Cherry

Homemade Cherry Pie

/ Jodi / 56 Comments

Homemade Cherry Pie.

On a recent visit to an awesome new grocery store that opened up near us called Fresh Thyme, I discovered they carried big 2.5 lb bags of red sour pie cherries.  I was so excited!  This is something hard to find where we live.  You can find dark sweet cherries everywhere, and they are delicious for eating, but to make a good old-fashioned homemade cherry pie, you have to have the sour cherries.

I snagged a couple bags and was excited to get to make a cherry pie for hubby for Valentine’s Day last week.

If you are lucky enough to find sour cherries, here is the simple, old-fashioned recipe I use to make a classic cherry pie.

Bake a little love!

Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, tapioca, and almond extract.  Mix well, and let sit while preparing pie crust.

Prepare crust and place bottom layer in pie plate.  Fill with cherry mixture.  Top filling with dabs of butter followed by top crust, being sure to cut slits or a shape to allow bubbling and steam to escape.  Spread a small amount of milk or water on top crust, and sprinkle with an additional tablespoon of sugar if desired.

Place pie in oven.  Cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning.  Bake approximately one hour.  Remove foil and continue baking until filling bubbles out of top and crust is beautifully browned.

Allow to cool completely to set.  Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

Dark Sweet Cherry Crumb Cake

/ Jodi / 43 Comments

Dark Sweet Cherry Crumb Cake.

I am a complete sucker for crumb cake.  It is most likely my Achilles heel.  I will say I don’t want a piece but will sliver slices away and pick off crumb topping until the whole cake somehow seems to disappear.

When I had a huge bag of sweet dark cherries lingering in the refrigerator one Sunday a week or so ago and the desire to bake something, I knew I found “IT” when I came across this recipe I slightly tweaked from Laura at Tutti Dolce who described the cake like this:

The best kind of cherry crumb cake is a plush buttermilk cake, scented with almond and vanilla, and topped with a scattering of sweet dark cherries. Piled high with buttery crumbs and baked until beautifully golden, this is the cherry cake your summer needs.

Laura had me at “plush!”

Here is this divine crumb cake recipe.  This IS the cake of your summer needs!

Dark Sweet Cherry Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 10 Tbsp butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 Tbsp vinegar let set for 5 min)
  • 1 tsp pure almond extract
  • 1tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 lbs dark sweet cherries, pitted

Crumb Topping:

  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour 10 in. springform pan.

Prepare crumb topping by combining flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.  Add melted butter and extract and toss with a spoon or your fingers until crumbly.

Prepare cake batter by beating butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add baking soda and salt.  Combine buttermilk and extracts.  Then alternately add buttermilk and flour in three additions just until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan.  Top with an even layer of pitted cherries, pressing lightly into batter.  Sprinkle with crumb topping.

Bake 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 15 mins. in pan.  Remove springform side, and cool completely.  

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Chocolate Chip & Dried Tart Cherry Cookies

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

Chocolate Chip and Dried Tart Cherry Cookies.

I have shared many versions of cookies here at The CreativeLifeinBetween.

In fact, in some homes (very few indeed), I am known as the Cookie Queen.

And it seems no matter what kind I make, the all-time favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I often change it up a little, but when I add dried tart cherries, I know I am going to make at least one guy smile ( who happens to be my youngest son).

So this week, I made a batch that I hope will bring a smile to our busy family as we prepare for exciting days and years ahead.

New homes – growing families – lots of love.


Here is how I make them.

Chocolate Chip and Dried Tart Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

4 sticks (1 lb.) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
1 12-oz bags Nestle Chocolate Chunk Morsels (or your favorite)
8-oz  Dried Tart Cherries (I used Trader Joe’s)

Directions:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda and salt, and mix another minute. Gradually add flour and beat until well incorporated, but do not overbeat.

Fold in chocolate chunk morsels and dried cherries.  Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.  Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 5-6 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Cheers  & Hugs,
Jodi

Homemade Dark Sweet Cherry & Basil Sorbet

/ Jodi / 36 Comments

Homemade Dark Sweet Cherry and Basil Sorbet.

What could be more refreshing on a hot August day than deliciously creamy sorbet?!

And who knew how easy it is to make?

No special equipment needed.
Simple ingredients.
Gourmet flavor!

You simply make a simple syrup from water and sugar and blend with fresh fruit (and herbs if you like).

I made mine yesterday with fresh sweet dark cherries and a hint of fresh basil, but imagine all the possibilities!  Cantaloupe, Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Pear, Watermelon, Honeydew, Pineapple, Kiwi, Mango…….  Maybe a  leaf or two of mint instead of basil.  Maybe a sprig of rosemary.  Maybe no herbs.  A dash of fresh lemon or lime juice would add a lovely kick.

Here is the recipe for this simple, refreshing, indulgence.

Homemade Dark Sweet Cherry and Basil Sorbet

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 fresh basil leaves
  • 4 cups pitted dark sweet cherries

Directions:

Make simple syrup by boiling water and sugar for 2-3 minutes in small saucepan until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat, and add basil leaves.  Pour syrup into a small glass bowl or measuring cup and refrigerate approximately 1 hour until cooled.  Remove and discard basil leaves.

Place cherries in a blender.  Pour simple syrup over cherries.  Blend on high until cherries are fully blended into syrup and no chunks remain.  Pour into glass 9×13 dish and place in freezer.  After one hour, stir with spoon from outside edges to center and mash together.  Repeat after two hours.

Remove from freezer and place sorbet in blender again.  Blend on high until consistency is creamy.  Pour back into glass dish and place in freezer for another 2 hours or until ready to serve.  Scoop out with ice cream scoop or spoon.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

/ Jodi / 18 Comments

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 5

Chocolate Cookies…  Sprinkles…. Hershey’s Kisses…. How can you go wrong?!?!

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 1

Before heading away for a week, I had to make a special sweet treat for the guys.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 2

I had some Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses in the pantry and thought it was time I used them.  PLUS I was dying to eat one or two or ten or twenty.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 4

I found a recipe for a Chocolate Valentine Kiss Cookies on The Kitchen is My Playground that sounded good, but since I didn’t have “Valentine” sprinkles, I just used some fun colorful ones and some chocolate ones.  Tracey’s are really cute with Valentine sprinkles though, so check the out here if you want to see.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 3

They are really chocolatey fudgy inside, a little crispy on the outside with the sprinkles and just the right amount of creamy chocolate cherry cordial in the center for a bite or two!

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 6

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

  • Servings: 25-30 cookies
  • Print

Ingredients chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 4

  • 1 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 c. cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 8 T. (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 T. milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3/4 to 1 c. assorted  sprinkles
  • 25 to 30 Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses (or your own favorite flavor)

Directions

  1. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.
  2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined.
  3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
  4. Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in sprinkles completely covering the dough ball with sprinkles. Place balls about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Gently press down into the center of each ball slightly to make a very small indentation.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.
  6. After removing cookies from the oven, immediately place a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to cool.
Original recipe found at The Kitchen is My Playground – please check out Tracey’s yummy blog.
Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi