Do you remember those sour cherries I picked a couple weeks ago? This was their destiny. I”ve been wanting to make sour cherry jam since I first started jamming and I was not disappointed, even though my expectations were high. Sour cherry jam is where it”s at! I”m sharing the recipe over on Simple Bites today along with several other ideas of what to make with sour cherries. Head on over to read the post.
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(Sweet Cherries!) Black Forest Ice Cream
This post is part of a July series on sweet cherries. To see the other posts head here.
This post is a week late but I promise you it’s worth the delay. They always say to save the best for last and I think I may have succeeded with this one.
This ice cream starts with a rich chocolate ice cream which gets a good dousing of melted chocolate mixed in, creating chocolate shards reminiscent of the outside of a Black Forest Cake. All that chocolately goodness gets layered with candied cherries, to create a black forest lovers dream.
I’ve tried incorporating fresh cherries into my ice cream before. The problem is that when you put uncooked cherries into frozen things, they freeze solid and you get an unwelcome frozen chunk of cherry, that is basically un-chewable, in the middle of your ice cream. That’s why, for this recipe, I decided to candy them, this way they remain soft and chewy, even after freezing.
If you love chocolate and cherries together you must give this recipe a go before cherry season is over!
Black Forest Ice Cream
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, no fear, David Lebovitz has a great tutorial on making it by hand.
Chocolate Ice Cream
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons dutch-process cocoa powder
- 5 oz. semi-sweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- pinch salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a medium-sized saucepan, heat 1 cup cream and the cocoa powder over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it comes to a boil. Lower heat and let it boil gently for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in remaining 1 cup of cream. Pour mixture into a large bowl, set a fine mesh sieve over top.
In the same saucepan, combine milk, sugar and salt. Heat the mixture just until steaming. In a medium-sized bowl whisk the eggs together. In a small stream, pour warm milk into eggs, whisking constantly. Once combined together pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a spoon or spatula (you should be able to draw a visible line with your finger). Remove from heat and pour through the sieve into the chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and stir everything to combine. Allow to cool completely (this is best done over an ice bath, if possible). Once cool, refrigerate, covered, for at least 8 hours (or overnight).
Make sure all components of the ice cream are ready and then freeze the prepared custard in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.
Chocolate Shards
- 5 oz. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Pour slowly, in batches, into the freshly churned ice cream, stirring to break it up into shards as it freezes.
Candied Cherries
- 1 pound sweet cherries, halved and pitted
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 drop pure almond extract
To make candied cherries: Place cherries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower heat and boil gently for 25 minutes, stirring frequently, until the liquid is a syrupy consistency. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Allow cherries to cool in syrup. Remove to a storage container and refrigerate until read to use. (This can be kept up to 2 weeks in the fridge.)
To add to ice cream: Drain cherries of their syrup (over a bowl so you can reserve syrup for something else*). Let cherries drain for one hour, to dry. Layer into storage container between scoops of freshly churned ice cream, cover and freeze until ice cream is firm.
* I mixed some of the leftover cherry syrup equally with maple syrup and served it with crepes.
Makes approximately: 1 litre of ice cream.
All recipes adapted from The Perfect Scoop, compilation is my own.
(Sweet Cherries!) Rustic Cherry Tart
This post is part of a July series on sweet cherries. To see the other posts head here.
Sweet Cherry Pie. There’s nothing quite like it. Except maybe a sweet cherry tart that’s half the work with just as much flavour. This tart is so easy to put together. The dough gets mixed and rolled out immediately, then it’s filled with raw cherries that are tossed in sugar and a few other ingredients (no pre-cooking necessary!) and then all that’s left is to pop it in the oven. The whole tart is freeform so there are no special pans needed. It’s a perfect quick and summery pastry dessert that gets you out of the kitchen in a jiffy. The longest part of the prep is the pitting of the cherries, but that’s kind of a fun activity to do while you sit out on the deck enjoying the sunshine anyways. At least for me!
This uses my favourite pastry dough for tarts of this kind. It’s sweet, buttery and flakey. And, it’s a breeze to work with and roll out. If you’re new to baking pastries this is a great place to start. It turns out perfect every time.
Rustic Cherry Tart
Pastry Dough
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons cold butter, cut up
- 3-6 tablespoons ice cold water
Cherry Filling
- 1 pound (3 cups) sweet cherries, halved and pitted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
To Finish
- egg wash (1 egg white + 1 teaspoon water, whisked together)
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
For the Pastry Dough: Combine flour, sugar and salt. Using your fingers, quickly break up the butter, tossing it in the flour mixture, until the butter is roughly the size of peas. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing together with a fork, until the dough sticks together to form a ball. (The amount of water needed depends on the humidity in your area. Just make sure it sticks together easily without being sticky to the touch.) Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, into a 14 inch circle. Transfer the parchment and dough onto a baking sheet.
Mix together filling ingredients until evenly coated. Pour onto the centre of the tart and spread out to within 2 inches of the edge. Fold up the edges to keep the filling snuggly inside.
Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 375ºF for 1 hour, or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Makes: 8 servings
Crust adapted from Taste of Home.
(Sweet Cherries!) Cherry-Almond Streusel Muffins
This post is part of a July series on sweet cherries. To see the other posts head here.
I had this idea bobbing around in my head for quite a while before I actually got down to creating the recipe. Almonds and cherries are always a fantastic pairing and I thought they would be so delicious in muffin form. I always love the muffins with a burst of fruit inside so I made a quick cherry pie filling and layered it in the centre of a muffin batter scented with almond extract. I sprinkled some streusel and chopped almonds on top and put them in the oven. The result was a fluffy, almond flavoured muffin with a hidden burst of plump cherries and a little crunch from the almond topping. Just what I was craving!
These muffins freeze well. I wrap mine up individually in plastic wrap, let them freeze and then toss them in a resealable freezer bag. Let them thaw overnight on the counter for a great morning pick-me-up.
Cherry-Almond Streusel Muffins
Cherry Pie Filling
- 2 cups cherries, halved and pitted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- pinch cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Simmer first 3 ingredients for 10 minutes or until cherries are softened and mixture is liquidy. Stir together cornstarch and water; stir into cherry mixture. Bring back to a simmer and cook until thickened (1-2 minutes). Allow to cool while you make the batter. (This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake).
Almond Muffins
For a more subtle almond flavour substitute half of the almond extract for vanilla.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Stir together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
In a separate bowl mix oil, egg, milk and extract. Stir into flour mixture. Add sour cream and stir until combined.
Spoon enough batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups just to cover the bottoms nicely. Divide cherry pie filling evenly between muffin cups. Top with remaining batter.
Streusel Topping
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
Mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix in butter until evenly coated. Sprinkle liberally on top of assembled muffins, along with almonds. Bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes: 12 muffins
(Sweet Cherries!) Cherry-Berry Jam
My favourite part of food magazines has always been the articles where they choose one theme and go crazy with it. Since it’s one of my favourite things to read, I thought it would be fun to create something like that here, on the blog. So, every Wednesday this month I’ll be posting a recipe that uses sweet cherries. It’s been so much fun creating this series for you and I truly hope you enjoy the recipes as much as I do.
I think the biggest complaint I hear about cherries every year is that they’re so good fresh, they get eaten up before anything can be made with them. That’s why each of the recipes I’ll be sharing use a small amount of cherries – so you can enjoy snacking on them but also have the satisfaction of making something delicious with them.
I have a love of making jam and a special place in my heart for small batch jamming projects. Since I like trying new recipes and ideas all the time, making smaller batches of different flavours is much more my style. This recipe makes two cups of jam – one cup for now and another to throw in the freezer for later. It takes advantage of the delicious summer cherries and berries while still leaving enough to enjoy on their own.
You don’t need to reserve a whole day for this jam; in an hour or so it’ll be cooling and waiting to be popped in the fridge. And, while it’s cooking you can relax while watching the kids jump through the sprinkler – all it needs is a little stir once in while. So stress-free and the results are so satisfying!
P.S. Happy Fourth of July to all you lovely Americans! I’ve got a last-minute dessert for you today, over at Simple Bites.
Cherry-Berry Jam
- 2 cups cherries, pitted
- 1.5 cups blackberries
- 1.5 cups raspberries
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 50 minutes to an hour, until reduced to 2 cups or until the mixture passes the jam test*. Allow to cool and then pour into jars or containers, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Freeze for longer storage.
*Jam Test:
This applies to any jam that is made without using pectin.
Place a small plate in the freezer while you make your jam. Once you think the jam is ready place a dollop on the frozen plate and return to the freezer for two minutes. Remove the plate from the freezer and push through the jam with your finger, there should be a slight film on top that wrinkles as you push. If it’s not ready yet, boil it for a few more minutes and repeat the test.
Makes: 2 cups
Adapted from My Recipes.
Guest Post: Cherry Vanilla Bean Clafouti
This is a guest post from Theresa of The Craving Chronicles. I’ve been wanting to make Cherry Clafouti for a long time so I was very excited when Theresa shared this recipe. I’ve tried a few recipes from her site and they were all spectacular, and I know this will be no different. Make sure to take a peek at her site to get your drool on and give her a warm welcome here on Kitchen Simplicity.
Every summer I go a little bit nuts when cherry season rolls around. I buy pounds of the sweet red fruits at a time and spend hours pitting them, leaving my kitchen looking like a crime scene with cherry juice splattered everywhere. They’re well worth the effort though. Cherries are one of my favorite fruits.
Instead of just stuffing them in my face this year, I decided I wanted to bake my bounty of cherries into something. As I was paging through the June issue of Bon Apetit, the cherry clafouti (pronounced kla-foo-TEE) caught my eye. Fresh cherries baked in a custard like batter? Yes, please!
Once the cherries are pitted, clafouti bakes up quickly and easily. Since I’ve never tried clafouti before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The custard was eggy and smooth and the baked cherries were bursting with sweetness. It makes a fantastic summer time dessert! I think the eggy-ness works in clafouti’s favor too, making it a versatile dish that could be served as a sweet breakfast or brunch item as well as a dessert.
Cherry Vanilla Bean Clafouti
Clafouti is traditionally served warm or at room temperature, but I found I actually preferred it cold, straight from the fridge the day after it was baked.
- 1 pound fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 10-inch round baking pan or pie dish with baking spray.
In a small saucepan, add milk and cream. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds. add bean and seeds to pan. Heat until warm and just starting to simmer. Remove from heat, and set aside. Discard vanilla bean pod.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar & zest until fragrant. Add eggs, flour and salt. Add hot cream mixture gradually, whisking, until smooth. Arrange pitted cherries in an even layer in prepared pan. Pour custard over cherries.
Bake for 35-45 minutes at 375°F, or longer until custard is set in the middle and top is browned.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
(Alternately, clafouti can be prepared in 8 3/4-cup ramekins and baked about 30 minutes.)
Serves:8
Adapted from Bon Appetit.