Monday, July 18, 2011

Cherry Lambic Crisps

In late May and throughout June, I keep an eye out for organic, fresh cherries. Conventionally-grown cherries will make appearances around town, but organic ones seem to be harder to find. I started asking around about them since I was sure I must have darted right by them without noticing at some point. Then, as if they knew I was starting to panic, a few days later, Whole Foods announced a one-day, organic cherry sale. I got to the store as early in the day as I could and loaded several pounds of cherries into my shopping cart. I tell you all of this to explain the many, cherry-filled dishes that will be showing up around here starting with this one. These individual cherry lambic crisps were shown in the June issue of Food and Wine, and that issue was full of recipes made with beer. In this case, a cherry lambic was mixed with the fruit for the base of the crisp, and dried sour cherries were added to the fresh, sweet, dark cherries. I was intrigued.

So, a combination of cherry beer, fresh and dried cherries, honey, and seeds from a vanilla bean was mixed and left to sit for 30 minutes. The dried sour cherries plumped, and juices from the fresh cherries mixed with the honey and beer. The fruit mixture was divided between six ramekins. The crisp topping was fairly standard with sugar, flour, chopped almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Orange zest was to have been added, but I used lemon zest instead. Melted butter was stirred into that mixture, and it was pressed by hand to form clumps as it was added to the top of each ramekin with fruit. The crisps baked for about 30 minutes to a bubbly and golden state.

The crisps tasted like cherries rather than beer, but then, the taste of cherry lambic itself is more of cherries than of beer. The chewy, dried sour cherries added a nice contrast to the sweet, fresh ones, and the topping's buttery crunch was made even better by the addition of chopped almonds and spices. I would definitely make this again with the exact same ingredients, but I think a version with wine-soaked fruit might be interesting too.



27 comments:

  1. Oh wow, these look fantastic! I love cherries and it's not cherry season in Australia for months. I have bookmarked this and I'll check back for the other wonderful things you're going to come up with!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a heavenly looking treat! Wonderful.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Maureen - tremendous - however, my local supermarket is brimming with cherries - imported from the U.S. of A. IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER! Im leaving then be and will wait for my mid summer farmers market to get some in and give this a crack!
    T xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. I never heard of the word "lambic" before. I was expecting to see some kind of lamb dish LOL. I'd so much rather have this :D
    *kisses* HH

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love any cherry recipe, they always look good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. These look great! Love the addition of the cherry beer. Can't wait to see a wine soaked version of this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The combination of three different cherry flavors from the fresh and dried cherries and the cherry beer sounds very intriguing. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Marinated cherries deliver incredible flavour - I bet the combination of lambic beer, honey and vanilla is sensational in these crisps. The individual servings are fun and I love the chopped almonds for topping.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! I'd like to try these but I'm not sure where I'd find the cherry beer. There has to be a store in this city that sells it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lisa, what a great dessert with cherry, specially that cherry is in season. Love the individual dishes as well.
    Hope you are having a fantastic week :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. They looks so delicious Lisa. I never made anything like this, perhaps soon.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've never tried cherry beer but I love the idea of combining beer and fruit. It seems like it wouldn't work and yet I can tell from those delicious looking pics, it obviously does. BTW, I specifically reminded Eric about the cherry sale and asked him to bring a few pounds home. Wouldn't you know, he forgot. So no cherries for me :-(

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was looking out for cherries too, esp organic ones. I bought some at my local Whole Foods yesterday since there were on sale ($3.99/lb). Better enjoy cherries as much as possible before the season ends. Seems a short season to me.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I adore cherries - this sounds like a wonderfully tasty treat!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow this crisp is truly sensational!

    Don't the organic cherries seem to taste significantly better than the regular kind? You put them to great use!

    ReplyDelete
  16. We certainly ARE on the same wave length, Lisa! :)
    I like the idea of mixing two kinds of cherries too. And when I make mine again, I'm going to add a bit of orange zest. I'm not a beer drinker so have never even heard of cherry beer....but these look marvelous!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cherries are really amazing berries. You can't get them whole year sadly and can enjoy for a quite short time..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh how I dream of the sweetly tastes of cherries. And with beer, they are scrumptious and tasty and amazing. :) arghhhhh.... Drool. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lisa this crisp looks wonderful! Thankfully, I got in on that WF organic cherry one day sale, too! Stocked up! I bet this is perfect with the cherry beer.

    ReplyDelete
  20. OMG, with beer? How did I miss this recipe in the magazine? And I have both dried cherries and fresh (newly frozen) at home. Definitely going to make this now. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love the flavor profile of this dish. Lemon zest was a wise choice.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I made this too, and I thought it was one of the best desserts using cherries I have ever had. Loved it!

    http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2011/06/dinner-party-dessert-cherry-lambic.html

    ReplyDelete
  23. golly, cherries are beautiful. i think they rival blueberries for the "most exquisite and picturesque fruit to be used in baked goods" award.
    meanwhile, cherry beer? never knew it existed.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I missed that sale! Organic cherries are really hard to find. I love the combination of fresh and dried cherries with beer in this crisp, so creative!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nice job stocking up at the sale! This looks like the perfect way to enjoy your bounty :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Cherry lambic? Cherry beer? How unusual and so intriguing! But cherries drive me wild I love them so much and the blend of fresh and dried is even better. This really is a great twist on such a loved treat.

    ReplyDelete

Blogging tips