When it's cherry season this baked cherry dessert is the first thing that I think of making! Finish off your next BBQ with this cherry crumble. Bonus: This is a gluten-free dessert recipe!
One of my fondest memories of my Granddaddy was sitting on the couch with him in the summers eating fresh cherries and watching featherweight boxing!
My granddaddy was perpetually anchored in front of the TV watching sports. My grandparents lived in Illinois and we would visit in the summers. I didn't get to spent a lot of time with them but I do have some great memories of our trips out there.
Both of my grandmothers were great cooks. They made simple but delicious midwestern food. Tons of baked goods and stick to your ribs dishes like dumplings and slow cooked pork chops.
My favorite summer desserts usually include fruit like my Blueberry Pie Bites, Banana Cream Pie, Strawberry Mojito Nice Cream, and the Fresh Fruit Pavlova. All of these are light and sweet — perfect for summer.
If you want something really special, check out the Banana Cake!
What does cherry crumble taste like?
Cherry crumble filling tastes a lot like a cherry pie filling. However, this recipe has a sophisticated twist because of a few unique ingredients that I use. The butter paired with the almond extract and the panela sugar gives this cherry filling a rich buttery quality that makes it not too sweet.
The cherry crumble topping is crisp, slightly cinnamony, toasty-caramelly. I made this cherry crumble with oats and almond flour.
Whipped almond cream topping is fresh and light and only with a slight hint of almond flavor. I also like to add toasted slivered almonds to give this dessert a gourmet finish.
Summer is the ideal time to socialize outdoors with friends and family
This cherry crumble is the perfect dessert for a summer barbecue. Imagine a meal on the patio with friends, sharing grilled meat, veggies, a crisp salad - and a cold beer or a high glass of wine - followed by this cherry crumble.
In my mind, this is the definition of a perfect summer meal!
How to make a cherry crumble?
It's easy! You only need a few ingredients but act fast because the cherry season is extremely short. If you do happen to be reading this outside of the cherry season, you can use canned cherry pie filling for this recipe too! I promise I won't tell a soul.
I always think of fruit crumble as the lazy person's pie. Essentially you are making a fruit pie filling, in this case, cherry pie filling. And then you top it with a sweet crispy crumble topping. There is no pie crust, no rolling pin, just delicious pie filling topped with crispy, buttery topping.
Add ice cream, and it's the perfect dessert.
Ingredients for this Cherry Crumble Recipe
- Fresh cherries
- Lemon
- Arrowroot powder or cornstarch
- Almond extract
- Panela sugar or coconut sugar
- Butter
- Almonds
- Steel-cut oats
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Heavy whipping cream (for on top)
Toss all of the ingredients for the cherry pie filling in a bowl and then dump them into your pan for baking.[/caption]
I usually make this crumble in my cast iron pan.
This time I made this fruity crumble in a large pie dish.
Other options: You could also use a casserole pan. This is a super easy dessert recipe. It's completely low maintenance.
The hardest part of this recipe is pitting all the cherries.
Make sure you have a handy dandy cherry pitter. Cherry pitting can be a bit messy, and cherry juice stains, so make sure you have an apron on.
SHORTCUT: You can find frozen cherries in the freezer section that have already pitted if you want to skip this step.
- Mix all the ingredients for the cherry pie filling in a large bowl.
- Toss and dump into whatever pan you are baking the crumble in.
- Wipe out the bowl.
- Make the crumble in the same bowl.
- Preheat your oven.
- Add the crumble to the top of the cherries and bake until bubbly!
A Fresh Cherry Crumble is also a great make-ahead dessert.
- Make the filling and crumble the night before!
- Keep them separate until ready to bake.
- Then top the juicy cherries with the premade crumble and bake.
- Serve this dish warm or cold. There is no need to be a slave to the kitchen on a beautiful day. Keep things simple!
I take this crumble recipe camping all the time. I mix up the crumble and pack it into vacuum sealed bags, butter and all. I bring whatever kind of fruit we are in the mood for and then cook this fruit crumble right on the campfire. Check out my post on camping for all the deets.
My absolute favorite thing is cooking on a campfire with my Lodge Campfire Dutch oven. I use the paper liners that go inside. Guys, these liners make clean up a breeze. After we eat the crumble, we toss the liner right into the fire and just watch it burn. I wish cleaning up at home was this easy.
This crumble is screaming for something melty and creamy...Enter the almond cream
The rich almond cream pairs so well with the cherries, not to mention the toasted almond that comes through in the crust.
You have to try this recipe this summer. It's packed with a ton of healthy fruit and not too much sugar, plus it's gluten-free. It's also an easy dessert to take to any summer party
If you like this recipe, check out a few of my other desserts!
- Pineapple Sweet Rolls
- Rocky Road Fudge
- Dark Chocolate Salted Almond Bark
- Banana Cake
- Less Boring Vanilla Cupcakes
- Mocha Cake
- Fika
- Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Persimmon Cookies
- Fleur de Sel Chocolate Cookies
- Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- The Ultimate Cheesecake
And so many more on my Desserts Page
Cherry Crumble with Almond Cream
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
- 8 cups cherries pitted
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 3 tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1 ½ tsp almond extract
- ½ cup artisanal cane sugar Panela brand*
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup butter diced
Crumble
- 1 cup almonds finely ground
- ¾ cup steel cut oats finely ground
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup artisanal cane sugar Panela brand*
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup butter diced
Almond Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream or coconut cream
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp artisanal cane sugar Panela brand*
- slivered almonds garnish
Instructions
Filling
- Pit all the cherries and put in a large bowl.
- Add sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, arrowroot powder, almond extract, and salt to the cherries. Stir with a large spatula.
- Put cherry mixture into a pie dish or other baking dish.
- Dot the top with butter.
- Crumble
- Preheat oven to 325℉.
- Grind almonds in the food processor until fine. Move them into a medium bowl.
- Grind oats in the food processor until fine.
- Return almonds to the food processor with the oats. Add salt, sugar and cinnamon. Pulse to blend.
- Add diced butter and pulse until the texture is like coarse sand.
- Sprinkle this mixture liberally over the top of cherries. (You may have left over crumble.)
- Bake for 1 hour at 325℉. Or until the cherries are bubbly and the crumble is a light golden brown.
Almond Cream
- Whip heavy cream until fluffy and stiff.
- Add almond extract and stir.
- Serve with extra crumble and toasted sliced almonds.
