When you’re craving a sweet-n-tangy cherry crisp, I’ve got the dish for you!! This tart and tangy dessert are made with ripe luscious cherries and it’s so much easier than most pie recipes.
In fact, it ranks right up there with such quintessential summer stars as strawberry pie and apple pie. The crunchy topping is full of texture and rich as pumpkin pie making an ideal sidekick to the sweet candied cherries below.
You’re gonna love the avalanche of incredible flavor in every little bite.
Check it out…
What I Love About This Recipe
- The Cherries are soft, tender, and luscious!
- The topping is Amazing! Yummy combo of ingredients-not boring like so many other crisp toppings.
- Really easy to put together.
Easy Cherry Crisp Recipe Notes
- How To Cut In Butter: It’s important to cut in the butter for the topping of this easy cherry crisp recipe. That means keeping the butter cold, so you end up with tiny pieces evenly distributed throughout your mixture.
- I like to chop my butter into small pieces and then toss it in the freezer for a bit before working it into the mixture.
Cherry Crisp Ingredients
- Topping –The crisp topping freezes very well so you can make it ahead of time, pop it in the freezer, and make a crumble whenever the mood strikes!
- Just lay the crumble out flat on a baking sheet, then once it’s solid, pop it into a ziplock. When ready to use, you can sprinkle it directly onto your filling without thawing.
- Frozen Cherries – If you don’t have access to fresh cherries, frozen cherries work well, too. Keep frozen fruit in the freezer until you are ready to work with them.
- Gently toss the frozen fruit in a tablespoon of flour to absorb some of the liquid then proceed with the recipe. Extend your baking time by 5 minutes or more to achieve the same results as a fresh fruit pie.
Tools to Make
The best way to make this luscious recipe is with a pastry blender but I understand not everyone owns one of those. The main thing is to make sure you end up with a texture that’s evenly crumbly.
If you don’t have a pastry blender, there are several things you can use instead:
- Fork: Mash the butter into the flour, until you achieve a crumbly consistency.
- Butter Knives: Work both knives over the ingredients in the bowl, until the butter and dry ingredients are well combined.
- Food Processor: Pulse the butter and dry ingredients in your food processor until you achieve a crumbly texture
- Your Hands: Work the butter into the flour with your hands. Use cold hands and try work quickly, so the butter doesn’t melt.
- Cheese Grater: Grate the butter with a box grater, then mix it into the dry ingredients.
How To Make Cherry Crisp Recipe
Whipping up this insanely delicious crisp is so much easier than you may think.
- Simply pit your cherries
- Coat them with the necessary ingredients.
- Now mix up your crumble topping,
- Pour it on top, and slide the entire thing into a preheated oven.
- Serve and enjoy.
***See the full instructions below.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? I can’t imagine that you’d have any leftovers at all but if you do, don’t fret. Simply wrap it tightly with cling wrap or transfer to an airtight container. Your delicious cherry dessert will stay fresh and yummy for up to 3 days in the fridge. If you want to serve the leftovers warm, simply toss them in a 300-degree oven for about 15 minutes.
- Can You Freeze This? Believe it or not, this cherry crisp dessert freezes really well. You can freeze the entire thing or throw the topping together and just freeze that. You’ll have pre-mixed topping ready to go whenever you want to throw together a fresh cherry dessert.
- If you decide to freeze the entire dessert, serving is easy. Just slow thaw in the fridge overnight, then pop it in the oven for 350ºF (177ºC) for about 25 minutes.
- Make Ahead Tips: If you want to prep it ahead of time and bake it later, you can assemble the crisp and freeze. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator and then bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
Serving Recommendations
Serving this beautiful recipe is completely up to you. It’s the perfect dessert partner to my banana cream pie recipe. Sometimes I like to make my cherry crisp in little ramekins, kinda’ like mini apple pies. That way every guest gets their own personal dessert. Mmm, mmm, good!
More Cherry Desserts
- Cherry Delight
- Cherry Cobbler with Cake Mix
- Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake
- Cherry Fluff
- Cherry Winks
- Cherry Dump Cake
- Cherry Custard Pie Bars
- Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cherry Crisp
This intense cherry crisp boasts ripe luscious cherries blanketed with the most delicious sweet crunchy topping for a dessert that’s outa’ this world!
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
Cherry Filling:
- 3 pounds fresh cherries, pitted
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup sugar
Topping:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter very cold, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Spray a 2 quart, 11X7 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Make the Filling: In a medium mixing bowl, toss cherries (3 pounds) with almond extract (1/4 teaspoon)together. Gradually add sugar (1/4 cup) and cornstarch (1/4 cup) and toss until evenly coated. Set aside while you make the topping.
- Make the Topping: In a medium mixing bowl combine flour (3/4 cup), sugar (1/2 cup), brown sugar (1/4 cup), salt (1/8 teaspoon), and quick-cooking oatmeal (1/2 cup).
- Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is crumbly and the butter (3/4 cup) is the size of small peas. Fold in the almonds (1/2 cup).
- Assemble: Give the cherry mixture another toss and pour it into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit filling. Bake in the preheated oven, until the topping, is golden and the filling bubbles up in spots, about 55-65 minutes.
Notes
- How To Cut In Butter: It’s important to cut in the butter for the topping of this easy cherry crisp recipe. That means keeping the butter cold, so you end up with tiny pieces evenly distributed throughout your mixture. I like to chop my butter into small pieces and then toss it in the freezer for a bit before working it into the mixture.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/6 of the recipe | Calories: 680kcal | Carbohydrates: 102g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 56mg | Potassium: 672mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 854IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 3mg
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? I'D LOVE TO SEE!Tag @GonnaWantSeconds or #gonnawantseconds on Instagram!
© Gonna Want Seconds. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media/website/blog is strictly prohibited.
Made this crumble. Absolutely outstanding.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Marva!!
The perfect dessert to end a long day
They beginning of this recipe says cook time 20 minutes. The assembly directions say cook 55-65 minutes. Which is correct?
Hi Kathleen. Just discovered your blog and can’t wait to make this recipe! Cherry is my hubby’s favorite flavor so I want to make this for Father’s Day. However, I am a little intimidated to pit 3lbs of cherries by hand so will buy frozen. Do you think these will change the taste? Also, your grandmother’s recipes all look so good! That’s the way I remember food prepared and want to make a few of them and see if my family ‘remembers’ these tastes.
Thank you!
Hi Karen! I’m so happy you found us. I hope you find lots of recipes to enjoy. Regarding the pitted cherries, just watch the water content of the frozen. The flavor will be fabulous! <3
If I choose to use fresh blueberries, how much do I use?
I’d use 8 cups <3
YUM!! This looks AMAZING!!!!
Are you using pie cherries or sweet cherries in this recipe? The photos look more like sweet cherries.
Hi Jean! Great questions. I am indeed using sweet cherries <3