Sweet Cherry Recipes
Not all cherry recipes work with sweet cherries - e.g. conventional pies, tarts and jams work best with sour cherries. The recipes below work well and cherries frozen according to the instructions below can be used when fresh ones are unavailable.
Clafoutis (pronounced cla-footie - one of the most famous French desserts)
2 cups cherries
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
Optionally - 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Optionally - 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flour
Beat eggs and milk and thoroughly blend in flour, sugar, vanilla and almond essences to form a batter. Grease a shallow dish with butter or margarine - a non-stick quiche dish works very well. Pour in a quarter of the batter and bake for 2 minutes in a 180C oven. Add cherries and remaining batter. Return to oven for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre can be withdrawn clean.
Serve warm or cold sprinkled with icing sugar - optionally a little cream or ice cream.
Variations: Traditionally the cherries are not pitted - if you fear for your guests' dentures maybe pit them. If they are unpitted you can leave out or reduce the vanilla and almond essences - the pits add a similar taste.
TIP: To avoid dramas getting it out of the dish - double grease it. I.e. grease the dish with butter - line the bottom af the dish with baking paper and grease top of the paper with butter.
2 cups self-raising flour
ΒΌ cup sugar
90g butter
1 cup milk
approximately 850g pitted red cherries
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons coffee sugar crystals
Grease a 19cm x 29cm lamington pan. Combine sifted flour and sugar in a bowl or blender. Rub in butter, add enough milk to make a dough. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead lightly. Divide dough in half. Press one half of dough onto pan, top with cherries, press remaining dough on top. Brush with milk and sprinkle sugar crystals. Bake in a hot oven for 25 minutes.
3 cups pitted and halved sweet cherries
1/3 cup sugar -- (1/3 to 1/2)
2 teaspoons cornflour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup water
In saucepan or Microwave dish, combine cherries, sugar, corn-starch, lemon juice and water. Cook and stir until heated and slightly thickened. Serve warm or cold.
Serving suggestion:
Pour over ice cream, waffles etc or use as a pancake or meringue filling.
No different from anything else - just put them in freezer bags (complete with stalks) and put them in the freezer. The more complicated methods shown in some books are not really necessary.
Each bag should contain an amount suitable for later use;
Avoid damaged cherries.
After defrosting they will be fine for use in recipes such as those above.