When we left for London, I don’t think I saw even one unripe fruit outside. But ten days later, we came home to the tree loaded with beautiful golden-red ripe cherries. Even better, we discovered a second cherry tree in the front yard that was also covered in fruit! We did want to beat the birds to the fruit, but there was no Anne of Green Gables style roof climbing/picking for me this year. Hubbs safely got the ladder out and took care of all the climbing and picking. I just handed up the basket.
So this morning, with the cherries harvested and baked up, I sat down to check the blog and see what I’d done last year. I got to the part about leftover-cherry-cobbler for breakfast, and looked down at the bowl of leftover-cherry-cobbler in my lap that I was eating as I read… I see that its useful to keep a record here of what I do, so I don’t go every year making cherry cobbler (and eating it for breakfast) and thinking I’m being original.
last year’s canning
1. Last May I canned and froze cherries, with good intentions of using them over the winter. The new crop reminded me they were still sitting in the pantry and freezer. Well, it’s silly to preserve food and not use it, so I opened up a jar of last year’s canned cherries; they were delicious. (And the years’ infusing of cherries in the simple syrup made delicious cherry lemonade!) The frozen cherries were also great, and really convenient since they were pitted and then individually frozen. The lesson is, remember to use the things I preserve, otherwise don’t waste the time.
2. Confession: I’m pretty sure the reason I think the red and yellow cherries are so beautiful are that they remind me of this.
3. I’m not a big one for specialized kitchen gadgets (called unitaskers on this uncluttering site), but every year when I pull out the cherry pitter, I’m so glad I own one.
4. For your benefit and my own, when next year I have the original idea of making a cobbler, here’s the recipe. The topping was nice and biscuit-y, and the whole thing wasn’t overly sweet.
Cherry Cobbler serves 8
- 4 to 6 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted
- 3/4 cup sugar (for cherries)
- 2.5 cups flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (for topping)
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 12 tbsp. (1.5 sticks) melted butter
- 1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Butter a 10 inch pie pan or baking dish. Pour cherries in pan, sprinkle with 3/4 cup sugar.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Melt butter in a medium bowl. Add egg, buttermilk, and vanilla, whisk until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold with a rubber spatula until the flour is moistened and the mixture forms a soft dough.
- Use cookie scoop or spoon to scoop dough onto cherries. Bake until the filling is bubbling, the topping is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
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