Cherry Crisp

This is the recipe I used for Cherry Crisp using tart pie cherries from the North Star Cherry tree.

All along the plan was to make a cherry pie and be nostalgic about my late mom's cherry pie.  I'm too tired to make the pie.  Crisp is easier.  This was internet recipe.  I changed some ingredients.  Replaced shortening with butter.  Added vanilla.  I might have added almond flavoring but wanted to see how much the cherries tasted like cherries.

Cherry Filling
4 to 5 cups pitted sour cherries - I used 5 cups.  Cherry pitter worked great.
1 1/2 cups white sugar - seems like a lot, but that's what I did
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Topping
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 375F.

Sprinkle vanilla extract over cherries and stir to mix.  Combine cherries, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 4 tbsp flour. Pour fruit filling into 9x13 inch baking dish.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly.  Except I softened the butter, and it was difficult to make it crumbly.  It was more on the chunky side.   Almost a cookie dough.

I did my best to crumble it with my fingers and distribute the crumbs uniformly over the cherries.

Bake in preheated oven for 45  minutes until topping is golden brown.

It's in the oven now.  I'll edit this post when it's out.  And say how it tastes.  I proud of this.  It's the first thing I've baked from this cherry tree, which I grew from a small sapling.  In terms of slow food, that's about as slow as it gets.

Fruit Trees. Mini Orchard.

Almaden Duke Cherry

Jujube in bee yard

Jujube in orchard

 Almaden Duke Cherry, I moved last summer.  At the time I wondered if it would survive, due to wilting.  Growing nicely.  Only a couple of cherries now.  That may be due to the late frost, which caused a lot of damage to other trees and vines.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry

North Star Cherry

Sunflower Paw Paw

NC1 Paw Paw

Oregon Curl Free Peach

Indian Blood Peach

Charlotte Peach

Chinese Haw Red Sun

Seijo Persimmon

 Jujube.  I forget which of the two this is.  One is Li and the other is Coco.  From One Free World last summer.  Both are late to start, but now growing.  They have a lot of growing ahead before they amount to anything.   Not a good recommendation for the source.  Planted last fall.

Nikita's Gift Persimmin

One jujube is in the bee  yard, the other in the little orchard.  This fall the other may also be in the bee yard, to provide room for another plum or peach.







Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  Whatever frost damage was there, it's recovered.  Soon it will need a bird net.

North Star Pie Cherry.  Thanks to the rainy week, it didn't lose a leaf or wilt after planting.  From Lowes.

Sunflower and NC1 Paw Paws.  growing nicely.  They seem to leaf out later than most other trees, about the same time as the jujubes and mulberry.

Oregon Curl Free Peach.  This little tree won't have peaches this year.  It is one of the least affected I've seen as far as Leaf Curl is concerned.  From One Green World last year.  So far, not very vigorous.  There is a summer ahead for growth.  Might make up for lost time.

Indian Blood Peach.  Minimal leaf curl.  Much less than most of the others.  This year I hope it recovers from the damage I did transplanting it from vancouver.  I lost most of the roots when I dug it up.  Surprised it survived.  Can't be disappointed at it for not having peaches this year - just survive and grow.  From Raintree.

Charlotte peach.  Supposed to be curl resistant. It's not.  Or not very.  What a mess.  I will need to research replacements.  I don't want to get stuck with another susceptible peach tree.  It's making a comeback with new growth.   Give it another year to see what happens.

Chinese Haw.  Growing nicely.  From One Green World.  Bare root planted last fall.

Seijo Persimmon and Nikita's Gift Persimmon.  Both growing nicely.  Bare root, planted this spring.  From Raintree.  They will need extra water all summer, because persimmons are said to have inadequate roots to support their tops, for the first year.