Apple Cherry Free Form Pie with Crumble Topping

 

I was a baking and cooking fool on the Fourth of July this year. Most years we gather with family and friends on Independence Day ... and everyone brings a dish to share.  This year was a little different.  Everyone was busy with other plans, so we had our own little cookout at home that included just our immediate family and my mother.  Steve took the kids to a little carnival thing a couple of towns over during the day, so I stayed home and spent several hours in the kitchen whipping up some fabulous summertime fare.

I started the morning making this yummy pie.  I ended with throwing chicken (stuffed with ham and cheese - post to come soon) and marinated pork chops on the grill.  And, in between, I made my Fresh Veggie Pizza Wonton Cups for appetizers later and a bunch of other sides to round out our meal.

This dessert will now be a staple in our house.  It was so simple and much quicker than making a traditional pie.  We're not typically big pie lovers, but a couple of us jokingly fought over the last piece.  (There may or may not have been mention of an arm wrestling contest for dibs on the lone, final slice.)  My husband loved, loved, loved it!  (I've just picked up the ingredients to make it again this weekend for him.)

He compared it to "something you'd get in a little French pastry shop."  (Um, I'm not quite sure when you traveled to France, honey ... but I would have liked to have gone.)

Any berry or fruit would work in this pie.  I wanted to go the apple pie route since it's kind of an "All-American" dessert staple.  Top this with some vanilla ice cream and you've got one heck of a end to any summertime meal.  It is delicate, flakey and not overly sweet (like so many apples pies).

Serves 6- 8.

Dried Cherry and Sliced Almond Scones

 

I have a slight obsession with scones. (Flip flops, iced tea, Tim McGraw, Law & Order: SVU, amaretto sour cocktails, Adam Levine and Mexican food may, also, fall into the obsession category in my world, but we'll leave those topics alone for the time being.)

I always order scones in any little coffee shop or bakery that offers them.  And, I regularly swear that I'll double the recipe next time I make scones at home, but I always forget ... then, live to regret it.  Why?  Because most scone recipes only yield about eight servings.  That's never enough.  Ever.

These scones are tender, buttery and flaky with just the right amount of sweetness.  So many people think that scones are difficult to make at home.  I promise you that they are not.  The most important factor to making scones is keeping the butter as cold as you possibly can throughout the whole preparation.  Scones come together and are in the oven in a matter of like, ten or fifteen minutes, so they are not time-consuming to make at all.

 

For these scones, I took my blueberry scones recipe and tweaked it a bit.  And, even though the name of the recipe says cherries, I actually used a combination of dried cherries and dried cranberries today because I love the combination of the two. And, I added in sliced almonds, but you could omit if you're not into nuts.  Chocolate chips would be a good substitute or addition - yum!

Yields 8 scones.