Cherry Crunch

For me, the fragrance of summer has several components:

Sunscreen.

Bug spray.

The plastic stink of floating pool rafts.

The rain in an approaching thunderstorm.

Lantana, honeysuckle, basil, and tomato plants.  

And the scent of fruit cobblers, crunches, and crostatas. 

 

This version is extremely simple.  Sweet friend of ours shared some hand-picked (and pitted!) Kansas tart cherries.  If you don't have any sweet friends from Kansas who share their cherries, you can buy two cans of cherries from the store and still end up with a delicious dessert.

Here's the printable recipe.

Julie's Cherry Crunch
(Generously serves 6-8)

2 (14.5-ounce) cans of pitted cherries (tart or sweet...your choice)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 (18.25-ounce) package of white cake mix
1.5 sticks butter, melted

Grease a large baking dish (preferably 9"x13") with butter or baking spray.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour cherries into the prepared pan, juice and all.  Mix together the flour and sugar* and sprinkle evenly on top of the cherries.  Sprinkle the dry cake mix on top of the flour/sugar mixture. Drizzle the melted butter evenly on top of the cake mix.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until it's bubbly and golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream for an extra treat.

*If you use regular canned cherries in heavy syrup, you can probably skip the sugar.  If you use tart cherries, you may want to ease the puckering effect with a bit of sugar.  Unless you enjoy cramps in your cheeks.  :)