Summer Cherry Cornmeal Cobbler

Cherry season isn’t over quite yet! Soak up the flavors of summer while they last with this sweet, mouth-watering recipe for Summer Cherry Cornmeal Cobbler.

The following is an excerpt from Cooking Close to Home: A Year of Seasonal Recipes by Diane Imre and Richard Jarmusz. It has been adapted for the web.

RECIPE: Summer Cherry Cornmeal Cobbler

Serves eight

Ingredients for Cherry Filling

• Butter for pan
• 5 cups fresh sweet cherries (or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon black currant liqueur

Ingredients for Cobbler Topping

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup whole-wheat flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Ice cream (optional)

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking pan. In a medium bowl mix together the cherries, maple syrup, wholewheat flour and liqueur. Spread the cherry filling out evenly in the greased pan.
• To prepare the cobbler topping, combine the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, cornmeal, granulated and maple sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Mix together with a fork. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
• Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract to the flour mixture, and mix lightly to form the dough.
• Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the cherries. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cobbler topping is lightly browned.
• To serve spoon the cobbler onto individual plates. Eat the cobbler just by itself, or top with a local or homemade vanilla ice cream.

Cherry Harvesting Hint

There are plenty of cherries available locally to eat fresh and freeze for the winter. Wash, stem and pit the cherries (it is easy work with a cherry pitter). Spread the cherries out on baking sheets, and place in the freezer. Once frozen, place them in a freezer bag and remove as much of the air as possible. Use this freezing method with any berries.

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