When cherries are in season, the easiest way to turn them into a dessert isn't a cake that takes hours of work, but a crumble - a British dessert where the whole secret is in the crumbly crust, not in precision. Juicy baked cherries below, a crisp crumbly crust of oats and butter on top. Ready in under an hour, and practically impossible to get wrong.

For a 22-24 centimetre dish you need 700 grams of fresh cherries (set aside 10-12 with the stems for decoration), 70 grams of white sugar, a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon of cornstarch and, if you like, a little vanilla. For the crust: 80 grams of rolled oats, 100 grams of flour, 80 grams of brown sugar, 100 grams of cold cubed butter and a pinch of salt. That's it - nothing exotic.

First, pit about 600 grams of cherries and mix them with the white sugar, lemon, vanilla and cornstarch; the cornstarch will dissolve in the fruit juice. For the crust, mix the dry ingredients, add the cold butter and rub it in using only your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse sand with lumps. Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes - cold butter is what makes the crust crisp.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees, grease the dish, pour in the cherries with their juice and spread the crust evenly on top - without pressing down. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the surface turns golden and the juice starts bubbling vigorously at the edges. Let it cool a little, add the fresh cherries for decoration and serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or cold cream. Patience in the last minutes of baking is what separates a good crust from mush.