Categories
Dessert

Don’t crumble under hosting pressure; make a quick and easy dessert

Quick cherry crumble lives up to its name. With super easy assembly, the dessert can be baked an on the table in just over 30 minutes.

I was remarking to some friends the other day about how Joey and I are complete opposites when it comes to socializing.

As an extroverted social butterfly, Joey draws his energy from being around people and generally loves a crowd.

For me, while I love to socialize, I tend to be reenergized by some alone time, and after a long day of hanging out with people or going to an event, I need a break to recharge.

Despite that difference, what Joey and I do have in common is that we love to host.

Planning a meal or a snack table and having people over to spend time chatting or playing games or watching sports with us is one of our favorite activities.

This past week, Joey casually mentioned, “Oh, I probably should have told you but I invited a bunch of people over to hang out this weekend.”

I was totally on board.

We discussed menu a bit, and that was that.

But then, the night before our get-together, I remembered I totally forgot to plan a dessert, which is a necessity for any big meal, in my humble opinion.

Luckily, the Internet and my pantry saved the day on this one, and I managed a delicious, quick dessert for our guests.

This recipe comes from the blog “Julie’s Eats & Treats” by Julie Evink. You can find the original at https://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/cherry-crunch-pie/. I added cinnamon and almond extract in my version.

Print

Quick Cherry Crumble

Quick cherry crumble lives up to its name. With super easy assembly, the dessert can be baked an on the table in just over 30 minutes.
Course Dessert
Keyword almond extract, brown sugar, canned cinnamon rolls, cherry crisp, cherry crumble, cherry pie filling, easy dessert, quick dessert, quick oats

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup quick oats
  • 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
  • 21 ounces cherry pie filling
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon until everything is well incorporated and the mixture looks like pea-sized crumbs.
  • Dump half of the mixture into an eight- or nine-inch glass pie plate and press it firmly to an even layer on the bottom and up the sides.
  • Pour the can of cherry pie filling into the plate, and sprinkle on the almond extract. Give the filling a gentle stir to distribute the extract, and then crumble the rest of the crust mixture evenly over the top of the filling.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the crumble is browned.
  • Serve warm or room temperature for the best flavor, but out of the fridge is a winner, too.

As you can see, this really was a quick recipe, and I was glad I added the extra oomph with the cinnamon and almond extract. You could leave those out, but I thought it made the dessert taste a bit more homemade.

This would also be absolutely amazing with some ice cream, if you wanted to pull out all the stops.

I know some people hate hosting, but despite my tendencies to be a bit of an introvert, I love opening our home to our friends and family and watching them have a good time.

Plus, it generally means just a little leftover dessert in the fridge when they all leave.

This piece first appeared in print on June 29, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

A crustless pie recipe can really take the cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.

Every week, I go have lunch with my Little for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We solve the world’s problems over school food and Uno cards as only a 13-year-old and a 39-year-old can.

Recently, we discussed the nature of sandwiches. Is a hot dog a sandwich? How about a taco? Where do quesadillas come into play?

Her assessment was that tortillas didn’t count; we stalled out on the subject of buns. We’ll have to come back to it at some point and figure it out.

I was reminded of that conversation when I made this week’s recipe, except my internal struggle was: cake or pie? The recipe author calls it a “crustless pie,” but honestly, it’s a phenomenal, moist cake that just happens to be made in a pie pan—at least in my humble opinion.

Whatever the ruling, though, it was really good, and it is perfect for all the sweet berries that are starting to hit our grocery store shelves right now.

This comes from the blog “Averie Cooks.” You can find the original post at https://www.averiecooks.com/crustless-fresh-strawberry-pie/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

Print

Fresh Strawberry Cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond extract, crustless pie, easy cake, easy dessert, fresh fruit, strawberry, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries halved or quartered, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-inch glass pie dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter (let it cool a bit), eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat the mixture to combine.
  • Add in one cup of sugar, the flour and salt, and beat until you have a smooth batter.
  • Fold in all but about 1/4 cup of your strawberries, and pour the mixture into your prepared pie dish, spreading it out evenly.
  • Lightly press the remaining strawberries into the top of the batter, and sprinkle two tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top of the cake.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.

We really, really enjoyed this one. The vanilla and almond extracts compliment the flavor of the fresh strawberries perfectly and really help the fruit be the star of the dessert. This was delicious for breakfast with a cup of coffee, too.

You could easily swap in blueberries, raspberries, etc., if you’re not a strawberry fan or your local grocery store has something else on the shelves.

If you make this, you’ll have to tell me if I’m wrong in the cake vs. pie debate. I haven’t asked my Little to weigh in yet. If she’s anywhere near the expert on baked goods that she is on sandwiches, though, I’ll have a definitive answer in no time.

This piece first appeared in print on March 16, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Fresh peaches are ‘muffin’ short of delicious for breakfast

These peach muffins feature fresh peaches (although frozen would work, too), along with a brown sugar crumble on top, making them perfect for breakfast or dessert.

I caught Joey eyeballing the bowl of peaches sitting in our fridge this week.

“I’m going to use them this time,” I promised him. “They won’t end up in the freezer until next summer.”

His facial expression betrayed a lack of confidence in my promises, so of course, I had to do some baking this weekend to prove him wrong.

I jumped into my list of recipes to try and landed on some fresh peach muffins that looked delicious, quick and easy to make, and they did not disappoint.

The recipe I used comes from the blog “Serena Bakes Simply from Scratch.” I used brown sugar for granulated in the crumb topping and doubled the vanilla and almond extracts, as well as increased the amount of peach in my version below.

Print

Fresh Peach Muffins

These peach muffins feature fresh peaches (although frozen would work, too), along with a brown sugar crumble on top, making them perfect for breakfast or dessert.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond extract, brown sugar, fresh peaches, muffin, peaches, vanilla

Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter cubed

Muffins Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen and thawed peaches diced

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin or tins with paper liners. (I ended up having enough batter for about 18 muffins.)
  • For the topping, add all the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl and stir until they’re well combined. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry cutter until it’s completely incorporated and the mixture is all crumbly. Set it aside.
  • For the muffins, beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the eggs, vanilla and almond extract, and then beat in the baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour and sour cream until everything is well combined.
  • Fold in the peaches, and then scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Fill the liners to about one-fourth- to one-half-inch below the tops.
  • Press the topping into large crumbs and evenly distribute it over top of the filled liners.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean.
  • Let the muffins cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the muffin tin. Store cooled muffins in an airtight container.

These were lightly sweet and perfect for breakfast, although I actually ended up taking them as a dessert for a get-together we had over the weekend, and they were great for that, too.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get rid of all of my leftover peaches, so Joey is still winning the argument I made up in my head. Never to be beaten, though, I have already been making sure to use peaches as my favorite snack, side dish and condiment this week.

The good news is I still love fresh peaches. The bad news is I still have about half a dozen to go.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 8, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

I could go ‘almond’ and on about this cherry pie

This cherry almond crumble pie uses canned pie filling, which makes it easy, tasty and beautiful.

Joey looked at me this afternoon and declared he’s officially done with turkey.

After taking home some leftovers from my parents’ house on Thanksgiving and having our own leftovers from hosting that weekend—and making both a roasted bird as well as one on the smoker—we have quite the collection of Tupperware boxes in our fridge.

The good news for Joey is most of the leftover meat will be combined with the broth we made from our turkey carcasses for some turkey noodle soup and go in our freezer for another day.

Just like the turkey inundation in our house, I know I’ve also been giving you a dessert inundation over the past several weeks. If you’re tired of tarts and pies, just hang in there—I’ll definitely think of something else for next week.

But if you’re like me and love all things sweet, this is another great dessert. Plus, it’s super easy to make, even if you’re not much of a baker.

This comes from the blog “Singing Through the Rain.” You can find the original post at https://singingthroughtherain.net/2013/12/easy-crumble-cherry-pie.html. I added extra almond extract and sliced almonds to my version.

Print

Cherry Almond Crumble Pie

This cherry almond crumble pie uses canned pie filling, which makes it easy, tasty and beautiful.
Course Dessert
Keyword almond extract, cherry pie, easy, pie filling, sliced almonds

Ingredients

  • 1 nine-inch pie crust
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1/2 cup cold butter cubed
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 21 ounces cherry pie filling
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Arrange your crust into a pie pan and crimp the edges.
  • In a bowl, combine the flour, extract, butter and sugar, cutting with a pastry cutter or fork until the ingredients are well-combined and in small crumbles.
  • Pour the cherry pie filling into the prepared crust and sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top. Top with the sliced almonds.
  • Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

This pie was delicious and was really pretty without any effort whatsoever. The almond flavor was a fantastic combination with the cherries, and the addition of the crunchy nuts on top were yummy, too.

Luckily, I ended up sending my in laws home with quite a bit of pie, since they had much of the family staying with them through the weekend after Thanksgiving to help them eat it, so I haven’t heard Joey declare that he’s done with pie quite yet.

Of course, if I decide to make yet another one for next week, I’m guessing I’ll hear about it. Sounds like it’s time for me to get creative while keeping my pie tins in the cabinet.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 2, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Exit mobile version