Cherry Brown Betty

It's cherry season!!!

Omg they're like Nature's rubies

Did you know that cherries are really only in season for about a month out of the year?  Now is the time to TAKE ADVANTAGE.  But how?  That's usually my problem.  I'm a happy camper just having a bowl full of rinsed cherries sitting on the counter for me to nosh on throughout the day.  I've never cooked or baked with fresh cherries because, well, honestly it's because of the pits.

I'd love to cook more with fresh cherries, but who wants to spend their day cutting pits out of cherries??  Um, not me.  But, before I rush out and get a lovely cherry pitting gadget, I'll go ahead and take the time to do this with an ordinary paring knife.  Plus, I have very badly wanted to try making a Cherry Brown Betty for several months and now was the time I was going to do it!

Y. U. M.

The recipe I found that inspired me, when I went to look at it again I was flabbergasted at the amount of butter and sugar involved.  Cherries are sweet already...do I really need to add That Much brown sugar on top of that natural sweetness??

Actually, no.  I happen to also have a recipe for an apple brown betty that uses FAR less sugar and butter.  So I decided to get creative and combine the two.

Cherry Brown Betty
Recipe inspired by Joy the Baker and So Easy

2 to 2 1/2 cups pitted cherries
4 slices whole wheat bread
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup walnuts

1.  In a food processor, combine the wheat bread, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Pulse until well-combined and the bread slices become bread crumbs.  Add the melted butter and vanilla, pulsing until the mixture looks like wet sand.

Or give the bread a head start before adding the sugar & cinnamon

2.  In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, layer the bread mixture and cherries a few times.  I think I did three layers of each.  Top with walnuts (and, if you like the extra sweet, just a slight scattering of more brown sugar).

Probably could have chowed down on this without baking

3.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Fact: I ate this for breakfast topped with yogurt.  Nope, not ashamed about that one bit!