Cherry Berry Cobbler for the 4th of July

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It never quite feels like summer has arrived until the 4th of July rolls around. Something about the parades, fireworks, patriotic shindigs, barbecues, and general merriment just makes the season, for lack of a better word, start.

Friends of ours hosted a 4th of July party (actually, as they call it, a 4th of Ju-Luau party, with a Hawaiian theme), and my contribution to the festivities was a cherry berry cobbler - sort of a variation on my mixed berry pie, in cobbler form, with a tweak or two.

Cobblers, as it turns out, are considered to be a pretty American dessert. Early European settlers used whatever ingredients were at hand in an attempt to make some of the familiar dishes from their homelands, and as such there are as many variations on cobblers as there were variations on settlers. In general, the requirements are some kind of fruit filling topped with some kind of crust, either a crumbly crust, a biscuity crust, or some combination thereof. Once upon a time, cobblers were served as main dishes for breakfast, or a first course for other meals. Eventually, they were relegated to the dessert category, and we sure do still love them!

This recipe was particularly nice to put together, as I still had a lot of cherries, black raspberries, and blueberries frozen from last summer, and this allowed me to make some room in the freezer.

For more great American-themed recipes and party ideas, check out Raise.com's 4th of July Fun blog post!

Sweet Cherry Crisp

If strawberries herald in the start of summer around here, nothing says midsummer to me like a bowl full of cherries.

Sweet cherries, to be precise.

Often, dessert recipes that call for cherries mean sour cherries, like what I'd use to make a delicious tart cherry pie. But sweet cherries deserve their due. They're really good for you, and don't require as much sugar as sour cherries do.

I found this recipe for cherry crisp in the Reader's Digest Fight Back With Food recipe book, and with a little tweaking, I made it my own.

Here's how.