Cherry Chocolate Crumble

I still have fresh cherries, so I thought I'd make a Crumble. I was going to use my regular crumble topping, but I read Local Lemons blog on Peach Cobbler yesterday, and I thought maybe substituting walnuts for the almonds in her crumble topping recipe would go perfectly with cherries and chocolate! If you don't subscribe to Local Lemons, you should. The recipes are fabulous, and she's about to start a restaurant in Oakland where if you're local, you'll be able to enjoy the 'fruits' of her labor, rather than yours.

So here's an easy Chocolate Cherry Crumble recipe. Of course, there are so many different "crumble"toppings you can use. You might want to try topping this Chocolate Cherry Crumble with the almond topping on Local Lemons blog (same as below but substitute almonds for walnuts) or use a plain crumble topping (see recipe below). This dessert is very forgiving, so play with the ingredients.

Chocolate Cherry Crumble

Topping:
1 cup walnut halves, chopped
7 tablespoons unsalted, cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour

Fruit:
About 25 or so fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half
2 tbsp local honey
Zest of 1 orange
1 -1 /2 to 2 oz. 65%-75% dark chocolate (bittersweet chocolate), broken into chunks

Preheat oven to 350
Mix cherries, honey, chocolate and orange zest in mixing bowl.
Distribute cherry/chocolate mixture on the bottom of 8 in. pie pan (lightly buttered)

Make Topping: Combine 1 cup flour and sugar. Add the pieces of butter and chopped nuts. With your hands, mash up butter and combine into a loose dough. Break into small pieces and sprinkle mixture evenly over the top of cherry/chocolate mixture. You don't have to use all of the topping.

Bake 20-25 minutes. Crumble should be golden brown, but not burnt. Serve warm.

Regular Crumble Topping (delicious)
1 cup flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
8 ounces sweet butter
1 tbsp cinnamon
Combine  flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon until blended and beginning to gather into small balls. Break into small pieces and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cherry/chocolate mixture.