Cherries revisited: Stone Fruit Patchwork Bake

A few weeks ago, I bought what looked like a luscious pint of cherries at the farmers market. Alas, they were kind of squishy and past their peak. Undaunted, I pitted them (using a drinking straw, and wearing an old t-shirt!) and froze them for a rainy day. Well, it rained on Sunday, and so I finally pulled out the cherries just in time to make Mark Bittman's recipe for a stone fruit patchwork bake. Since the whole point of this recipe is to form a non-perfect crust, it was my kind of dessert. In addition to using frozen fresh cherries, I also: used frozen (not fresh) peaches; subbed 50-50 white-whole wheat flour; decreased the sugar in the filling to 1/4 cup; and added cinnamon and nutmeg (with a dusting of extra cinnamon on top). Despite the less-than-food-magazine-worthy appearance, it was yum. And perfect for a cool, wet summer day.