Back again! Sorry I couldn't come up with any other recipes. Seems that everything calls for the canned variety. You could freeze some. Just rinse and pit them and throw them in a freezer container and you can have cherry pie in the middle of winter. Yum! Here's the crisp recipe:
Cherry Crisp
Pastry:
1/4 tsp.salt, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup butter or margarine
Filling:
1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1 cup cherry juice, 4 cups pitted tart red cherries, few drops red food coloring (optional)
Topping:
1-1/2 cups quick cooking rolled oats, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
To make pastry, combine salt, brown sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter. Press into a 2 quart or 11x7 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. For filling, combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in juice. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Fold in cherries and food coloring if desired. Pour over baked crust. Combine all topping ingredients; spread over filling. Bake for 20-25 min. or until golden brown and bubbly around edges. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Now, I know this calls for cherry juice, but I don't see why you can't just mash a bunch of the little devils and strain the juice off. I have another recipe for Cherry Sauce that calls for the canned kind but I don't know why you could'nt use fresh. It uses a 1 pound can of cherries, save 1 cup of the juice, 2 Tbs. cornstarch, 1/8 tsp. salt, 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbs. margarine, 1/4 tsp. almond extract, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) and red food color (optional). You mix the cherry juice, cornstarch and salt and heat to boiling, stir constantly. Add the sugar and stir and cook until thick. Remove from heat, add cherries and remaining ingredients. This is my mom's recipe and it is great served over ice cream, angel food cake, pound cake, etc... Hope this helps!