Cherry Granola Bars

This might be the last cherry recipe. (It is time to move on to Apples!) These granola bars are one of our favorite snacks and seem to fit in with the fall-ish weather. I used dried cherries that Mandy dried in her dehydrator. Fabulous!

Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey or maple sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted or vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped or ground nuts (Almonds for this batch!)

3/4 cup dried fruit (Cherries and chocolate chips!)

Mix oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit and nuts in a large bowl. Melt coconut oil in small bowl and mix in honey or syrup, egg and vanilla extract. Pour liquid mixture into dry and mix thoroughly. Pat into 9 x 13 pan and bake 28 minutes at 350.

We discovered we like thick granola bars, this also makes them more moist, so we double the recipe, but still make it in the 9 x 13 pan. 

Last summer when we didn't have a stove, a friend shared some freshly baked bars with us. I remember smelling them and thinking I had gone to heaven! I couldn't wait to get into my new kitchen and start baking!

This is a recipe that just cries out for experimentation and imagination! Think of all the combinations you can make! Dried cranberries and chocolate chips, raisins and walnuts, cherries and almonds, we have even done tropical bars with coconut and pineapple! Yum! 

Cherry Breakfast Muffins

I am still celebrating Cherries! Today, I have a recipe that is not only cherry, but from a vintage cookbook! When I looked in past posts, I realized I had not shared the little Spry cookbook pamphlet this recipe is from, so stayed tuned for it in a later post.

The cherry muffin idea all started with a recipe I saw on Pinterest for Cherry Danish Muffins which looked delicious. But once I read the recipe I realized it was make with pre-packaged dough, not really my idea of  baking. So I took the idea and set out to find a muffin recipe. 

They turned out very well. A little different then we are normally use to in a muffin recipe. Instead of being almost cake like, they are a bit more egg-y with not as fine as a texture. I reminds me of a popover without the crisp outside. Which in my opinion makes a great breakfast muffin!

The muffins are in a vintage silver wire basket I found last fall. It has become my favorite thing to serve muffins and scones in!

I followed the recipe just like it is written except to substitute water for milk to make them dairy-free. Then I added 2 cups thawed cherries to the batter. Once the muffins tins were filled pushed a little chunk of cream cheese in the middle and spooned cherry jam on top. (When I make them again I would mix the cream cheese with a little sugar and milk so it was softer.) Or you can always skip that part and just make cherry muffins!

Cherry Cobbler

 Cobbler is one of those desserts that is pure comfort food! An old family friend shared this version with us, the name she gave it was Lazy Man's Cobbler. It is a snap to throw together!

If you don't have cherries, no problem! I have made this with peaches, apples, rhubarb and blueberries. It can be made with fresh, caned or frozen fruit. Over the years we have made it just about every way there is. 

Lazy Man's Cobbler

about 4-5 cups of fruit filling*

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups milk or water

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients except fruit together in a bowl. Put half of fruit filling in a 9 x 13 pan and pour batter on top. Spoon the rest of fruit filling on top of the batter. Do not stir! Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

(This recipe also works great dairy free! Just substitute water and margarine)

*Fruit Filling-If you are using fresh or frozen fruit, I usually make a sugar syrup with the fruit by cooking it with about 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar. If you are using canned fruit, the syrup in the can works great.

Picking Cherries

Two weekends ago Mandy and I headed up to Door County, Wisconsin to pick cherries! I so was excited! I love picking fruit and this was our first time picking cherries. Visions of jams, pies and cherry goodies swirled in my head. 

 Not only do I love the end delights of fruit picking, but there is something enchanting about a fruit orchard. The peacefulness, the sun and blueness above, the calmness of nature that surrounds one. 

We provided with metal buckets lined with a bag for picking. (I loved the buckets!) For hands free picking the bucket had rope attached to it that could be tied around the waist. We certainly needed both hands to pick there were so many cherries! They were so very ripe and would fall on our heads if we jiggled the branches too much. 

 It was a good cherry year, no ladder climbing required! I filled almost one bucket standing in one spot. Each bucket held about 9-10 pounds of cherries. We had such a great time we ended up picking 75 pounds of cherries! Lots of cherry jam and pie coming our way!

These are the "tart" variety. Good for baking and jam making. The skins are thinner and they are a smaller then your regular grocery store variety. But still oh so good!

Aren't they beautiful? The branches were so weighted down we learned early to start at the top of the branch and work our way to the tip. As soon as some of the weight was off the end, the branch would spring up a couple of inches! If you didn't get the father up ones first, they would now be out of reach.

 We were some of the last pickers. Almost right behind us the picking machines came, so fascinating to watch. The machine would shake the trees for about half a minute catching all the cherries with their wide tarp wings. 

 It is really two machines, one on the right and one on the left. The right side maneuvered into place around the tree, then the left side, then they shake. The cherries roll down the sides unto the conveyor and get  sent to a tank filled with water to keep cool and prevent bruising.

Once the tank is filled, a tractor takes it to the edge of the orchard to await collection. 

A full tub waiting to be sent to the factory to be made into juice. We played in them for a few minutes, the water felt so good! It was a lovely warm day, not terribly hot. But is it still a bit of work picking 75 pounds of cherries!

Stay tuned for some Cherry recipes!