Friday Foodie Fix
Today’s Secret Ingredient for Friday Foodie Fix is cherries. I’ve had a love affair with cherries since I was a kid. I have memories of walking through the farmers market eating an entire bag of cherries. I like to use them in ice cream, smoothies, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Yesterday I decided to melt some Enjoy Life Chocolate and dip the cherries into it. The cherries I got from the farmers market didn’t have stems so I had to add toothpick so I could dip them and then pick up. These were so addicting, I had to leave the house to stop eating them.
Cherries are said to date back as far as 300 B.C and were named after the Turkish town of Cerasus. Cherry trees are known for their beauty and if you come to visit me in early April, you can attend the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. There are so many things to share about cherries that you have to grab your Food Lover’s Companion for the rest. I’ll leave you with this last tip from the book: “… almond extract makes cherries taste more like cherries in baked desserts like pies, cobblers and cheesecakes…”
What are your tips for cherries? What recipes can you share that use cherries? I’m hoping someone will share some savory recipes besides all of the sweet ones I’m sure we’ll get. I can’t wait to try them all. Please use Mr. Linky to share and the comments section. For all of the rules please visit our Friday Foodie Fix page. Thank you for mentioning and linking to this page on your recipe page on your blog.
I could make my MIL very happy with those chocolate-covered cherries, and probably Mr. GFE, too. His favorite ice cream in the world is black cherry. I just read the tip on the almond extract … who knew? I don’t think I have any on hand. Must remedy that as I’m making a cherry recipe later and will link it up then. 🙂
Crab, next week? Oh, I do love you, Diane! Did you choose that just for my birthday the following day? 😉
Shirley
Okay, those look amazing! Chocolate and cherries are one of my favorite combinations! I often will add chopped dried cherries to my chocolate chip cookie recipe! Hmm..maybe will have to blog about those.
If I had gotten my act together, I would have made my individual cherry crumbs (cobbler) last night for this, but we lost power right before dinner and we had to do all of our cooking on the grill!
But, man, do I have some crab recipes! Both of my boys will each eat an entire crab – they love any recipe that includes it so I have had some fun with that lovely crustacean over the years!
Kim- Those cherry crumb cobblers sound great. I hope when you share that you will come back and link up. You can always find all of the secret ingredients on the dedicated page. Can't wait to see those crab recipes.
Those cherries do look tempting. I looked for cherries at the farmers market and at the grocery store. None to be found. I did bake a batch of Elana's Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies today with some dried cherries I found in the pantry. I love dried cherries and the dark chocolate cookies were even better with them. Cherries and chocolate–we must be on the same wavelength today. I took a look at the cherry salsa and I think Aubree Cherie is on to something there.
Wendy- I need to get my hands on some of the dried cherries for those cookies. I'd forgotten how much I like that combo.
I've never cooked with cherries! Post those recipes people! I need inspiration!
Cherries are definitely at the top of my list of fruits. Without a doubt I like them natural – just off the tree if possible. But, they're pretty special when paired with other foods…in pies, cookies, scones, smoothies. Yum.
Whoops! So sorry, the link I entered for the Cherry Butternut Drop Scones is wrong. The actual link is http://www.thesensitivepantry.com/the-sensitive-p…
Mea culpa!!
Okay, only a day late, but here's my version of Cherry Upside-Down Cake. 🙂
Shirley
Shirley- Wow that looks and sounds great. Now I don't know what I'll do with my cherries today. I was thinking the salsa, now this and my son keeps asking for Popsicles. So many choices. I may just sit and eat them while watching the World Cup.
I linked my recipe for No Bake Cherry Crumble. It is gluten free but could be made with "normal" flour too! I am also just perfecting a recipe for Dairy Free Cherry Ice Cream- hopefully today's attempt will be 100% perfect! I will post it on my blog when it is. It uses egg yolks, cornstarch and Marshmallow Fluff to "feel" and taste like real ice cream. I am going to make it with almond milk today and I think that should give me the smooth texture that I am looking for. Last attempt was with rice milk and it was icy.
My blog is http://www.andreaskitchen.net
Andrea- You're making me hungry!