cherry cobbler

 Moving into a new refrigerator, I realized I have a bunch of frozen not super great cherries to eat up. they're fine and I ate a lot fresh when I picked them from a new friend's backyard, but they're not the best ever.  They need some doctoring.  this cherry cobbler to the rescue.  As always, cutting the sugar drastically. 

Ingredients

Fruit

• 4-6 cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
• 2-3 T corn starch (use 3 T if frozen cherries)
• 2 T (fresh) lemon juice
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract 

Cobbler

• 6 T butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk

Put fruit mixture on stove top and simmer briefly, stirring.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and put butter pats into 9x13 pan.  Put pan in oven as it preheats to melt.

Combine dry cobbler ingredients, then add milk just to mix and spread over butter in pan.  Put fruit mix on top.

Bake about 40 minutes, until browned on top. 
 

apple crisp

 Yesterday I canned apples from my backyard tree and some jars didn't seal so I made this crisp to use them - and uncanned apples - up.  It's ok. The canned apples were mush-with-peels and the topping not crisp and the flour made it kind of pasty.  I cut the sugar by about 2/3 and could cut even more.  I'll give it away and make more to keep refining it.  PLenty of apples still on the tree, if the damn squirrels don't eat them all.  

Ingredients

For the topping:

• ¾ cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (99 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
•  1/4 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed

For the filling:

• 7 to 8 fresh apples, such as Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp - I filled a 9x13 pan halfway up with a mix of drained canned apples and chopped/sliced fresh 
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
• ¼ cup (32 grams) all-purpose flour
•  1/4 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• spices which can include cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg

Directions

Make the topping:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch metal or glass pan with cooking spray or butter and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together until combined. With a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the apple filling.

Make the filling:

1. Core, peel, and slice the apples into ¼ -inch to ½ -inch slices until you reach 6 cups of sliced apples, weighing 650 grams. Place in a medium-sized bowl and immediately drizzle with the lemon juice, tossing until evenly coated.
2. In a separate small bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, salt and spices (adjust to your preference). Pour dry mixture over the apples and toss to coat, mixing until evenly distributed amongst the apples.
3. Pour the apple mixture directly into the greased pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the apples.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the apples feel tender when pierced with a fork, and the topping is golden brown. Let the apple crisp cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top.