Cherries are one of the quintessential fruits of summer. Sour cherries have a unique tartness, giving them an added dimension of cherry flavor wherever you use them. And, unlike their sweet counterparts, they come in a variety of different shades. Sour cherries hold their authentic cherry flavor throughout a high heat cooking process, making them the ideal choice for baked goods or jams.
Pies, crumbles and crisps are the perfect canvas for fresh sour cherries—the buttery pastry and/or oat topping helps cut the fruit’s pungent acidity.
Sour cherries have less sugar than sweet cherries and that’s a good thing because their high acidity brings a bright, vivid flavor while their sugars will concentrate as you cook them. Once cooked, they’ll taste sweeter. When you bake with sweet cherries, the sugar is so high without acidity to balance it out, so the flavor is one-note, and sometimes too sweet.
The bright, vivid flavor of sour cherries complements many other flavors, including vanilla, chocolate, and cinnamon.
This sour cherry crisp is an easy way to let this fleeting seasonal ingredient shine.
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Sour Cherry Crisp
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Filling
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In a saucepan, combine the cherries, sugar, juice & cornstarch. Make sure the cornstarch is well dispersed. Place saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until bubbly & thickened. Pour the cherry filling into a greased 8 X 8-inch baking dish.
Topping
In a bowl, combine oats, flour & brown sugar. Using a fork, mix in the softened butter until crumbly.
Assembly
Sprinkle the oat topping over the cherries & bake 30 minutes or until topping is a golden color.
Serve at room temperature with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream if you wish.
The name of today’s pastry was inspired by the round shape of the ‘taler’, a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in the currency called ‘dollar’.
Taler is a German word for ‘coin’, so the name of the dessert literally translates to ‘streusel coin’. Basically, a free form tart made with a yeast dough topped with a huge amount of streusel, sometimes filled with custard and often with a sugar glaze.
A traditional German streusel (streusel meaning something ‘strewn or scattered’ in German) bakes up into shortbread balls. It makes a crunchy, cookie-like top but is soft on the bottom where it meets the bread/cake or fruit.
Streusel was first popularized in Germany. In its simplest form, it consists of flour, sugar and butter but gets even better with the addition of oatmeal, cinnamon and nuts …. just my opinion of course!
While the origins of the black forest cake aren’t all that clear, some historians believe that its origins can be traced back to the Black Forest Region of Germany. This part of Germany is well known for its sour cherries and ‘Kirschwasser‘ … a clear cherry brandy.
This iconic creation is a layered confection of a liqueur ‘soaked’ chocolate cake with rich whipped cream and sour cherries between its layers. The liqueur and cherries give the cake an intense and unique fruity flavor. It’s these sour cherries which gave it its German name: Schwarzwald Kirsch Kuchen or Black Forest Cherry Cake.
There are many origin stories about the cake. Some sources claim that the name of the cake is inspired by the traditional custom of the women of the Black Forest region, with a characteristic hat with big red pom-poms on top called a ‘Bollenhut’. The earliest published written record of black forest cake was in 1934, by a German confectioner. Today, the cake is well known worldwide and probably one of the most popular cakes in Germany.
This black forest streuseltaler is a fusion recipe I developed combining a chocolate yeast bun with some sour cherries and streusel topping. Since we just happen to have a nice little sour cherry tree growing in our garden, why not put some of them to good use in a German dessert?!
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Black Forest Streuseltaler
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Rating: 5
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Sour Cherry Filling
In a saucepan, place & stir together sugar, cornstarch & salt. Add the water mixture & stir to thoroughly combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, Stirring frequently, & simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Gradually fold in cherries. Set aside to cool.
Streusel
In a bowl, place COLD butter. Add flour, sugar & Kirsch if using. With your finger tips work streusel until crumbles form. Spread out on a large tray & set aside in freezer until ready to use.
Dough
In a small dish, combine yeast with lukewarm water & 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Allow to sit for a few minutes until frothy.
In a large bowl, slightly melt butter; cool a couple of minutes then whisk in egg. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt & remaining sugar. Add yeast mixture to butter mixture, whisking together. Add flour mixture, combine then turn on a floured work surface & knead for about 5 minutes. Dough will be soft but not sticky.
Lightly grease bowl, place dough ball in it & cover with a towel. Place in a draft-free place & allow to rise for about 20 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place dough on a work surface, & divide into 12 pieces. Form each piece into a ball & allow to rest for about 5 minutes.
Space out the balls on parchment lined baking sheet. With fingertips, press out each ball to about 3-4-inch diameter. Add about 1 Tbsp of cherry filling to the center of each dough piece, leaving a border around the outside.
Divide streusel topping evenly between the pastries & allow to rise for about 15-20 minutes.
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Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. In the meantime, you can prepare the glaze.
Glaze
In a small dish, whisk powdered sugar & Kirsch into a thick glaze. When streuseltaler are cooled, drizzle with glaze.
Recipe Notes
- Kirschwasser is German for 'Cherry Water', and while it may be as clear as water, it packs quite a punch. This double distilled brandy made from the sour Morello cherries is, more often than not, simply referred to as Kirsch. This 'not too sweet with a subtle cherry/almond flavored' liqueur is a vitally necessary ingredient to make a traditional Black Forest Cake; for that is where both the cake and Kirschwasser hail from... The Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in southwestern Germany.
- Pomegranate juice: A rich and slightly tangy juice can act as a kirsch substitute, particularly in recipes requiring a deep red color. It offers a unique flavor that can add complexity to your dish.
CELEBRATING LABOR DAY!
Although, we have not officially reached the first day of fall (Sept. 22), this part of the year often begins with a tinge of melancholy. Even so, there are many ways to appreciate Canada’s most sentimental season.
Part of our country’s appeal is its four season’s: Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall. We are entering the season of the fall harvest and the leaves on the trees begin their transformation to stunning shades of orange, red and yellow.
Labor day week-end gives us an opportunity to enjoy family and friends before summer is officially over. Whatever your choice of relaxation is, you know good food will play a big part in the week-end gatherings.
I’m sure you are all familiar with ‘slab’ pies. If not …. a slab pie is a shallow pie baked in a rimmed baking sheet instead of a pie pan. These are a genius way to serve a crowd with less fuss and less mess. Almost any fruit pie recipe will work in this format. Just double you pie recipe, bake it in a jelly-roll pan (15 x 10 x 1) which are a little smaller than the typical baking sheet and have 1-inch sides. Most will serve 15-20 people.
For the sake of choice, I went with four different fruits in one slab pie. That should cover it I think!
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Fresh Fruit Slab Pie
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Crust
Line a 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter & sugar until light & fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla & lemon zest; beat another minute, or until blended. Add flour & salt, mix until fully incorporated, taking care not to over-mix the dough.
Turn dough out onto paper-lined baking pan & evenly press into the bottom & about 1/2-inch up the sides of the pan. Place in refrigerator to chill for at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 F. With a fork, prick crust all over & bake for 20 minutes until JUST PALE golden in color. Remove from oven & cool slightly on a wire rack.
Filling
In a small saucepan, combine rhubarb with 1/4 cup water. Simmer 5-7 minutes ONLY until slightly softened. Strain rhubarb juice into a one-cup measure. Set aside. Place rhubarb in a dish until ready to assemble pie for baking.
Streusel
In a bowl, combine oats, brown sugar & flour. Add butter & mix until coarse crumbs form; stir in pecans.
Sauce
To reserved rhubarb juice in one-cup measure, add cherry juice & 3 Tbsp lemon juice. Add enough water to make one full cup. Return juice/water to small saucepan; add sugars & cornstarch. Cook until mixture boils & thickens.
Assembly
Place rhubarb, saskatoon berries, peaches & cherries in partially baked crust. Form each fruit in a diamond shape to give it a bit of pizzazz!
Drizzle hot sauce evenly over entire slab pie. Sprinkle streusel topping over all & bake in a 350 F oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven & allow to cool on a wire rack before serving.
Basic bread pudding is one of those desserts that has become lost in the shuffle it seems. Truly a comfort food for those of us that remember it from childhood days. Most of my memories are of the classic recipe— a simple mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, flavorings, raisins and of course, some stale bread.
Bread puddings date back centuries. For the vast majority of human history most people could not afford to waste food, so numerous uses for stale bread were invented.
Today, bread puddings are still being made but they are far more luxurious, often using gourmet breads, vanilla beans, bourbon, expensive cheeses and nuts.
Having a German heritage, German recipes and food history are especially interesting to me. It seems in Germany there are two versions of bread pudding, one with apples and the other with sour cherries.
It just so happens I have some of both which has inspired today’s blog recipe. All things are possible with bread pudding so if you don’t like either, just substitute blueberries, raspberries, canned peaches, pears, dried apricots, cranberries or whatever you like because you know its all going to be good!
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Apple & Sour Cherry Bread Pudding
Votes: 6
Rating: 4.67
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Votes: 6
Rating: 4.67
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Rate this recipe!
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Instructions
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Butter an 8 x 8-inch baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together brandy, milk, eggs, sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt & vanilla. Add bread cubes, cherries & apples folding together with a rubber spatula. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish, flatten with spatula , making sure fruit is distributed evenly. Cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate for about 15 minutes so bread absorbs all the liquid.
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake pudding about 55-65 minutes or until top is golden & center is set. Nice to serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
