These cherry crisps would be the perfect thing to serve after a big meal. Not just because of their small size, though that helps. The proportion of fruit to crisp is quite pronounced so you feel like this is a relatively healthy dessert. I just love the individual serving sizes – your dinner party guests will feel the same, I promise!
If cherries aren’t your thing, you could certainly experiment with other berries and use different flavors of lambic. I saw raspberry and strawberry when I was at the store, and both of these would be delicious. If you switch, you might want to just use fresh berries instead of mixing in some dried since those fruits are less common to find in dried form.
The original recipe called for nuts in the crisp topping which I’m allergic to so I improvised with oats. They worked great and the crumble topping was divine. But if you aren’t allergic or want to incorporate nuts, chopped almonds would work wonderfully with the cherries. Enjoy!
Cherry Crisps
Adapted from Food & Wine
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ pounds dark cherries, pitted (I used frozen ones that I thawed)
- 1 ½ cups dried cherries
- ½ cup cherry lambic beer
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Directions:
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the dark cherries, dried cherries, beer, maple syrup, vanilla bean paste, and a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Let stand for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Butter six eight-ounce ramekins and set on a rimmed baking sheet.
- In another medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, oats, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Stir in the slightly cooled melted butter. Using your hands, form into clumps.
- Spoon the cherry filling into the ramekins and sprinkle with the topping. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top of the crisps are browned and the filling is bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature.