Hamilton Cherry Crunch

One of my favorite memories of Hamilton Elementary was the delicious Cherry Crunch with Caramel Sauce.  Alice, my mother in law, worked for school lunch for several years.  This came from her recipe album. And so now I share it with you:
1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 1/2 Cups of Oatmeal
! Cup of brown sugar
1 square of margarine
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of soda

Mix dry ingredients together with melted butter.

Sweeten and thicken 1 quart of cherries
Add almond flavoring and coloring to suit your own taste.
Put of the crumbly mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish.
Then put the thickened cherry mixture on top of the bottom crumbs.
Put the other half of the crumbly mixture on top of the cherry mixture.

Bake 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
Serve with whipped cream and the following sauce.

1 Cup of hot water
2 cups of sugar
1//4 cup of Margarine
4 cups of instant dry milk
Combine hot water and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Then add the margarine.
Place in a blender and add instant dry milk, gradually blending until smooth.  Makes the equivalent of two cans (14 ozs each) of commercial sweetened condensed milk.

ENJOY!