Michelle Darmody: Cherry season is here — celebrate with this crumble pie

Apple and cherry crumble pie

Cherry season is upon us. The glistening red fruit is piled high in the shops and are hard to resist. I find it difficult not to eat them all before I get home to bake with them.

We have cherries growing in Ireland but not enough to sustain the demand. Bord Bia has launched a new campaign encouraging, particularly young people, to eat more fruit and vegetables; Life is Better with Fruit and Vegetables . In it, they are encouraging shoppers to look for European grown fruit with the tagline Enjoy it's from Europe. It is a sensible approach as it is difficult for us to grow much of our fruit here, mainly due to weather.

Cherry pie is a famous American dessert that travels well. I love in American recipes when they call for a pint of cherries. It evokes abundance and overflowing giant baking measures. I have included a recipe for a crumble style pie here, and there is apple to bulk out the cherries. The apple adds a tartness, and you can vary the amount of sugar depending on how bitter your apples are.

Cherries are full of many good things for your body but most interestingly they contain melatonin which helps us get a good night's sleep.

Apple and cherry crumble pie

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Apple adds tartness to this cherry crumble

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 35 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• For the topping:

• 175g of plain flour

• 80g of light muscovado sugar

• 110g of cold butter, cubed

• 30g of ground almonds

• 30g of slivered almonds

• For the filling:

• 300g of cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced

• 300g of cherries, destoned and halved

• 1 tbs of golden caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Rub the butter into your flour and sugar until it looks like rough breadcrumbs. Stir in the ground almond and the slivered almonds.

3. Toss the ingredients for the filling together and spread them into a tart case or ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the topping, pressing it down slightly.

4. Place into the oven and bake for about 35 minutes until the topping is golden and the filling is bubbling.