Homemade Cherry Liqueur
I make a lot of homemade liqueurs, but cherry is one of my favorites. I enjoy just sipping it, or adding it to other cocktails or mixing it with soda water.
It is easy, and the reward is having this lovely liqueur to enjoy even when cherries aren’t in season. I added a couple of vanilla beans to mine, but you can leave them out, if you prefer. You could also add 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla extract.
If you like a less sweet liqueur, you can add less sugar. You could use sour cherries instead.
Cherry Liqueur
2 c. granulated sugar
4 c. vodka or brandy
1 lb. large, washed, stemmed and pitted sweet cherries
2 (6-7 inch) vanilla beans, broken into several pieces, optional
Place sugar and vodka or brandy in a large jar- I used a half gallon canning jar. Stir until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add cherries and vanilla and cover jar. Do not stir. Place in a cool, dark place for 3 months, without stirring or shaking. Strain and filter. Divine! Makes 4-6 cups.
Cheesy Cherry-Blueberry Coffee Cake
If you need a really special dessert for your next party or cookout, consider making this cheesy cherry-blueberry coffee cake. It is one of my favorite coffee cake recipes ever. The cake is not too sweet, and the combination of cream cheese, with the fruit reminds me of a cherry-blueberry blintz.
The streusal topping adds a nice little crunch.
It is fine served all on its own. You can also serve it with ice cream or whipped cream. You can also top with more blueberries and cherries.
While I think of this cake as a wonderful dessert, it can be served as a breakfast or brunch dish.
As if this weren’t enough- this cake freezes great. Who are we kidding? There won’t be any leftovers – but you could freeze them, if you had some.
So here is the recipe. Enjoy!!
Cheesy Cherry-Blueberry Coffee Cake
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. milk
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 c. pitted and coarsely chopped cherries
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 t. grated lemon peel
Topping:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 t. grated lemon peel
2 T. butter
Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 13×9 inch baking dish. Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Combine 2 cups of the flour with baking powder and salt and beat into batter alternately with the milk. Toss fruit with the remaining flour and fold into the batter along with the cheese and lemon rind. Pour batter into prepared pan. Combine sugar, flour and lemon peel for topping and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter and bake for about 45 minutes. Use toothpick to test for doneness. Serves 12.
Fresh Peach Salsa
This salsa makes a great topper for grilled meats or fish. It is also fun to serve with chips. While salsa may traditionally be made with tomatoes, there are other options. The peaches give the salsa a great natural sweetness. It is so colorful.
I used really ripe peaches, which are tough to peel. To help peel them, I placed the peaches in boiling water for a minute. Then I put them in cold water. Once they were cool enough to handle, they peeled easily.
I used 5 peaches and ended up with almost 2 cups of prepared fruit. You might need more or less, depending on the size of the fruit.
You can make the salsa as spicy as you like. I added a jalapeno pepper and some hot sauce. I tasted the salsa 30 minutes after I made it and added a little more hot sauce.
Fresh Peach Salsa
4-5 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
½ c. minced sweet onion
½ c. minced sweet pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2-3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1t. hot sauce, or to taste
zest and juice from 1 lemon, you could use a lime instead
salt and pepper to taste, don’t be afraid to give this dish a good bit of salt
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until mixed. Check seasonings. Chill for at least 30 minutes and taste again- you will likely add more seasoning. Serve over grilled meats or with chips.
Peach Ice Cream- Recipe #2
Yesterday I posted my peach ice cream recipe, using a custard ( egg ) base. Today, I thought I would post another recipe for peach ice cream, since I mentioned it in the post. In this recipe, only the peaches are cooked, to soften them up before freezing. The rest of the base is not. This recipe contains no eggs. The texture is lovely, but different from an egg-based ice cream. The color is different, too. I just thought it would be nice to give you a couple of options.
Peaches are one of those fruits that make me think summer. We had a couple of peach trees in the backyard when I was growing up. I remember one year, my dad had to prop up the branches so they wouldn’t break under the weight of all those peaches. Homemade ice cream is all about summer, too. Fruit-studded ice cream seems like the perfect dessert for a warm summer day.
When using peaches in ice cream, you don’t want to just cut up the fruit and drop it in. If you do that, the peaches will form ice crystals and become quite hard, sort of like peachy ice cubes. Nobody want that in their ice cream. Better to cook the peaches first, like I did for the peaches in this recipe. That way, when you put them in the ice cream, they get frozen, but in a softer way. True of other fruits you might add to any ice cream recipe.
Homemade Peach Ice Cream
3-4 ripe peaches
2 c. half and half
1 c. sugar, or to taste
1 T. vanilla
1 T. orange zest
Peel and dice peaches. Cook in a small amount of water and a little sugar until tender. If you don’t precook the peaches they will be icy and hard in the ice cream. Cool and drain. In bowl combine half and half and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Place in ice cream machine and process according to manufacturer’s directions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker place mixture in a shallow pan and freeze solid. Remove from freezer and allow to soften a little at room temperature then break up into chunks and place in a mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer until smooth and return to freezer. You can also process in a food processor. Makes 1 quart.
Peach Ice Cream-Custard Style
If there is a favorite summer treat for me- it is ice cream. I love to go to the local ice cream shop for a sundae or cone, and I love to make my own ice cream. When I found myself with a few extra peaches, I knew I wanted to use some of them to make ice cream. Peach ice cream is one of my absolute favorites.
I have made a peach ice cream before. This one is different because I made a custard base for my ice cream this time. A custard base just means that egg yolks, or eggs, are incorporated into the base of the ice cream. The base is heated up, so the eggs get cooked. In the other recipe, there are no eggs.
The custard base gives you a creamier end product. I wouldn’t say you have to make a custard-based ice cream for it to be good. They are just different. The custard base is a bit more work, but still not a difficult recipe at all.
This peach ice cream came out so good. Really creamy. I had perfectly ripe peaches. They were a little small, so I used 5 of them in this batch of ice cream. I used a vegetable peeler to remove the skins. I think that the skins get tough once cooked. Leave them on, if you prefer. I cut them off the pits, being sure to save all the juices, too. Then I just diced the peaches up pretty small.
If I just dumped the raw peaches into the ice cream base and froze it, they would end up as hard peachy cubes. By cooking the peaches first, they stay softer in the ice cream. This is true of any fruit ice cream. Using fruit that had been frozen, then thawed, will also work. I added a little vanilla, too. Not enough to overpower the peaches, but to add another layer of flavor.
So here is the recipe. Enjoy!!
Peach Ice Cream- Custard Style
4-5 peaches- mine were small- I used 5
1½ c. half and half
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1 c. sugar or to taste
1 t. vanilla
Peel the peaches. Cut the peaches to remove the pits. Discard pits. Dice up the peaches over a bowl to catch all the juices. In medium saucepan, place the peaches with the peach juice, half and half and cream. Over medium low heat, bring up to a simmer. Stir every few minutes, to prevent scorching. Let the mixture cook a few minutes, to soften the peaches. In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Add ½ cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs, whisking in well. Add another ½ cup of the cream mixture, whisking again. Add one last ½ cup of the hot cream and again, whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the cream and while whisking, simmer until mixture starts to thicken and will coat the back of a spoon. This will take about 5 minutes. Don’t use too high a heat, or you will scramble your eggs. Mixture should reach 160 degrees to be sure eggs are cooked. Remove from heat. Pour mixture into a bowl. Allow ice cream base to cool down, then chill in fridge. Chilled mixture can be frozen in an ice cream maker once cold- in a few hours- or even the next day. Once mixture has been frozen in ice cream maker, place in a container and freeze until ready to serve. Makes about 5-6 cups of ice cream.
Cherry Pie “Blintzes”
In cooking camp yesterday we made these as our last dish of the week. One of the girls said it was her favorite thing from the whole week. These are not traditional blintzes. The secret is that the blintzes are made with flour tortillas instead of traditional crepes. I love the texture flour tortillas take on when softened in milk. They really work well, and with a fraction of the work of making crepes. They make a great dessert. They dusted them with powdered sugar, but you can also top them with ice cream or whipped cream. They remind me a warm cherry pie.
In camp we made some with apple pie filling, too. Those were topped with a drizzle of caramel sauce or cinnamon sugar.
Blintzes also make a great breakfast or brunch dish.
I didn’t use a lot of sugar in my pie filling because I was using sweet cherries. I also think with the powdered sugar on top, they are sweet enough. Adjust the sugar in the recipe to suit your own taste. If using tart cherries, you might want to add a little more sugar.
So here is the recipe. I think you will love them as much as I do.
Cherry Pie Blintzes
Cherry Pie Filling
4 c. pitted sweet or sour cherries
1½ c. water
½ c. sugar- use a little more if using tart cherries
Pinch of salt
¼ c. cornstarch
Place cherries in a saucepan with 1 cup of the water, sugar and the salt. Bring to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with the ½ cup of water and add to the cherry mixture, cooking until just thickened. Cool. Makes about 4 cups.
Blintzes
8-10 Flour tortillas
½ c. Milk
4 T. Butter
Powdered sugar
Make the pie filling ahead of time, so it is cooled down. Place the tortillas in a shallow pan and pour milk over them. Turn them to make sure they all get covered in the milk. Let the tortillas soften for 5-10 minutes. Place a tortilla on a flat surface and spoon about ½ cup of the pie filling in the middle. Fold sides in until they almost touch in the middle. Roll up from the bottom to form a little bundle. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Heat butter in saucepan over medium heat and brown the blintzes, turning over as needed to brown on both sides. Start them off seam side down, to keep them from popping open. Place on serving dish and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm. Makes 8-10.
Browning in the skillet
Peanut Butter and Jelly Hand Pies
These little pies are a fun way to take peanut butter and jelly on the road. They are just cut out circles of pie crust, filled with peanut butter and jelly, sealed, then baked. Very easy to make, and a fun cooking project for kids as well as adults. We made them in cooking camp yesterday. Since my camps are nut-free we just made jelly hand pies. The kids loved them.
I prefer home made pie crust, but use store bought, if you like. We used the recipe for Eva’s Kolachy, listed below. It makes enough for more hand pies than a box of pie crusts, so make more of use the extra dough for something else.
A nice treat, these little pies can be a snack, breakfast, lunch or even a dessert.
They are also great to take along for road trips. I have filled them with peanut butter and a few chocolate chips for a fun dessert. You can use almond or cashew butter, if you prefer.
Get creative and have fun.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Mini Pies
1 (15 oz.) package pie crusts or homemade crust for 2 pies*
1 egg
1 T. water
½ c. peanut butter, about
½ c. preserves, any flavor or pie filling, about
Powdered sugar, optional
Preheat oven to 400-degrees. On lightly floured surface roll out one of the crusts into a 12-inch circle. Using a 2½-inch round cookie cutter cut out about 12-14 circles, re-rolling scraps and set aside. Roll out second piece of dough so you will have about 24-28 circles altogether. Beat together water and egg and set aside. Place a circle on work surface and place 1 teaspoon each of peanut butter and preserves in the center. Brush edges of the circle with egg wash. Place second circle on top and press edges together to seal. Prick crust with a fork a few times. Repeat with remaining circles. Place “pies” on lightly greased baking sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
Eva’s Kolachy
Dough:
3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 c. butter*
3 eggs
2 pkts. Yeast
½ c. warm milk
Filling:
Assorted pie fillings, jams, sweetened cream cheese or ricotta cheese. You will need about three cups of filling.
In mixing bowl, combine flour with baking powder and salt. Cut butter into flour until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Set aside. Place eggs in a small bowl and beat until smooth. In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add to egg mixture and stir to combine. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. If mixture is sticky add a small amount of flour. Roll dough out on floured board. Thinner the better, as this dough will puff some when baked. Cut into squares- or whatever shape you like. I did 2-inch squares. Place a spoonful of filling into center of each cookie. Fold up two of the corners and press firmly to seal. Fold over and press seam again. These like to pop open when baking, so the second fold over and pressing helps them to stay closed. Some people like to add a bit of egg wash or milk to the tops to help them seal better. I just squeeze together and fold twice. Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet, about an inch apart. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cook on a rack. Dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar or with a powdered sugar glaze. Makes about 5-6 dozen.
*The original recipe called for shortening. Tia and I both decided butter was better!! That is the only change we made to Eva’s original recipe.
Blackberry Jelly
I recently purchased some beautiful blackberries. I was busy, so a lot of them ended up in the freezer to use and enjoy later.
I decided to use some of them to make blackberry jelly. I had recently made jam and pie filling. This time I wanted a seedless end product.
It came out perfect. Sweet and tart, and full of the flavor of summer. Jelly was a little more work than jam, but worth every bit of effort.
I first cooked the berries to extract the juice, then used that juice to make the jelly. While it was a hot day to be making jelly- the aroma in the house made it all worth it.
Blackberry Jelly
3 quarts blackberries*
1/2 c. water
1 box powdered pectin
5 c. sugar
Place the berries in a pot and use a potato masher to crush the berries. Add the water and simmer until the berries are soft. Strain out the solids and then pour the juice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify. You should end up with about 4-5 cups of juice. Place juice in a pot and add the pectin. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. Add the sugar and return mixture to the boil, again stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Ladle mixture into clean, hot jelly jars and fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Seal and repeat with remaining jelly. Place in a boiling water bath and process 10 minutes. Makes 6-7 half pints.
* Best if some of the berries are a little under ripe. Under ripe fruit is higher in natural pectin.
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
We made these in cooking camp yesterday. They were still warm at the end of class so we will be frosting them today. The kids were a little curious about adding zucchini to a dessert, but I think they will be pleasantly surprised.
I like the recipe because the zucchini makes the cakes nice and moist. They aren’t that sweet, either. I used a simple vanilla frosting but you could just dust them with powdered sugar or perhaps use a cream cheese frosting. I have a friend who likes me to leave them plain. She prefers them un-frosted. Frosted or not these are a simple and tasty recipe that can make a dessert even the zucchini haters should love.
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
½ c. butter
½ c. oil
1 ¼ c. sugar
2 eggs
½ c. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
2 ½ c. flour
1/3 c. cocoa
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
2 c. shredded zucchini
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 30 muffin pans with paper liners and set aside. In mixing bowl combine butter, oil, sugar and eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture- beating until smooth. Stir in zucchini. Scoop batter into cupcake paper lined pans, filling about 2/3 full. You will get about 30, I sometimes get more. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool and frost. Makes 30-36.
I used the Classic Vanilla Frosting recipe below, but doubled the recipe.
Classic Vanilla Buttercream
3/4 cup butter
6 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
Beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 3 cups of the sifted confectioners’ sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in the vanilla, salt, and 1/3 cup of the milk. Gradually beat in the 3 remaining cups of confectioner’s sugar. Beat in additional milk (1 to 2 tablespoons) if needed, to make frosting of spreading consistency. If desired tint the frosting with 6 to 8 drops of food coloring.
Homemade Blackberry Ice Cream
I am so happy with this ice cream. The flavor came out just right. The texture is super creamy and not too sweet. The chunks of blackberry add just the right amount of tartness. I love fruit based ice creams, but I never made blackberry ice cream before. I will be making it again, for sure.
I have had the inspiration to make a new recipe for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes creative reasons, or sometimes nostalgic feelings. This ice cream came about because of expiration dates. I had both heavy whipping cream and half and half that needed to be used up soon. I didn’t want to freeze them and I wasn’t going to waste them. Since I had a carton of blackberries in the fridge, it seemed only natural to make a blackberry ice cream. I don’t always add eggs to my ice cream, but I had a dozen eggs that needed to be used, too.
Whatever the motivation, this ice cream is one of my favorites. There is a little more work to making an egg-based custard ice cream. But the extra effort is worth it. The texture is so creamy.
With any fruit based ice cream, you don’t want to just put raw fruit in the mixture and freeze it. That will cause the fruit to get big ice crystals. Fruit can be cooked first, like I did with the berries in this recipe, or the fruit can be frozen, then thawed before being added to ice cream base.
So here is the recipe. I used an orange because I had an orange. I could see using a lemon instead, or perhaps lime. I left a little wiggle room on the amount of sugar you add to it. Before someone asks- yes- you can sweeten with honey, if you prefer. Just use a light hand. Honey is sweeter than sugar. Enjoy!!
Blackberry Ice Cream
6 oz. blackberries, washed
1 large orange
½ c. sugar
1½ c. half and half
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3 egg yolks
¾ c. sugar- or a little more or less to taste
1 t. vanilla
In medium saucepan, place the blackberries. Zest the orange and add the zest to the berries. Juice the orange and add the juice to the berries along with the ½ cup of sugar. Heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture starts to thicken, about 6-8 minutes. Stir occasionally. Don’t let it burn. Remove mixture to a bowl to cool down. You can use the same saucepan to heat the half and half and cream to a low boil. In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Add ½ cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs, whisking in well. Add another ½ cup of the cream mixture, whisking again. Add one last ½ cup of the hot cream and again, whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the cream and while whisking, simmer until mixture starts to thicken and will coat the back of a spoon. This will take about 5 minutes. Don’t use too high a heat, or you will scramble your eggs. Mixture should reach 160 degrees to be sure eggs are cooked. Remove from heat, stir in reserved blackberry mixture. Pour mixture into a bowl. Allow ice cream base to cool down, then chill in fridge. Chilled mixture can be frozen in an ice cream maker once cold- in a few hours- or even the next day. Once mixture has been frozen in ice cream maker, place in a container and freeze until ready to serve. Makes about 5-6 cups of ice cream.
