Crumble time!

Hello blog world! It's been a while! My life has been turned upside down by graduating from my masters and going on an extended "vacation" on the other side of the country while negotiating trying to get back to the right side of the country. Or something like that. Thus I have not had much chance to try new recipes much less make up any of my own. But that ends now! Tonight, after a frustrating, long search on google for a recipe that didn't exist (except in my mind), I decided to try my hand at creating my very own baked good. I specify baked good since I've never had a problem making up dinner entrees. But baking has always had that mysterious aura to it that scared me away from ever making something up. Substitutions? Yes. Additions or alterations? All the time! But no recipe at all? AH!

Surprisingly, I think I was actually successful. In fact, I think it was pretty darn good. I have to say I'm proud of myself, and hope you enjoy this recipe while the summer fruit season lasts.

Cherry Blueberry Almond Crumble

Ingredients

2 cups pitted cherries
2 cups blueberries
Juice of half a lemon
almond extract to taste (actually, I just used what was left in the bottle!)
cinnamon
1 tbl cornstarch
1/4 sugar (more if fruit is not very sweet)
1 stick butter (4oz), cut into small pieces and kept cold
4oz flour
2 oz white sugar
2 oz brown sugar (can do more white sugar if desired)
handful toasted, ground almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the berries, lemon juice, almond extract, a sprinkling of cinnamon, cornstarch, and sugar in a 8x8" pan (I used pyrex).
2. In a medium bowl, combine butter, flour, sugars, and almonds with fingers until butter is evenly distributed throughout. Alternatively, you can use a pastry blender, but honestly, fingers work just fine. :)
3. Spread crumble topping over the berry mixture evenly. Bake for 35 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and the topping is a lightly golden.

Yield: 6-8 servings