I love cherries!  Fresh cherries are great just washed and eaten raw.  Then there is cherry pie filling…I love it!  I just think they could put a few more cherries in the can though!  When we were kids, we used to put cherry pie filling on ice cream! 

My Grandma used to can Bing cherries, they are really good; however when I found out how much sugar was in the syrup, I stopped eating them!

The cherry is one of the worlds oldest cultivated fruits, along with its cousin, the apricot.  Cultivation dates back to 300 B.C.

The common cherry tree is native to eastern Europe and western Asia and is part of the rose family.

The name “cherry” originally was formed in the Greek language and in Latin means “of or for the birds” due to the birds love of the fruit.

The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans loved the cherry tree for its beautiful flowers and tasty fruit.

90 percent of the cherry crop is grown in the United States.  Mostly in Michigan, California, Oregon and Washington.

The most popular variety is the Bing cherry, which was developed in Oregon in 1875.

There are now thousands of varieties and most of the cherry crop is picked by hand!

Here is a CHERRY LEGEND that I found interesting…click on the highlighted link to read!

Japan has gifted the United States with thousands of cherry trees over the years as a gesture of friendship.  These trees are planted at the Capital in Washington D.C.

My favorite recipe using cherries is this CHERRY ALMOND COFFEE CAKE!  My friend Paula, first introduced it to me on my 21st birthday.  I have making it on a regular basis ever since!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!  Thanks Paula

PAULA’S CHERRY ALMOND COFFEE CAKE:

Topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup  All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Butter Flavor Crisco

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cake
3/4 cup Butter Flavor Crisco

1 -1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3  eggs
3 cups Flour
1 -1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 -1/2 cups  sour cream
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling

Glaze
Milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch pan with no-stick cooking spray.

Topping:
In a small bowl combine sugar and flour ; mix in shortening until crumbly.

Cake:
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together shortening, sugar and vanilla extract; add eggs, beating well.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to mixture alternately with sour cream. Spread half the batter in prepared pan. Cover with half the cherry pie filling, spreading as evenly as possible. Repeat layers.

Sprinkle with almonds and topping mixture.

Bake 50 minutes or until top is brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool until slightly warm or to room temperature.

Glaze:
In a small bowl add enough milk (about 1 tablespoon) to confectioners’ sugar to make desired consistency. Stir in almond extract. Drizzle over cake.

Enjoy and Happy National Cherry month

Chef Kathy

I got a new cook book for Christmas…just what I need, another cook book! I am going to be adding this cook book to my “can’t live without” page. I just had to share this recipe with you from Giada’s Kitchen, New Italian Favorites.

I love coffee cake! It is great in the morning for breakfast, great as a brunch dish, heck I even like it at night with some ice cream! The coffee cake recipe that I usually use is with cherry pie filling, which is really good; but I think this recipe tops the list!

Giada says in her book that cakes like this, featuring nuts and dried fruits, are very popular in Venice. There they would eat it as an afternoon snack served with coffee; but I ate mine for breakfast! It beat the hum drum cereal!

ALMOND, PINE NUT AND APRICOT COFFEE CAKE:

1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup pine nuts (these tend to be expensive so I substituted walnuts)
1 1/4 tsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 – large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour (be sure to flour or your cake will stick) a 9 inch round cake pan.

Combine 1/4 cup of the almonds and 1/4 cup of the pine nuts(walnuts) in a dry skillet and place over med. high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and toasted, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and cool for a few minutes, then pulse until the nuts are finely ground. (If you don’t have a food processor, just place the nuts in a sealed ziploc bag and roll over with a rolling pin). Transfer the nuts to a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add the butter and milk and combine, then stir in the almond extract and apricots by hand. Gently stir in the dry ingredients.

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining 1/4 cup of sliced almonds and 1/4 cup pine nuts (walnuts). Bake until the cake is cooked and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean – about 50 minutes. Let the cake cool on a wire rack. Use a knife to loosen the edges. Carefully turn the cake out, cut into wedges.

I also made a simple glaze of powdered sugar, milk and almond extract and drizzled over the top before cutting into wedges. This wasn’t apart of the original recipe; but I think it topped off the cake!

Enjoy!
Happy New Year!