Lately I’ve had cherries on my mind. A little background about Romeo may be helpful. Romeo is situated in orchard-ville. There are literally dozens of orchards within a twenty minute drive from my home. The orchards are so much a part of Romeo’s history that our claim to fame is the Michigan Peach Festival held every Labor Day weekend – a tradition which started in 1931.
A few summers ago I began a family tradition of picking cherries at Coon Creek Orchards with my sister. (Last year was special because our mom and grandma tagged along.) I’d like to say that after filling our buckets my sister and I go home and fix homemade cherry pies (for our husbands of course). The truth is that between two adults and six hungry children only a handful of cherries actually make it that far.
One of Megan’s class assignments this week was to give an oral report on a newspaper article. We found an article called, “Having summer fun with cherries.” In the article were two cherry recipes from the California Cherry Advisory Board. One was for Fresh Cherry Bing Lemonade and I’ll leave you with the other.
Makes 2-3 dozen
Cherry Jam
- 1 pound fresh California Bing cherries, washed and pitted (about 2 cups)
- 1/8 cup water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 cup sugar
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- 2 cups flour
Preparation
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Preheat oven to 350º.
For jam: Combine cherries and water in a small pot and simmer over low heat until fruit is tender, about 10 minutes. Add lemon juice, zest, and sugar and stir gently until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes, stirring on occasion, until thick and syrupy. Pour into a shallow bowl and cool, or alternately refrigerate until jam is set. This can be made a day ahead. For cookies: Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla or almond extract. Add flour and mix until just combined. Form dough into 1-inch balls and arrange on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using your thumb, make an impression in the center of each ball. Fill each cookie with cherry jam making sure each has a cherry in the center. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the dough is set and lightly browned on bottom. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Note: For more uniform cookies, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before forming into balls. |
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I love to make cherry cobbler in the summer. I haven’t ever gone cherry picking, I just wait till the sales start in the grocery stores. Our kids love to apple pick, perhaps “cherry picking” could be a new thing to try this year!