Rainier Cherry Crumble

Rainier cherries are the very sweet offspring of sweet-tart Bing cherries. If you can't find Rainier cherries, you can substitute the Bing variety, but you'll likely need to add a little sugar to the filling to balance the tartness.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  cornstarch
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• Dash of salt
• 3  pounds  very sweet cherries, such as Rainier, pitted
• 4.5  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 1  cup  packed light brown sugar
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped almonds, toasted
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 7  tablespoons  chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Place a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in preheated oven; heat 5 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and lightly coat with cooking spray.

3. Combine cornstarch, juice, dash of salt, and cherries in a large bowl, tossing well to coat. Pour cherry mixture into prepared pan.

4. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through 1/8 teaspoon salt) in a medium bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle flour mixture over cherries. Place skillet on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 400° for 35 minutes or until filling is thick and bubbly and topping is browned. Remove from oven; let stand 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

298

Fat:

8.9g (sat 5.1g,mono 2.3g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

3.5g

Carbohydrate:

54.5g

Fiber:

3.4g

Cholesterol:

21mg

Iron:

1.4mg

Sodium:

110mg

Calcium:

45mg