Fresh produce is one of my favorite parts of summer. What a dream to pick the fruits and veggies and then stand in the garden and eat it, that’s as fresh as it gets! My garden is producing like mad this year due to the amazing summer we are having in Washington. I have picked hundreds of strawberries, my blueberries are just ripening, and my veggies are going crazy.
Fruit trees are also in full swing! My good friend has a beautiful cherry tree in her yard and she invited me over to help her harvest. We had a productive time. The kids were hanging from the branches, trying to get those elusive “red ones” which were just out of reach and we were happily picking and visiting in the cool of the shade the tree provided. It was one of those amazing summer afternoons (I am choosing to block out the behavior issues I had to deal with…it doesn’t go well with the summer bliss I have been living in!)
I got home with three full bowls of cherries. They were just sweet enough to eat right out of the bowl and just tart enough to bake with, the perfect cherry in my opinion. Once my cherry high wore off and I had distributed some of my harvest to family members, I realized I needed to pit all these cherries, what a task! The first night I sat down with a cutting board and a knife, it took forever to do one bowl! I called on my cherry friend again and she let me borrow her pitter, now that’s the way to do it! If you have lots of cherries in your life, I highly recommend one, it made the job much more manageable.
Most of the cherries we pitted went into the freezer, but I wanted to bake something right away too. That is when this Coconut, Almond, Cherry Buckle came to be! I was in the mood to do something a bit different than a cherry pie or crisp, but not too different, a buckle was the perfect solution! It is a mixture between a cake and a crisp, yum!
I made these buckles in “individual” portions, so each person get’s their own little container of deliciousness, topped with ice cream or whip cream if they desire. It went over really well with my whole family, especially the kids, they love their own little portion, I think it makes them feel special.
Coconut, Almond, Cherry Buckles
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 1 cup unsweetened, dried coconut, divided
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 Tbs. melted coconut oil or softened butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup tart cherries, pitted and quartered
Preheat the oven to 375 and grease (using butter or coconut oil) 6 individual ramekins, setting each one on a cookie sheet. Set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor add the sugar, almonds, 1/2 cup coconut, and salt. Process until finely ground, 10-15 seconds.
Add in the coconut oil or butter, eggs, and almond extract. Process until smooth, about 5 seconds.
Finally, add in the flour and baking powder and pulse until incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly among the 6 ramekins. Sprinkle the cherries over the top of the dough and then add 1 tablespoon of dried coconut on top of the berries. (At this point you could cover the ramekins and refrigerate until you wanted to bake them off or continue on with the recipe.)
Bake the buckles until golden and they begin to pull away from the sides of the ramekins, 25-30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before serving topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, yum!
The kitchen is where I express myself. It is where I go when I need to process or escape. Cooking is my creative outlet and my stress reliever. When I am in my kitchen, my ingredients listen to me, they do what I want, and I can produce something that is satisfying, tasty, and healthy without it whining or talking back to me! Join me as I journey through life in my kitchen. 
