Chocolate Cherry Crisps

Have you ever looked at a picture of food and thought, “I NEED some of that!”? Well, that’s what happened with this… I am an email subscriber for the food blog part of White On Rice Couple, and they posted this last week. Right away, I knew I was going to have to make it! Good thing cherries are on sale… ;-)
Some of you may know, I’ve been working 3 jobs for the past couple of weeks, so this was no easy feat. Thankfully, I am now only working 2 jobs, so will have a little bit more free time to cook and blog again! But, working all of those double shifts all week didn’t thwart my cooking efforts at home… I am more than a little grateful that this was an easy recipe and didn’t take a whole lot of time, because I was able to put it together after getting home from my second job at 9:00PM and before heading to bed so that I could get up for work again at 9:00AM. I even took some to work for everyone for breakfast! :-) I must have been more energetic than normal that night, because I also made two different kinds of aioli while the crisps were baking… (I’ll tell you all about them later!)

Anyways.

Of course, I did do a few things differently when I made the crisps. The original recipe was just one big dessert, which is all well and good. But, I recently acquired a couple of really cute gratin dishes (Thank you, Kohl’s cash!) and wanted to put them to good use, so figured this would be a great way to break them in! I did use the recommended amount of chocolate when I made these, except I used semi-sweet instead of dark, but afterwards decided that a little less would be better. While I do love chocolate, I also love cherries and it seemed like the cherry flavor was masked too much by all of the chocolate. Despite what some people might say, you CAN have too much of a good thing!
Also, I really like nuts in my crisp toppings, so added some of them. It’s kind of funny, because I’m house-sitting for my mom while she’s jet setting around the world, and thought of the nuts at the last minute. I eagerly scoured her kitchen cupboards looking for some walnuts, to no avail. Then, I opened up the refrigerator and in the door found the container of chopped hazelnuts I had brought over for Thanksgiving (or maybe it was Christmas) dinner last year! SCORE!! Not that I am biased or anything, but it was quite tasty… :-D

Printable Recipe

Topping:
¾ c. (100 g) all-purpose flour
¼ c. (50g) packed dark brown sugar
½ tsp. (3g) salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) (115g) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 c. (90g) old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
¼ c. chopped hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts

2 lb. fresh cherries, pitted and halved
¾ c. (180g) semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
¼ c. (50g) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. (45g) flour

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Pinch the butter into the flour, using your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add the oats, and use your hands to toss and squeeze the mixture until large, moist clumps form. Transfer to the freezer to chill while you prepare the filling.
In another large bowl, toss the cherries with the chocolate chips, sugar, and flour. Divide the mixture between 4 (0.5-quart) gratin dishes (or transfer the mixture to a shallow 2-quart baking dish), and sprinkle with the topping mixture. Place the gratin dishes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes (45 to 55 minutes for the larger baking dish). Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8 servings (or 4… Whatever! Lol)

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

Nothing says summer like fresh, vibrant flavors. Nothing says summer like fruit. I love when summer finally gets here, because that means all of the fruits and vegetables will be at their peak for freshness and flavor. And I could live on fruits and vegetables!
This is another one of those recipes in my collection that I found somewhere, and it wasn't exactly/entirely what I wanted, so I added some stuff and changed it until it was my own. I had liked the original idea, that of making a sweet salsa instead of a savory, but it just didn't have enough fruits in it for me. So, more of the fruits I like were bought and added to the mix! The first time I made this was with my best friend, Steph, and I can't even remember what exactly we were cooking for. I only remember that we were cooking a lot of food for some kind of party, and this was to be our snack while we were preparing all of this other food. We doubled the recipe, and there was still very little left over at the end of the night!


Printable Recipe

1 qt. finely chopped fresh strawberries
½ pint blueberries, halved
1 (15 oz.) can mandarin oranges, drained and chopped
1 lb. fresh bing cherries, pitted and chopped
3 medium kiwifruit, peeled and finely chopped
16 oz. unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
1½ tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Cinnamon Chips:
10 (8-in.) flour tortillas
¼ c. butter, melted or butter-flavored cooking spray
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
⅓ c. sugar

In a medium bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
For the chips, brush tortillas with butter; cut each into eight wedges. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over tortillas. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 5-10 minutes or just until crisp. To prepare the chips in less time, and with more calories, you can also deep fry the tortillas in hot oil until they are golden brown and crisp. When they are done, remove them from the hot oil to a paper towel lined plate, and immediately sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve with fruit salsa. Yield: approximately 5 cups salsa (80 chips).