Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Simple Cherry Crisp




We have a cherry tree in our backyard.  We moved into our house 2 years ago and this is the first time we have picked the cherries from the tree.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure what kind of cherries they were and if they were edible.  But when I saw the neighbors across the street picking the cherries from their trees, I thought we should do that too!  Many recipes for fruit crisps have a lot of sugar, butter and other fattening components.  I really wanted the focus to be on the cherries and I also wanted it to be low fat/low cal.  So this recipe is definitely not the rich, decadent crisp or cobbler type recipe that is typical.  It just gives you the taste of the toasted oat mixture on top with the main event really being the cherries.  I topped it with some So Delicious vanilla ice cream and it turned out great!  Here's the recipe.

Simple Vegan Cherry Crisp
(Serves 2-4)

Cherry Mixture
-2 cups fresh cherries (pitted)
-1 TBSP agave nectar
-1 packet Truvia sweetner (NOTE**you really could use any kind of sweetener here-I sometimes use Stevia or even real sugar)

Topping
-1/2 cup oats (I used organic old fashioned oats)
-1/4 cup whole wheat flour
-1 TBSP agave nectar
-1 packet Truvia sweetener (see note above about sweetener)
-1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Put the cherry mixture into a small baking dish (I used a loaf pan).  Mix the topping mixture up in another bowl.  Then add it to the top of the cherry mixture.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (I took mine out when it was starting to bubble around the edges and the topping was starting to brown.  Serve with non-dairy vanilla ice cream or by itself.

Here's the link for the nutritional information:  Fresh Cherry Crisp