Sour Cherry Crisp with my famous ACF Homemade Sour Cherry Pie Filling!
Sunday Suppers since dad has passed are a ritual that I wish I had insisted upon while dad was still with us. And my sister. Dad passed 2 years ago January 27. My sister one year ago this coming February 9. Oh, how I “should have” insisted upon Sunday Suppers while the entire family was thriving and together. We certainly celebrated our holidays together, but this weekly ritual with mom, Ragan, Vanja and I is important. I look so forward to it and I like to think they do, too. It certainly keeps us closer!
I do enjoy making desserts, but not when I am making a big meal as the focus. And the meal is always my main focus every Sunday, but I have definitely noticed how mom enjoys her dessert, and certainly Vanja does, but his repertoire is apple pie, apple pie and apple pie.
l have so many pitted sour Evans cherries in my deep freeze every year from my own tree, that I am always thinking of how to use them and have developed many Sour Cherry recipes. Thankfully, Vanja enjoys them! Not like apple pie, but “he will eat it.” So, last night, thinking of a simple dessert, I remembered I wanted to make my sour cherry pie filling again and the idea of a good old Canadian prairie crisp came to mind: Sour Cherry Crisp it is! Why had I never done this before?
The pie filling recipe is so easy and so many people have commented positively on the recipe post since I last made it that I have wanted to make it again for quite some time, so perfect idea! I just had to adjust the recipe to align mathematically with the juice I gleaned from one package of my frozen berries. It worked perfectly.
And I used to think that canned filling was not nutritious. Of course, it cannot compare to the homemade kind, but this pie filling is super delicious and not too much sugar at all!
I made up one batch of my crisp topping recipe knowing full well I would need only 1/4 to 1/3 of it for this small amount of crisp made with only one cup of cherries.
I froze the rest for another small crisp to use another Sunday.
I was tickled. Doesn’t it look vibrant and flavourful! It was so tasty! The tart cherries coupled with the buttery crunchy topping was really a triumph.
I would usually serve this tart Sour Cherry Crisp with vanilla ice cream, but somebody ate it all! (me!) So whipping cream was lovely with a little basil leaf!
Let me know if you try my new Sour Cherry Crisp. What a treat to grow this lovely fruit right outside my back door!
Sour Cherry Crisp
A great contrast of sweet and sour in a crunchy dessert with lovely lush fruit. A true Canadian staple with apples and the homemade cherry pie filling is perfect for this.
Ingredients
- One batch of homemade cherry pie filling
- One batch of crisp topping
Instructions
- Make filling and place in an oven proof casserole dish
- Sprinkle topping over pie filling particularly around edges
- Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to one hour
- Serve with vanilla ice cream while still warm
Looks delicious! Another one to add to my “to make” list 🙂
Hi Tunya!
I must admit that when I went to the web a few years back to research sour cherry pie recipes, there just were not any at that time. I was stuck. So many sour cherries from my tree! Two years ago, from one tree, 50 pounds of pitted sour cherries. But I am not complaining. So many recipes I love to make with them. However, sour cherry pies need that perfect balance of sweet and tart. And, who doesn’t love that canned pie filling, eh? Because it was thick and translucent and the cherries were so artificially red, I just assumed it was one of those fast food artificial recipes full of preservatives. And, well – the canned stuff may well be just that, but after a lot of reading, research and experimenting, I got the pie filling recipe just right. It is so easy, so delicious and really, not a truckload of sugar in it. I am so proud of my self! (hahahaha!)
So, hope you do make it sometime and let me know if you enjoy it. The crisp topping is my mom’s old tried and true Canadian prairie recipe – everyone’s mom has it, but – you know – no one’s mom makes it as good as mine!
Hugs,
Valerie
Hi Valerie, it looks delicious. I too have a sour cherry tree and harvest the cherries each year. My aunt used to work in a bakery in Germany as a you girl, and she shared a wonderful sour cherry torte recipe ( Kirsche Torte) ) with me as we made one together. It also is so tasty and can also be made with rhubarb as they’re both tart.
Katharina
Wonderful to “meet” you! Please share your aunt’s recipe with me! I would love to make that! I make homemade Kirsche, too! YUM!
Hugs,
Valerie
Does it matter the kind of tart cherries you use? I picked a bunch last summer froze them . I know their are different kinds cherry trees I didn’t know if it affected the taste at all. I am going to try this recipe as I am not good at baking, looks easy enough. I love cherries. Not baked with tart before. Thanks it looks yummy.
Hi Diana,
This recipe will work for any kind of sour cherry.
🙂
Valerie
Hi Valerie,
Thank you for sharing this very yummy & delicious Sour Cherry crisp. Im not much of a baker i occasionally make Apple Crisp & i love cherry pies so something 4 me to try as a crisp since I bake very little lol
Beautiful photos by the way. Makes me more hungry looking at them.
Bonnie!
Thank you so much for chiming in! I find baking so much easier than cooking, as one MUST follow the recipe to a T… and with cooking, many of the most delicious meals are made with one’s imagination! Haha! But, if the recipe is not written clearly, baking can be torture. I have had some of those experiences – plus, one has to be motivated. I remember a girl friend saying to me once, “I could never do this!” and I just looked at her and said, “Of course you could! Don’t be silly. You just aren’t that interested.” And she looked at me with a litte “a-ha” moment on her face, grinned and said, “You know, you are right!” We both enjoyed that moment.
Hugs,
Valerie
this looks so delicious. I adore cherries and everything that is made with them.
The thrill for me is that I grow them in my own yard. It is such a delight to have so many of these jewels tucked in my freezer every fall to create delicious dishes with!
🙂
Valerie
What I would give to have all those cherries! I love cherry pie and yours looks delicious. Wanda
Thanks, Wanda!
Lovely to hear from you! Hope you are well and thriving. I retired from teaching 2 years ago and am busier than ever. Miss cooking with the kiddies, though!
Hugs,
Valerie
This sounds absolutely delicious. Thank’s for sharing this recipe.
Simon
Let me know if you make it, Simon.
🙂
Valerie
I’m missising something… no links to the original filling and topping recipes?
Thank you so much for letting me know, Shannon. I imported a new recipe plug in and it didn’t download the links with it – nor can I get it to right now, so I added them above the recipe.
🙂
Valerie
I have two Evans cherry trees in my back yard and have harvested a bazillion (that’s the official number) of cherries in the last two days. I froze most of them but I’m wondering how to use the fresh cherries in a crisp. I love crisps and usually make an apple crisp or apple wild blueberry crisp using fresh apples and frozen blueberries. Can the sour cherry pie filling be made with fresh cherries or could I substitute the cherries for the blueberries in my regular crisp recipe? Alternatively, what changes would I need to make to use fresh Evans cherries in a crisp? My cherries are overripe and quite soft.
Hi Zureen,
I would just add more flour to the fresh berries in the crisp recipe to ensure the filling is not so runny. You can make either recipe with fresh or frozen berries, as a rule – but if they are overripe, there will be extra juice that will need thickening with cornstarch or flour.
Have you seen my preserved cherries recipe? It is THE BOMB when you have a bazillion cherries!
Hugs,
Valerie
Hi Valerie, Thanks for the quick reply. Do you mean cornstarch or flour? The original recipe calls for cornstarch in the filling and flour in the topping so should flour be added to the filling or should I add additional cornstarch to the filling?
Make the filling according to instructions and add extra corn starch if it needs it… you will tell by the photos and your own mixture.
Make sense?
🙂
Let me know how it goes.
🙂
V