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Hi Bold Bakers!
One of the things I love most about making crisps is how purely simple they are to make and how homey they make me feel. Another reason I love making crisps is that I can finally use all that lovely in-season fruit, like in my Skillet Cherry Crisp recipe!
When cooking, cherries lose some of their lovely tartness and become incredibly jammy and sweet, but there are a few secrets to creating the absolute best cherry crisp. In my cherry crisp recipe (which is baked all in the same pan, so easy clean-up!) calls for almond extract, which really adds depth to the flavor of the cherries, and my crunchy rolled oat topping balances the sweetness out.
Serve this warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream for the perfect after-dinner treat. Or enjoy it for breakfast with a cup of hot coffee. What? It’s fruit and oats, how is that not breakfast?
What is Skillet Cherry Crisp?
My Skillet Cherry Crisp recipe is a traditional crisp, which means it includes whole oats. And while you can make a crisp out of many fruits (like my Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp or my Peach and Blueberry Crisp), this recipe calls for cherries.
On top of that, this one is cooked in an oven-safe skillet, which means you go directly from cooking your cherry mixture on your stovetop to covering it directly with your topping and popping it in the oven to bake.
What You Need To Make Skillet Cherry Crisp
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Bowls
- An Oven-Safe Skillet. (Don’t worry if you don’t have one! You can transfer the cooked cherries to a baking dish to finish the recipe.)
How To Make Skillet Cherry Crisp
This recipe is a cinch to make, which means it’s perfect for a weeknight dessert. Here’s what you’ll do (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below)::
- To make the topping, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter into a bowl. When it is well combined, it should look crumbly.
- In an oven-safe skillet, combine the pitted cherries, sugar, apples, cornstarch, and salt and cook over medium heat.
- When the mixture bubbles and thickens, which should take 5 to 6 minutes, stir in the almond extract.
- Remove from heat, sprinkle on your topping, and bake in a 375°F (190°C) preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips for Making Skillet Cherry Crisp
- Defrosted frozen cherries will work just as well as fresh!
- Once again, don’t worry if you don’t have an oven-safe skillet! Move your cooked cherries out a skillet and into a baking dish that can go into the oven.
- Cherries and almonds complement each other perfectly — so go nuts! Add 1/2 cup of chopped almonds to your topping mixture
- Do not skip out on the almond extract!
- Use salted butter to add more depth to your flavor.
How Do I Store Skillet Cherry Crisp?
Any leftover cherry crisp can be kept in your refrigerator for up to 3 days. It’s still delicious when it is chilled, but you can reheat leftovers in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes, or microwave single servings until warmed, usually around 30-40 seconds.
Make More Crisps and Cobblers
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (3oz/85g) rolled oats
- 2/3 cup (3 ½ oz/94g) flour
- ½ cup (3oz/85g) brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (4oz/115g) butter, softened and diced
- 5 cups (25oz/710g) pitted cherries
- 1 cup (8oz/225g) sugar
- 2 small granny smith apples, peeled and grated
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- In a bowl, make the topping: combine oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and butter until well combined and crumbly looking.
- In an ovensafe skillet over medium heat, combine cherries, sugar, apples, cornstarch and salt.
- Cook until mixture bubbles and thickens, about 5 or 6 minutes. Stir in almond extract.
- Remove from heat, sprinkle topping over the cherries and place in the oven.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Hi Gemma! I used this recipe to use some of our luscious raspberries in the freezer. We freeze the ones we don’t sell in the summer. Oh my goodness – this was the best!!! Perfect, not too much sugar and the topping was perfect. So now you can add raspberries to your crisp recipe because this is over the moon!!!
Hi Gemma! I had just finished making some plum jam when you posted this on Instagram and I thought that that would be a great treat to make for tonight…even though I didn’t have cherries! So I substituted the cherries and sugar for about 5 tablespoons offreshly made plum jam, and I added cinnamon instead of almond essence. I also cut the sugar in the flour mixture to balance out the sweet jam. Needless to say, even though I changed your recipe to adapt to what I had on hand, it turned out great! Thank you! When it’s cherry season… Read more »
Can pie cherries be used. Would I need to increase the sugar?
Hi, do you think I could leave out the apples and just use more cherries, or are the apples necessary?