Sour Cherry Crumble is incredibly delicious, feeds a crowd and is a fantastic make-ahead dessert. In this recipe we sweeten tart cherries JUST enough, and then we top them with a crunchy crust of browned butter crumble. And then we serve the crumble warm, with vanilla ice cream. Heaven! And it’s my family’s favorite dessert.
Growing up in coastal New Jersey, summers meant beach clubs, boardwalks, Italian ice and the bounty of New Jersey produce: sweet corn, blueberries and beefsteak tomatoes. In addition, my grandmother had a sour cherry tree in her backyard. So, long before I ever tasted a sweet Bing cherry from Washington, I knew the sour variety. They were not very tasty picked right off the tree. But in baked goods? Oh my… So summer also meant sour cherry pies. So. Very. Delicious.
Now, Sour Cherry Crumble has become something of a Christmas Eve tradition for our family.
This recipe, adapted from one published by The Kitchn, is sized for one 1.5 pound bag of Northwest Wild Foods frozen organic tart cherries (they will ship to you). I have also made my version gluten free and healthier than the original, using almond flour instead of wheat flour. And you can easily make this recipe vegan by substituting vegan butter such as Miyokos Creamery Butter Unsalted Cultured Vegan Butter for the butter and JUST Egg for the egg.
Everyone loves this recipe and it’s perfect for a dinner party. It easily serves 8+ and can be made ahead. Just warm in a 300ºF oven for 10 minutes before serving. Serve this Sour Cherry Crumble after a bowl of Ciambotta (Italian Vegetable Stew) for a warm, comforting meal on a cold evening.
Ingredients for Sour Cherry Crumble
Sour cherries are very different from the sweet varieties that fill produce shelves in the summer, like Bing and Ranier. Sour cherries are rare in grocery stores, even in summer, and impossible to find in winter. So, I look for companies offering frozen sour cherries. And given the amount of pesticides used on conventional cherries, it's smart to buy organic. Northwest Wild Foods sells frozen organic sour cherries (they call them “tart” cherries, because, from a marketing standpoint, who wants something that’s “sour?”) And they ship the cherries to your door in 1.5 pound bags packed in dry ice. (Note: I receive no affiliate marketing benefits from this company, I simply love their products).
Other ingredients:
- almond flour
- sugar
- cinnamon
- sea salt
- butter
- baking powder
- egg
- vanilla ice cream (for serving, optional)
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for Sour Cherry Crumble
Preheat oven to 375ºF (350ºF convection) with a rack in the center of the oven. Spread the frozen sour cherries in a 1.5 quart oval or rectangular baking dish or cast iron skillet. Sprinkle flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt over the cherries and toss well with your hands to coat.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and swirl frequently. The butter will foam and solids will begin to brown on the bottom of the pan. This is normal. At this point, swirl continuously until the foam subsides and the butter turns a nutty brown, but does not burn. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Using a wire whisk or large fork, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and add to the bowl, mixing the egg with the other ingredients with your hands. Small, lumpy, moist crumbs will form. Sprinkle these over the top of the cherries. Drizzle the brown butter over the crumbs.
Bake until the crumbs are golden brown and the cherries are happily bubbling, about 30 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving. If making in advance, you can warm the crumble in a 300ºF oven for 10 minutes. Spoon into individual serving dishes and top with vanilla ice cream if desired.
Can Sour Cherry Crumble be made vegan?
Absolutely! This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian. But it's also easily made vegan. Simply substitute a vegan butter such as Miyokos Creamery Butter Unsalted Cultured Vegan Butter and JUST Egg for the dairy butter and eggs in this recipe. My vegan friends assure me that vegan butter browns in exactly the same way as dairy butter.
Equipment
I love the look of this sour cherry crumble baked in a red Le Creuset 1.7 Quart Stoneware Heritage Oval Au Gratin dish. It's the perfect size for a crumble made with 1.5 pounds of sour cherries.
Storage
In the unlikely event of leftover sour cherry crumble, cover and refrigerate. Reheat in a 300ºF oven for 10 minutes before serving. Eat within 2-3 days.
FAQ
Often, people use the terms cobbler, crumble and crisp interchangeably. And although all 3 desserts involve pastry-topped fruit, baked in the oven, the toppings differ distinctly. Cobblers are baked fruit desserts topped with a biscuit-like dough. The toppings for both crumbles and crisps are similar streusel crumbs made with flour, sugar and butter. Crisps additionally have oats added to the topping. Chopped nuts are often added to both crumbles and crisps. It's a personal preference, but I prefer cherries with this crumble topping and stone fruits like peaches with a crisp topping.
Sweet cherries refer to the delicious varieties such as mahogany-colored Bing and yellow and red Ranier, which burst with a delightful sweetness. In the summer months, I can eat a bowlful of sweet cherries by myself, happily spitting out the pits after popping them in my mouth. Sour and tart cherries are different names for the same fruit. These bright red, red cherries have much less sugar content than sweet cherries and are a bit too sour for eating raw right off the tree. For baking, though, sour cherries are the best! Heat mellows out the acidity of the cherries, but there is still enough acid there to bring a bright, vivid flavor to baked goods. When purchasing sour cherries, you will likely see them labeled as "tart" cherries. This is a bit of marketing spin, since most people are not attracted to "sour" foods.
The simplest crumble topping is only 3 ingredients: flour, sugar and butter. The flour can be wheat or almond flour. Crumbles sometimes have chopped nuts included in the mix. Rarely do they have oats. Baked fruit desserts with oat streusel topping are called crisps.
Recipe
Sour Cherry Crumble (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
Cherries
- 1½ lbs sour (tart) frozen cherries
- 3 tablespoon finely ground almond flour
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, heaping
- pinch sea salt
Crumble
- 9 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1½ cups finely ground almond flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, heaping
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF (350ºF convection) with a rack in the center of the oven. Spread the frozen sour cherries in a 1.5 quart oval or rectangular baking dish or cast iron skillet. Sprinkle flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt over the cherries and toss well with your hands to coat.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and swirl frequently. The butter will foam and solids will begin to brown on the bottom of the pan. This is normal. At this point, swirl continuously until the foam subsides and the butter turns a nutty brown, but does not burn. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Using a wire whisk or large fork, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and add to the bowl, mixing the egg with the other ingredients with your hands. Small, lumpy, moist crumbs will form. Sprinkle these over the top of the cherries. Drizzle the brown butter over the crumbs.
- Bake until the crumbs are golden brown and the cherries are happily bubbling, about 30 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes befor
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