Were you wondering how many pounds of Rainier Cherries I’ve eaten in the four days I’ve been in Seattle? Well… just about six. Six pounds of cherries.
Were you wondering if you can get a terrible tummyache from too eating too many Ranier Cherries? Well… yes. Yes you can.
Wait… I just realized that this recipe is similiar to the Banana Bourbon Bread Pudding I just made. Yeesh. I’m on a baked bread and fruit and sugar kick. Bear with me.
I love a Brown Betty. They’re so simple. I imagine this is the sort of dessert I’ll make when I’m eighty, shuffling around the hosue wearing housecoats and slippers and lipstick.
This Brown Betty is cubed whole wheat bread, sugar, fruit and butter. You have that stuff on hand, don’t you.
My sister saw me cubing bread for this dessert and swore that it would be a terrible waste of cherries.
I called her a good for nothin’ whipper snapper and went about my business.
Pitting cherries is sort of like murder… without the death.
Layers of sugar, butter, bread and fruit bake up to be a simply sweet dessert that is just nutty enough, thanks to the whole wheat bread, and with just the right amount of moisture and richness, thanks to generous amounts of butter. I love cherries in this recipe, but you might want to try another summer fruit like : ripe peaches, raspberries or apricots. Win.
Oh! I had company while I made this Brown Betty. This is Charles. He doesn’t mind if you call him Chuck. He likes tomato soup and potato chips.
I was ready to shovel this Betty in my mouth even before I put it in the oven…
… but warm from the oven, totally worth the wait. I need ice cream.
Rainier Cherry Brown Betty
makes 8 servings
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks… that’s Ree… she’s rad
2 cups pitted fresh Rainier Cherries, yes you can also use regular red cherries
7 slices whole wheat bread
3/4 cup salted butter, cold
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons water
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Pit and halve enough Rainier cherries to make two heaping cups of cherries. Set aside.
Dice the seven slices of bread into small cubes.
Coat a 9 or 10-inch pie pan with butter. This doesn’t have to be perfect, just make sure the entire pan is well greased.
Add 1/3 of the brown sugar, to the buttered pan. Top with 1/3 of the fresh cherries and 1/3 of the cubes bread. Slice butter and place on top of the bread crumbs. Repeat the layering process two more times, ending with the breadcrumbs and top with the last of the butter. Sprinkle with water.
Cover the pie dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil from the pan and bake for 5 minutes to brown and crisp the bread.
Allow to cool to room temperature and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Swell.
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You made a new blog design! Cool! I think you’ve made your blog look more like… a regular website? Uhm… It’s fresh, although I feel like it’s missing the depth it once had. Hard to explain, it looks more advertisey. I do ADORE your photos though, mostly because I’ve never seen a web-page where I’ve baked 90% of what’s shown in the pictures. Tehehe.
I have a boat load of blueberries from the Farmers Market this weekend…think I could use those???? I may try anyway and see how it comes out.
P.S. Huge fan of your blog! Love reading and love trying the recipes even more. XOXO
Love the new site design!
I tried pitting cherries once. I think I gave up after the third cherry.
This looks really yummy :)
OH. MY. GOD! What a gorgeous cat! Brown Betty who? I’m sorry, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Charles. What’s his breed? Pleeease, I MUST know!
he’s just a rescue kitty. he was a stray.
Oh wow!! I love Rainier cherries so much.. not sure I can leave enough to bake with! I ate two pounds in about 2 days.. and boy did my stomach not feel so great. But it was totally worth it!
Hi Joy
I’m a brazilian fan of your recipes and I love the new site design, and I really love your photos.
Beijos
Pat
This looks delicious. If only I could get cherries here in Israel…. I will try it with peaches – yummmm!
i love the new design of the blog! love it love it! and this brown betty as well! it’s so simple! perfect for my summer lazyness!
I would never have thought about using brown bread for something like this. I’m sure it does add a nice nutty flavor. I just bought a bag of Ranier cherries at the market and they cost an absolute fortune. But, they taste so good!
ooooohhh… totally not a waste of cherries. your sista is c-r-a-z-y :)
I would *never* use Rainier cherries to bake! They’re ridiculously expensive down here (SoFla), like $6.99 a pound expensive. Plus, they taste so good plain that I can’t imagine diluting their taste with, well, anything. I have to restrain myself at the store when they go on sale. For the last 2 weeks, they were 2 for 1. I almost bought 4 pounds in one shot, but I made myself put them back.
I love your new blog design!! But mostly I just love your blog.
Also rainier cherries are beautiful and worth the tummyache.
Go get some Molly Moons ice cream while you’re out here. Or Fainting Goat. Or Full Tilt. Jeez, so many options.
Beautiful kitteh! Love his coloring, and how sweet is he looking up at you.
I tried this recipe over the weekend, but it was way too sweet for my taste. I ended up halving the sugar, reducing the bread by a slice, and cutting the butter down to 1 stick. (I also added extra cherries.) The sugar-butter ratio was much better, but I still had trouble tasting the fruit. I think I would like to try it with a bolder flavored fruit like raspberries or maybe peaches, and a denser bread than the cheapy generic wheat bread I used. Also, I wasn’t sure when to add the cinnamon, so I just sprinkled some over each layer of bread.
But what a creative idea, Joy! Thanks for sharing! And enjoy Seattle!
This turned out amazing! I even made it with dark red bing cherries instead of Rainier and a cinnammon strussel loaf of bread from the day-old bread shop instead of wheat and it came out beautifully! A total HIT with the family I usually don’t like spending time with!
I truly love the image of someone shuffling around the kitchen wearing housecoat, slippers, and lipstick. I can’t wait.
This all looks delicious – I adore your blog.
Cheers,
Anne
We, too, are experiencing “cherry-palooza”, so I made this here Brown Betty for dinner guests….it was off the hizzle! There was actually drooling at the table (always a good sign). Thanks, Miss Joy!!! :)
hmmm….That looks so appealing. and it seems to be quite easy. I ve never seen this before. That means i have to try it quickly. Thank you for the recipe. Next week I let you know if Im convinced. But I think you managed to convince me already…
Have you ever had a kitten that you named Daisy because you were sure it was a girl, only to find out later you should have named it David? Well, that’s sorta of what happened when I thought one of our fruit trees was a crabapple. Of course I had no idea what a crabapple looked like, for some reason I just took one look and dubbed the poor tree Evelyn. Turns out she’s really a handsome man named Rainier, as in Rainier Cherry.
So glad I found this recipe, I had no idea what to do with the cherries and I feel it’s my duty not to let them rot on the tree this year. I can feel by guilt going away with each bite, thanks!
hey wow far too sweet
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