Sugar Cookie Cherry Cobbler

Servings 8 -10 servings

Ingredients

For the filling:

3 pounds frozen cherries
1/2 cup sugar or to taste, see notes
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
generous squeeze of lemon or lime juice
1/8 teaspoon almond extract optional

For the cookie:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Coarse sugar for sprinkling on top if desired (I use Sugar in the Raw)

Instructions

Make the cherry filling. Place frozen cherries into a large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until cherries have thawed and released their juices. Stir occasionally. This will take about 15 minutes.
Allow cherries to simmer for another five minutes to allow juices to reduce slightly.
Taste cherries and add sugar to taste. See recipe notes.
In a small bowl whisk cornstarch with enough cherry juice from the pan to dissolve it.
Add the cornstarch mixture back to the pan and stir. Continue to simmer over medium low heat until thickened into a syrup. Stir in almond extract, if desired.
Pour cherry filling into a 13 x 9" baking dish. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Make the cookie dough. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Beat softened butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add almond extract, vanilla extract and egg and continue beating until fully combined.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined.
Roll cookie dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment to a little thicker than 1/4". Store in refrigerator while filling cools and to help the cookie dough firm up.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Once the filling is cool, remove dough from the refrigerator and cut desired shapes, gathering scraps and re-rolling as necessary. Place them as desired over the filling. You should have enough dough to cover most of the filling. If you don't want to roll and cut, see notes for alternate option.
Sprinkle raw sugar evenly over the top. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and top is golden.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe Notes

*You can adjust sweetness with your cherry filling. I used 1/2 cup in this recipe, but you can start with 1/4 cup and then add as necessary. Cherries will vary in sweetness, so always taste first. You can also either eliminate or reduce the sugar topping. I like the texture it adds, but I might use a little less next time.

*If you want a thicker filling, add more cornstarch when cooking the cherries. One Tablespoon worked perfectly for me. That amount resulted in just a little extra syrup in the pan to help top the ice cream :)

*I didn't measure how much 3 pounds of cherries was...I would estimate it was about 8 cups. You don't have to have that exact amount. Use what fills your baking dish and sweeten and thicken to taste.

*Yes, you can absolutely use fresh cherries. Since you're cooking them first, you can still adjust sweetness and thickening as desired.

*If you don't like the taste of almonds, you can eliminate the almond extract from the cherries and use only vanilla extract in your cookies.

*If you don't want to spend the time rolling and cutting your dough into shapes, simply take spoonfuls of dough and flatten between your hands before placing on top of the filling. You can layer them however you choose. No fancy design necessary :)

*If you want a bigger ratio of fruit to topping, bake in a smaller but deeper baking dish. You may have cookie dough left over. You can bake that off as regular sugar cookies separately.

*Love sugar cookies, but crave a biscuit topping? Make this cherry filling then use the biscuit topping from Georgia Peach Cobbler :)

*You can store covered at room temperature. I chose to cover mine and store it in the refrigerator, reheating individual servings for those who wanted to eat their cobbler warm.