Recipe: The cherry brown betty puts old bread to use, packs a tart punch

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As a kid growing up below the poverty line, I was always kind of amazed at how my mom could make dessert magically materialize from whatever scraps we had in the kitchen cupboards. One time it was rice pudding from Minute Rice, powdered milk, sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract (imitation, of course); another time there was a Jiffy mix “cake” studded with blackberries picked in the alley behind the apartment complex. Often, there was a warm apple brown betty cobbled together from bread heels and food bank apples, held together with melted margarine, brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It was soft, warm, sweetly spiced — comfort in a bowl.

My mom learned to make apple brown betty in high school home ec, but the dish dates back about a century earlier, with recipes for versions using either sliced apples or applesauce. Best of all, it’s another use for stale bread (I lovelovelove finding new ways to use stale bread), but it’s not really any different from a crisp or a cobbler, if you think about it. And that being true, a brown betty is also a lovely use for whatever fruit you happen to have on hand, not just apples.

Tart Montmorency cherries are ideal here, but because they’re so delicate, you might have a hard time finding the fresh article. Check farmers markets, or pack a picnic lunch and go pick your own. Of course, you can always use sweet cherries, or even berries or peaches, but there’s nothing quite like a bubbling dish of juicy, sharp tartness topped with the buttery crunch of cinnamon toast. Serves 8

Note: Look for tapioca starch in Asian markets or the baking aisle (Bob’s Red Mill has it labeled as tapioca flour). It has to be “activated” by soaking up the fruit juices before it’s heated, but provides a lovely, thick gel without the cloudiness of corn starch.

Ingredients

2 pounds sour cherries, pitted (or 28 ounces of frozen pitted cherries)

⅓ cup tapioca starch

½ cup sugar, divided

2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

6 slices stale bread (heels are fine), cut into cubes or torn to bits (about 3 cups of bread cubes)

6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Sparkling sugar for topping (optional)

Vanilla ice cream for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375° and butter a casserole or baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, toss the cherries with the tapioca starch, ¼ cup of the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, then let it sit for 15 minutes so the juices can release from the cherries and become absorbed by the tapioca starch.
3. While the cherries are macerating, toss the bread crumbs with the melted butter and remaining sugar and cinnamon until evenly coated. Distribute about a third of the bread crumbs in the bottom of the buttered baking dish, then pour on half the cherries. Repeat, then strew the final third of the bread crumbs over the top.
4. Sprinkle on the sparkling sugar (if using), cover with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the cherries have softened, the juices are thick and bubbly, and the bread crumbs are toasted and golden brown, about 15 more minutes.
5. Allow the brown betty to cool to room temperature before serving with a scoop of ice cream.

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