Cherry Almond Cobbler

I bought 2 lbs of local sweet dark cherries from the farmers market today and could not wait to do something fun with them. Cherries have amazing anti-inflammatory and pain relieving qualities and are flat out yummy. After carefully weighing the options, and a highly democratic voting process, my husband and I decided that cobbler was the winner this time. I did not want to go cherry only, but I wanted to stick to a mainly cherry theme. Then I found it, nothing quite pairs with cherry quite like almond, which served as an amazing undertone for this cobbler. Both kids jumped in on the creation with Cali helping stir the cherry filling, and Bubba helping mix the crumble, both had a blast! The entire 25 min in the oven the entire kitchen was filled with a wonderful cherry almond aroma that made it hard to make it through dinner. I think it was only out 10 min before we broke into its golden crusted top and began to devour its warm sweet gooey goodness. Every bite was like taking one step closer to heaven... AMAZING!

Ingredients

1 1/4 sugar- we used organic raw sugar, next time I am going to try agave nectar
1 cup self-rising flour
3 tbls cornstarch
1 tbls sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
4 cups fresh organic cherries
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk - we used Living Harvest Organic Hempmilk
3 tbls shortening

Method

Preheat overn to 400 degrees. Mix 1 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, almond extract and cherries over medium high heat stirring constantly until boiling. Boil for one minute and put in an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish, keep hot in oven while preparing the topping.

Cut shortening into mixture of flour, 1 tbls sugar, salt, flour. Stir in milk. Drop by spoonfulls onto hot cherry mixture. Bake until golden brown 25-30 minutes.