Meet the cherry blueberry slump. You may also have heard it referred to as a grunt. As a matter of fact, here’s my Mixed Cherry Berry Grunt recipe. You’ll see how similar the two are.
The main thing to know about the cherry berry slump, or any fruity dessert that has a dumpling or biscuit component is that they are pretty much all related, so don’t get too hung up on the names. Just enjoy them for their sweet, homey simplicity.
The Fruity Dessert Realm
When you come across a fruity/biscuity dessert, here are some general guidelines that will help you figure out what sort of fruity dessert you’re enjoying. Keep in mind that most rules are made to be broken, hence: guidelines.
- Sweetened fruit filling topped by biscuit dough and baked: Cobbler
- Sweetened fruit topped by a lattice crust: Deep dish cobbler or Sonker (Sonker will often also have crust lining the sides but not the bottom of the pan)
- Sweetened batter chock full of fruit–way more than a coffee cake: Buckle
- Sweetened fruit topped with crust that then gets all cut up and pushed down into the fruit: Pandowdy
- Sweetened fruit topped with crumb crust and/or streusel: Crisp or Crumble
- Sweetened fruit topped with biscuit dough or thick batter and cooked covered on the stove top so the biscuits/batter steams: Grunt or Slump
- Sweetened fruit layered with sweetened bread crumbs: Betty
Cherry Blueberry Slump
You can use whatever fruit you have handy–fresh or frozen–to make this cherry berry slump. I will say, though, that the sweet cherry-blueberry combination is pretty excellent. To the fruit, and this is completely optional, I did add about 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground mahleb to the mix. Mahleb is ground from the seeds of some sort of Iranian sour cherry tree. No, I’m not kidding! If you’ve never had it, it will still feel familiar to you, or it did to me, at least. The flavor is sort of a floral-almond that plays particularly well with cherries. If you don’t have mahleb, you can substitute just a touch of almond extract and maybe a pinch or two of ground mace.
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This 9″ cast iron skillet is a workhorse in my kitchen, and it’s also the perfect size for this dessert, yielding 6 generous or 8 regular portions of slump. I love my induction burner because it runs even cooler than a regular single burner. With induction, only the pan heats up and not the air around the pan. This helps keep your kitchen cooler.
I’m adding mahleb here as well because, while optional, it is a pretty magical spice. It’s fantastic in this cherry blueberry slump, but you can also add the ground seeds to sweet baked goods. I find myself reaching for it fairly frequently, because it imparts such a subtle but wonderful extra dimension to enriched yeast dough. Last but not least, you’ll appreciate this 9″ lid that can fit on your 9″ skillet. It’s made for melting cheese onto burgers, but it also will work really well to trap heat and moisture to steam your dumplings.
Okay, let’s proceed with the cherry blueberry slump, shall we?
The cherry blueberry slump is an old-fashioned, homey dessert that is pure fruity comfort food at its best. Since it cooks on the stove top, make a slump rather than a cobbler to keep your kitchen cool and still enjoy a fruity dessert.
- 6 cups fresh pitted cherries and fresh blueberries washed
- 1 cup fruit juice such as cranberry, cherry or blueberry
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground mahleb optional
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- scant 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup whole milk
In a 9" skillet, combine all the ingredients and toss well.
Heat over medium heat and bring to a boil.
Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Cut the butter into small pieces and then rub into the dry ingredients until mealy. You don't need big chunks of butter showing, but if you have a couple, that's okay. Nothing bad will happen.
Pour in the milk and fold together gently but thoroughly. Allow to sit for a couple of minutes to thicken up.
Drop the dough/batter by large spoonfuls onto the bubbling fruit. It's okay to have fruit showing between the dumplings.
Put a lid on the skillet, adjust heat to a simmer, and let the slump cook for about 20-22 minutes.
Dumplings will be firm to the touch but slightly sticky. Remove the lid and cook an additional 5 minutes to let the dumplings dry.
Cool to warm before serving with a dollop of very lightly sweetened, softly whipped cream, a bit of sour cream, or some creme fraiche. Or ice cream.
And there you have it. Cherry Blueberry Slump, a great summer alternative to cobbler since you don’t need to turn on your oven. Enjoy!
Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.
movita beaucoup says
We eat a lot of blueberry grunt in these here parts! I’ve never met a grunt, slump, cobbler, sonker, buckle, pandowdy, crisp or betty I didn’t like.
Jennifer Field says
All the fruit desserts, right?! So homey and comforting. xo