Sour cherry season has officially begun!
The tree we are having view of while drinking coffee has been teasing us for days; we've gone through all of the stages, but this last one - the ripening - seemed to take the longest, or we got more impatient with the plans "oh, we so gonna ate them all up!"
The tree is about 30 years old and it's organic, its crown is just big enough for me to fit under it with all my props, lush, dense and full of red cherries.
Wouldn't that be wonderful to have a kitchen outside? Cooking inside the house on a hot summer day may be a nightmare [unless you have an A/C placed in the direction of the stove].
[food prep. outside brings flies, lot's of them]
Given that I had never had the opportunity to make food outside, except picnics and barbecues, timing said that today was the day to finally taste sour cherries, and what better place to prepare them than right there on the spot, where they grow. Aside from the change of basic kitchen scenery, natural light is always the greatest option for shooting food. The sole drawback of the whole idea is that I am probably slightly lazy carrying every one of the ingredients and dishes outside and then taking them back.
Luckily, this easy peasy rich in cacao and delicious juicy cherries doesn't require much.
You will need one cup of 2 deciliters to measure out all of the ingredients; it is also intriguing that this cake does not contain eggs, but it tastes like it does!
3 cups of flour 2 teaspoons granulated sugar a half teaspoon cocoa 2 teaspoons warm milk 2 tsp baking soda a sprinkle of salt, 3/4 oil.
The original recipe in the newspaper does not include any fruit, but I see no reason why not try this twist as well, nothing fits better than chocolate and cherries!
Sift the dry ingredients together after first placing them all in a deep bowl, milk should be added slowly to the mixture and combined well to get rid of any lumps. Do not overheat milk, that might cause flour to cook instantly.
One teaspoon of instant coffee and two tablespoons of vinegar have been included as ingredients in the original recipe.
I wasn't sure that vinegar was a good idea, and the thought of coffee and cherries made me sick, left out this time.
Add the 3/4 cup of oil and continue to softly stir. Although the oil will eventually combine with the other ingredients and create the mixture glossy and creamy, it will first separate from the other components.
Almost like bunch of melted chocolate!
It takes just a few minutes to pick the cherries, and removing pits is one of the dirtiest steps of preparation, seeing juices dripping all over makes it lot's easier and tastier, and it causes impatience.
Evenly arranged for every bite.
The sky was darkening and thunders could be heard in the distance; we are used having afternoon pours; the cake was put in the oven, preheated to 200 degrees.
It didn't take long to cool down...
This was a hit to round off the day, gooey inside and mild crispy outside, cherries remained whole, and the biscuit absorbed extra juices during baking, making the whole dish delicious. The thing in which frozen fruit will never surpass fresh fruit is precisely that juiciness, it probably happened to you that during the baking of similar biscuits, previously frozen fruit simply dissolved and turned into mush - that totally kills the taste!
[this version is made with less sugar then suggested in recipe, knowing from experience how actually sweet these kind of treats are 1 1/2 cup was perfect measure to my taste]
Can you guess what's next on cherry season menu?
What comes first on you hear "sour cherry''?
