“He who likes cherries soon learns to climb”
German Proverb
Cherry & Plum Crisp … could there be a simpler way to celebrate summer? It’s a wonderful way to make Mothers Day special too. I am thrilled to find stone fruit lining the shelves in the local bazaar already. The first week of May and I was pleasantly surprised {read giddily ecstatic} to find the plumpest, juiciest and sweetest of cherries here already!
“Straight from the Himalayas for you” announced the ever charming vendor, knowing pretty well I see through his charm. Knows pretty well too that I cannot resist stone fruit. Year after year we play the same game. In the end the love of stone fruit rules!
This year the crops been better. Sweeter too. Deep, red and SWEET, pitting means a blood red splattered kitchen. Coloured hands, dripping juice and the temptation to gobble up mouthfuls mark this beautiful season.
The hotter and hotter it gets, the more unbearably the mercury rises, the sweeter the fruit get.The irony of life. The good and the bad go hand in hand and all proverbs fall true. No pain without gain, lose something to get something … and life goes on!
The same rings true with being a mother too. Agony and ecstasy? I constantly turn to one of my favourite authors Erma Brombeck for comic relief. Be it for mothers or otherwise, she always has something uncannily true, something that hits a home run each time.
As for mothers, there are quotes and more quotes from time immemorial. Everyone has their two penny bit about mothers. For some reason every word makes sense. It doesn’t even matter which side of the fence you’re on!
Back to our bake. Nothing much to it.Crisp, cobblers, crumbles are no rocket science. Let your palette guide you. Throw in what you like. My recipe is really a rough guide to get you to enjoy summer and make the most of the abundance of summer fruit.
Go the cherry plum plum way, or just do a cherry crisp. Do a mixed Gluten Free Stone Fruit Crisp, or then get bake up a yummy Stone Fruit Almond Crumble.
Crisps are baked with the fruit mixture on the bottom with a crumb topping. The crumb topping can be made with flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie or graham cracker crumbs, or even breakfast cereal. Crumble are the British version of the American Crisp.
My love of stone fruit is indescribable! Once you’ve had the thrill of a simple crisp or crumble, maybe you can do a Rustic Peach & Plum Galette, Mini Peach Cherry & Blueberry Galettes, Chocolate Plum Clafoutis, Cornmeal Drop Biscuit Peach Cobbler. Then again you could go the no bake way and make Peach Ginger or Plum Vanilla Granita, Tropical Fruit Verrines or a Fresh Cherry Fro Yo!
Summer is for stone fruit. So much and more you can do. ENJOY!!
Summary: A cherry and plum crisp that is simple and delicious. A celebration of summer!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 350g sweet cherries, pitted
- 200g plums, pitted, chopped
- 75-100g brown sugar {depending on how sweet or sour the fruit is}
- 50g almonds, chopped {optional}
- Few drops almond extract
- 10g cornflour
- Topping
- 25g oats
- 50g flour
- 30g almonds
- 50g butter
- Fresh cherries to serve
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Place 6 ramekins on a baking sheet.
- Filling
- Place the fruit in a big non reactive/glass bowl with all ingredients and toss well to mix. Divide between 6 ramekins, pressing down gently to level out.
- Crisp Topping
- Place all ingredients except butter in bowl ofd food processor and pulse briefly in short intervals until a breadcrumb like mix is achieved.
- Divide the topping between the ramekins to cover the surface. Gently press into place.
- Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown on top. If the top begins to get too brown, tent with a sheet of aluminum foil.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. We are happy to have them chilled too!
- Serve with cream, vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
This was the first time I had grown tomatoes and couldn’t believe my luck. They were so pretty. Nature never ceases to amaze. Fresh produce inspires like nothing else. I shot them whenever I could. They shone in every light. The shadows haunted me, in a good sort of a way that is. 
Thanks to Neel @ 
She always inspires. ALWAYS! I knew I had to make the 
You might think I was walking the obsessive line, but I really enjoyed it. You might wonder what all the fuss about a simple relish is? This relish is like my baby. I feel emotional about it, have a deep connect with it. My heart sings each day when the lad comes back from school saying ”That was the best sandwich ever. My friends think so too.“
Bruschetta with some relish, feta and fresh herbs, a cheese platter with sharp cheddar and relish, chicken ham roll ups with mozzarella relish and crisp bell peppers… the possibilities are endless. I even slathered a focaccia sandwich with it. Nom Nom Nom…
Summer has arrived in North India with a vengeance. Not yet into May and we are already hitting the 40C mark. The promise of stone fruit, summer berries, litchis, mangoes and melons lures me, but there’s work to do. I need to get the perishables into the fridge. Can’t leave even chocolate out as ‘room temperature‘ is another story!
So as I sat settling stuff into my ‘baking fridge,‘ I found many yummy ingredients. So rather than settling stuff, I settled down to bake something I had bookmarked – A Lemon Marzipan Cake. It would need to go the lime way though, as we are not a ‘lemon country‘.
I loved the Lime Marzipan Mini Bundt Cakes. The batter gave me a bakers dozen – 12 mini bundts and one a little bigger! The texture of the batter was interesting; almost thick and sticky. Must have been the golden syrup doing something in there. The consistency was somewhere in between a cake batter and a cookie batter! It did get me a little unsure but then again, it was ready to bake!
