Dark Cherry-Cranberry Crisp

I mistakenly bought a can of dark cherries instead of red tart cherries, as I had planned to bake cherry crisp for a Sunday dinner. With no other dessert ideas and no time to run to the grocery store, I remedied the situation by adding cranberries when cooking the filling. This provided the tartness that was missing from the dark cherry variety. My family enjoyed it, so I thought the creation was worth sharing in case another cook encounters a similar situation.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Filling

• 1 (15 ounce) can dark sweet cherries, pitted (I used OregoN brand)
• 1⁄2 cup  whole frozen cranberries
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 2  tablespoons cornstarch
• 1  tablespoon dark rum or 1  tablespoon lemon juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon

• Topping

• 1⁄2 cup rolled oats
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄4 cup butter, softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine filling ingredients. Place over medium heat and stir constantly until thickened. Cranberries will swell and begin to pop. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Combine oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl. With a fork, thoroughly cut in softened butter (Note: I like to microwave my butter for 30 seconds until mostly melted with a tablespoon-sized chunk of softened butter in the middle. This makes cutting it into the other ingredients much easier).
4. Pour filling into a lightly greased 8" x 8" baking pan, smoothing to edges of pan, and sprinkle evenly with topping.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is lightly browned.
6. If desired, serve over vanilla ice-cream.