. Summer is looking up already!