Cherry Chocolate Cookies

These cherry chocolate cookies are filled with sour cherry jam, dried cherries, and mini chocolate chips. They are totally cherry forward. 

Between the cherry preserves and the dried cherries, you cannot miss the amazing cherry flavor. 

Easy Black Forest Cake

This easy black forest cake is the perfect combination of chocolate cake, sweetened whipped cream, plus cherries cooked in cherry liqueur or brandy.

 
This black forest cake, or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, is an adaptation of the German dessert made with lots of layers of chocolate sponge cake, whipped cream, and cherries topped with shaved chocolate. 

Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies {Small Batch}

These Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies are deeply chocolaty. The dough is bittersweet, and the cookies are filled with semisweet chocolate chips and dried cherries.

What I love about this recipe for chocolate cherry chunk cookies is that it is "small batch." It yields just eight cookies, which means that I won't be finishing off three dozen cookies in one sitting.

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis with Almonds

This Fresh Cherry Clafoutis with almonds is a tasty custardy dessert. Clafoutis (pronounced cla-foo-tee) is totally elegant, yet very easy to make. 

Cherry Clafoutis is a traditional French dessert. In fact, the traditional way it is baked is with un-pitted cherries. Evidently the thinking is that the cherry pits impart an almond flavor to the dessert.

Almond-Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies

These Almond-Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies are pretty easy to make, even if they do look fancy.

These almond-spice Christmas wreath cookies would be great to make with kids who are interested in baking. You'd just need to have double the amount of maraschino cherries on hand so they could sneak a few during the decorating phase.

Cherry Cobbler with a Sugar Cookie Crust

This Cherry Cobbler with a Sugar Cookie Crust is so delicious served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream. 

While Cherry Cobbler topped with biscuits is delicious and authentic, I was completely thrilled with this sugar cookie take on a cobbler. I've got to admit that this cherry cobbler with a sugar cookie crust would have a hard time competing with its biscuit topped cousin when just warm from the oven. Especially for traditionalists.. and Southerners.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Pocket Bread

While these Dark Chocolate Cherry Pocket Breads may look like muffins, they are actually little crusty sourdough rolls baked in a muffin tin.

The flavor in these mini loaves is distinctly sourdough, and the cherries and the dark chocolate unexpectedly play so well together with the sourdough flavor in these tiny babies.

Yes, they could be shaped into regular loaves or rolls, but aren't these way cuter?

Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail

Prior to the Prohibition era, the Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail was originally meant to cure hangovers. Thus, the name "Corpse Reviver."

I first found a recipe for this cocktail in my 1948 edition of The Standard Bartender's Guide by Patrick Gavin Duffy (interestingly, the book does not contain a recipe for #1).

The least prominent, but the most interesting ingredient in this cocktail is absinthe. It has quite a history and ritual for consumption, and was often thought of as a hallucinogenic and associated with addiction. You can read more about absinthe here. It's pretty fascinating. It is a botanical liqueur with a very high alcohol content. It is traditionally prepared by holding a slotted absinthe spoon and a sugar cube over the absinthe and slowly pouring iced water over the sugar until it dissolves.

Granola Energy Bars

Granola Energy Bars filled with toasted oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut, and a mixture of dried fruit. 

Granola energy bars. From my kitchen. With brown rice syrup. Something is completely askew in the universe.

Brioche Flower with Cherry Preserves

This Brioche Flower with cherry preserves can be made with any sweet or savory filling. I used cherry preserves, which went perfectly with the brioche dough.

Cherry Scones

These cherry scones began with a basic scone recipe from King Arthur Flour. I added dried cherries, but you could add raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, or any combination of "add-ins."

If you place the shaped scones in the freezer for 30 minutes prior to baking them, you will get a higher rise. I'm not sure why, but it definitely worked. I guess it has something to do with relaxing gluten. Regardless, these scones rose beautifully.

These are easy to make. They are best served warm fresh out of the oven, but are also good re-warmed in a microwave for 10 seconds. They are wonderful with butter and jam. Keep any leftover scones in a sealed container.

I baked these in a Mini-Scone Pan so I shortened the baking time to about 17 minutes.

Cherry Scones

Ingredients

325 g unbleached all purpose flour

67 g sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 T baking powder

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and placed back into the refrigerator

1 C dried cherries

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

113g to 152g milk or cream (113 g was plenty)

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. 
2. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or granny fork until the mixture is crumbly. 
3. Add the cherries and stir.
4. In a different bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla, and milk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just mixed.
6. Divide the dough in two and form it into two 6 inch circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. The thickness should be about 3/4 inches. 
7. Cut the circles into 8 wedges and pull the wedges slightly apart. Alternatively, you can use a 
8. Place the baking sheet in the freezer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. 
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 
10. Bake the scones for 17 to 25 minutes, depending on their size. They are done when they golden brown. 
11. Cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, and then serve. 
12. Store leftovers wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature. 

The Avid Bakers of the Avid Bakers Challenge are continuing to bake recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. Check out how other bakers fared with this recipe. 

Cherry English Muffins

These cherry English muffins are probably the closest I've gotten to creating the "nook and cranny" English muffins for which we bakers strive. Plus they have cherries!!!

Tuscan Coffeecake

This Tuscan coffeecake was developed by PJ Hamel (of King Arthur Flour fame) after visiting an Italian bakery in Vermont. As she describes it, it was "Italian-Italian, not American-Italian."

While this is called a coffeecake, it is actually a yeasted bread filled with fruit, nuts, and lightly enriched with a bit of sugar and butter.. but not too much. It is brushed with a vanilla sugar mixture prior to baking to give it a nice crunchy glaze. It's reminiscent of panettone, without all of the fuss.

Only issue? How to evenly distribute the fruit throughout the loaf when shaping. I'll have to work on that.

Knowing that certain members of my family who shall remain nameless would probably not like the walnuts included in the original recipe, I substituted chopped dried apricots. I also substituted dried cherries for the dates called for in the original recipe. In addition, I added 1/8 tsp of Fiori de Sicilia, an Italian flavoring that combines the flavors and scents of vanilla and citrus.

Keep in mind that you will need to make the starter the night before making the bread. It can sit out on your counter for several hours to get bubbly and develop flavor. It's super easy so don't let the word "starter" stop you from trying this delicious bread.

This bread was chosen for the Avid Bakers Challenge for February. Each month, we are baking a recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. To see how other bakers fared, check out the Avid Bakers Challenge page. You'll find lots of delicious looking variations.

Tuscan Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Starter

1 cup / 4.25 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or European-Style Flour (I used the European style)
1/2 cup cool water
1/16 teaspoon instant yeast

Final Dough

All of the starter
2/3 cup water
2 3/4 cups / 11.7 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or European-Style Flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 tsp Fiori de Sicilia, optional

Add Ins

1 cup dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup dried cherries, soaked in hot water and then drained

Glaze

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water

Instructions

1. Mix the starter ingredients in a one quart bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to sit overnight, until bubbly.
2. Mix all of the dough ingredients in a stand mixer or bread machine until smooth, about 7 minutes. 
3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for about an hour (if your kitchen is really cold, you should let it rise longer). If it doesn't completely double, that's okay. 
4. Knead the fruit into the dough, and shape it into a ball. Place the ball into an oiled 9 inch cake pan and flatten it a bit, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for about 30 minutes. It should just crest over the top of the pan (the loaf will rise even more in the oven). 
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Mix the glaze ingredients and brush the top of the loaf with the mixture. 
7. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the interior of the loaf reaches 190 degrees F. 
8. Allow it to cool in the pan for five minutes. Remove it from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 

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Chocolate Covered Cherry Almond Tarts

These little chocolate covered cherry almond tarts are comprised of a flaky crust and a creamy almond filling topped with fresh cherries that are coated with a chocolate ganache.

Flaky crust... Almond pastry cream... Fresh cherries...  Chocolate ganache.... All baked into two 4 1/2 inch tartelette pans.  The combination of flavors works beautifully and makes a wonderful summer dessert for two... or four if you don't mind sacrificing the style factor and serving them cut in half. You could always add a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Summer!

While the tart is inspired by chocolate covered cherries, in this tart, the cherries are fresh and not coated with a sugary syrup.

For the crust, I used some leftover dough I had in the freezer. The recipe for the dough is the same as the one from this apple tart. Any recipe for your favorite pie crust will do. Just make enough for a crust bottom. I love this one because it is amazingly tender and flaky. It's my favorite crust recipe.

Recommended tools/equipment for these tarts: 

1. Two 4 1/2 inch to 4 3/4 inch tartelette pans with removable bottoms. If you're good at geometry, you could substitute one or three different sized pans. 
2. A food processor, ideally a mini food processor.You'll need this to mix up the almond cream filling. 
3. A cherry pitter. You can make this dessert without one.. and who needs another single use kitchen gadget? In this case, me. I love my little cherry pitter, even if it's single use. It doesn't hurt that one of my grandkids is a cherry lover and helps me pit the cherries with this gadget. I can't seem to find the one that I use available on line, but I'm sure that the multiple ones that are available are all good. Just check the reviews. 

The Tuxedo Martini

Supposedly, this cocktail was created at the Tuxedo Club in New York in the 19th century. In another version of its origin, the cocktail was part of a slew of drinks created during prohibition. These cocktails contained liqueur to conceal the atrociousness of the bathtub gin that was available at the time.