I’ve been stalking all of the local gourmet and farmers markets in search of the elusive, short-seasoned sour cherries. I knew July would be when I would get my treasure, and luckily we live across the street from the Olson’s Cherry Stand. They didn’t have any, but they had a wait list. And of course, I got a call that my 2 lb. of cherries were in on the day we had our kitchen ripped up for a minor remodel. Luckily we have fantastic friends and neighbors who offer up their facilities to me, so I went three doors down to Assana’s to make the slump. I did some of the prep at home, mixing dry ingredients and gathering equipment, but I pitted all two pounds of cherries in her kitchen, standing around chatting with her and Dan. That’s baking at its best.

Outside of the chore of pitting numerous cherries, the slump itself is really easy and quick to make. I wasn’t sure about the amount of cherries. The recipe calls for two pints. I had a two-pound package of cherries. I used them all, but it was probably too many. No matter. It smelled delicious as it was cooking, and once we noticed the biscuit wasn’t cooking all the way through, we threw it under the broiler for a short while to get it brown and dried out. We served it warm, right out of the cast iron pan, with vanilla ice cream. What a nice way to spend a Thursday evening! The recipe can be found here.

• Sour Cherry Slump (Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, p. 44)