Sour Cherry Crisp

I have an abundance of sour cherries! Some are from trees in the park, some are from the former northside homestead, and most are from my neighbor, who generously shared her bounty. This is me picking them by the handful!

The most time consuming thing about sour cherries is pitting them. I generally enjoy it, though I've found my fave thing is to sit and watch a Lynx game while pitting. I just use my fingers to push the pit out - be aware that bright red juice sometimes squirts out, covering any nearby surface (it washes off easily). 6 cups of cherries takes me about half of a game (30-45 minutes).

I have made a few different versions of this crisp - and this is my favorite version so far. I am also attempting to make a tart cherry vishniac (Romanian sour cherry brandy) that includes fermenting the cherries in sugar for 2 weeks before adding vodka, which I'll post if it turns out.

Sour Cherry Crisp
6 cups pitted sour cherries
1/2 c. sugar
1-2 T cornstarch (opt)

Topping:
1 1/4 c gluten free oats
stick of butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c sliced almonds
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Mix cherries, sugar and cornstarch together. I have made this both with and without cornstarch: I usually pit my cherries a day or two before making the crisp, in which case I can pour off excess juice (which is delicious) and thus have not really needed the cornstarch. I did use it in this most recent batch because I was making it a bit bigger. Pour cherry mixture into large baking dish (9").

Mix topping together, creaming the butter into the oats/sugar/almonds with a wooden spoon until the mixture is very course and crumb-like. Spread the topping evenly over the crisp, and bake at 375 for 50 minutes. The cherries will bubble up through the topping a bit.  Let crisp sit for 15 minutes before eating to allow it to set/cool.

This is delicious warm or cold, served with some kind of dairy/faux dairy product (cream, whipped cream, coconut cream, ice cream...you get the idea), though it is good plain too.