This fresh tart cherry crisp recipe is easy to throw together! If you love cobbler for dessert, this easy fruit dessert is going to be a hit.
Oh how we love this easy tart cherry crisp recipe! Using fruit we picked off the trees near our house we made an easy dessert that everyone loved. You can use frozen fruit with this too if that is all you have. (affiliate links present)
Sour Cherry Crisp
I mean this isn’t really “sour” but not sweet like jarred like we use in our maraschino cherry bread or pie filling you may have tasted. Instead these are tart, fresh, and pretty darn wonderful if you ask me. Of course you can use store bought pie cherries for this too. The bing variety are much sweeter so less sugar needs to be used.
We started this obsession after we made this rhubarb crunch dish. It was just so delicious that we kept going with different fruits. Then was a huckleberry crisp, and on to this one.
Fresh Cherry Crisp
Bing cherries are probably the most well known and sweetest. Chelan Cherries are second in the sweet department followed by Lapins and Rainier. Pie cherries we used are not good eaten off the tree because of how very tart they are.
If you aren’t baking with them you’d probably want to choose Stella, Sunburst, Morello and/or the Sweetheart varieties to pop into your mouth.
Are pie cherries the same as tart cherries?
They are just called different things depending on whom you ask really. Tart cherries are sour and often used as key ingredient in desserts such as homemade cherry pie. Of course with any fruit crisp you need a sweet topping that includes oats for texture and flavor, or dough like our Easy Cherry Cobbler.
Easy Tart Cherry Crisp
Get your kids involved in this. It will take a bit of time if you are using fresh from the produce section or a tree. It is worth it believe me. Another great reason to involve them is so they realize just how much time it does take to make something wonderful. They will appreciate those bites that much more after they work for it a bit. 😉
Ingredients
- Pitted tart cherries, use a cherry pitter
- Sugar will make it sweet
- Cornstarch to thicken the sauce
- Brown sugar creates a deep sweetness
- Vanilla extract or almond extract
- Flour for the oat crumble
- Butter or dairy free alternative
- Shortening or Crisco
- 8×8 square or a 2 qt. casserole dish is what we used
I like to use a bit nicer dish than just a baking pan I would for brownies because it looks nicer. This cherry dessert won’t slice out pretty but rather needs to be scooped out. This is my go to baking AND serving dish. Here’s a look at the step by step process I took to make this. The longest part is pitting the cherries really.
Sour Cherry Crisp with Frozen Cherries
“Yes, you could buy these frozen at some stores. If you do, they likely will already be pitted, which is nice. For a dessert with frozen cherries, you’ll want to defrost them first. If they are just a bit icy, that’s okay, but not rock hard. If left in a bowl for 1-2 hours, that usually does the trick.
- Wash and pit cherries, put fruit in a bowl. We used sour cherries so if you use sweet cherries you’d want to cut down on the sugar.
- if you want another flavor you could add a bit of lemon juice or almond extract
- In a medium bowl add sugar, 4 tbsp of your flour and vanilla with your cherries and stir to coat well
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In another mixing bowl mix dry ingredients together: rest of your flour, brown sugar and Old Fashioned oats.
- Add room temperature or melted butter and shortening. Use fork to combine everything.
- Spray inside of casserole dish with non stick spray and pour in cherry mixture. Sprinkle the topping on and smooth out evenly over the top so it’s the same thickness across the pan.
- Cover dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Then remove foil on top and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes until crisp topping is golden browned.
Take out of oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes before serving to solidify and thicken up a bit. THIS is what it looks like when it’s done!! Seriously this fruit crisp is so good as is. No ice cream or whipped cream are needed for added sweetness, but a great addition too if you want.
Easy fruit desserts
Doesn’t this just look amazing?? Don’t expect to lift this out in cleanly sliced pieces. It is similar to a dump cake where a large spoon is needed. I serve it in bowls because it’s just gooey and ready to be scooped up with spoons.
- Our pumpkin crisp is great too
- If you love EASY, give our cherry brownies a whirl that only have 2 ingredients…seriously!
- Fresh apple recipes are always a winner during the summertime especially.
One of our favorites on that list is our Cast iron apple crisp recipe! You know you really just love the inside of apple pie, that is what this is. Skip the crust and just go for the good stuff y’all!
Should cherry crisp be refrigerated?
If you do have any leftovers you can cover the pan or transfer to an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 4 days for best results. I will say the texture of this and our Upside down cherry pie is another fun one I came up with quite by accident using cherry pie filling but way way better fresh.
What can I do with frozen cherries?
This is great for that, and our puff pastry fruit strudel with blackberries too! You’ll just want to defrost them beforehand and then follow our instructions below. Like I said, tart cherries are better for this and of course fresh is always better but use what you have on hand. Printable recipe for sour cherry cobbler is below.
Tart Cherry Crisp Recipe
Equipment
- 1 8×8 pan casserole dish
Ingredients
- 4 c cherries, tart or pie cherries, pitted (if another type is used you'll need less sugar)
- 2/3 c sugar, or more if you taste and want it sweeter
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 c oats, not instant
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1/2 c butter, softened
- 1/2 c shortening
- 1.5 c flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Pit cherries and put into a bowl with sugar, cornstarch, lemon and vanilla extract. Gently stir together so cherries are coated. Let this set while you're preparing the rest.
- In another bowl combine your 1.5 c of all purpose flour with brown sugar, and old fashioned oats. Stir together.
- Add softened butter and shortening. Use a fork to cut this into the dry mixture so it becomes softened (like wet sand).
- Spray the inside of a 2 quart baking dish with non stick spray. (could use 8×8 pan but this size was best)
- Spread cherries on bottom of pan evenly. Then sprinkle oat mixture on top of that evenly. Cover with foil.
- Bake for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until top crisp is lightly brown.
- Take out and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes so it can thicken. Scoop out and serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oops, made my own error. The 1.5 additional flour was at end of ingredients.
Sorry bout that!
Thank you, but I think your recipe has an error. It calls for 1.5 cups sugar in ingredients, but after reading the instructions, I believe it should say 1.5 cups flour in the ingredients. Thats what I’m going with when i make it.
I love the sound of this recipe, but how can we make it with cherry pie filling and do it in my Ninja Foodi??? I have a feeling that you’re probably already working on this!! Thanks for all the great recipes.