Old-Fashioned Cherry Crumble
A crumble is the easiest pie on earth — no crust — just a crumbly, crunchy, heavenly mixture of brown sugar, butter, oats, and cinnamon, blanketing sweet-yet-tart cherries bubbling underneath.
Tips and Tricks
When fresh cherries aren’t in season, you can use canned or frozen and no one will be the wiser.
To intensify the cherry flavor, we suggest adding a handful of dried fruit, a winter pie-baking trick we borrowed from early Smoky Mountain cooks who would dry fruits in season to use throughout the year.
This rustic dessert is made for serving in bowls, hot from the oven, with hefty scoops of vanilla bean-flecked ice cream.
Yield: 8 Servings
OLD-FASHIONED CHERRY CRUMBLE
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 1 Hour
Ingredients
- 4 cups pitted sour cherries (see Notes)
- 1/4 cup dried cherries, if desired (see Notes)
- 4 to 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
Crumble Topping
- 3/4 cup The Old Mill Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons The Old Mill Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup The Old Mill Thick Rolled Oats
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Set aside a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan.
- Drain the cherries and place in a large bowl with dried cherries and sugar. Toss to combine, and set aside.
- For the topping, place the flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Or, place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to combine. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch size pieces and distribute over the top of the bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. (Or, if using a food processor, pulse until combined.) Stir in the oats and pecans. Work the mixture with your hands until it comes together into loose pieces. Set aside.
- Turn the cherries and any juice that might have seeped from them into the reserved pan. Cover the cherries with the topping, using your hands as needed to distribute it over the top. Place the pan in the oven.
- Bake until the crumble is golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges, 38 to 42 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool 20 minutes before serving warm in bowls with ice cream.
Notes
- If fresh sour cherries are available, by all means, use them in this recipe. If you are baking this out of season, however, you can use canned or frozen, thawed cherries. Drain cherries well. The dried cherries add flavor, and they soften as the crumble bakes.