The summer season at Lake Tahoe lasted 13 weekends this year, and we managed to soak up an impressive 11 of them.  We’d sneak out of work a little early on Friday and shoot up the mountain ahead of the evening crush.  We stayed in cheap motels, a few decent condos and occasionally at a swanky cabin owned by one of my coworkers.  But it never much mattered where we were staying because our days were spent on that breathtaking, sparkling expanse of blue water.  Every morning, we’d pack our boat with a picnic and a little wine, smear ourselves with sunscreen and set out for a long relaxing day of sunshine and total, decadent inactivity.

At the beginning of the summer, we’d often get out there and I’d wonder, in a moment of panic, what in the world will we do all day?  I’m so used to juggling tasks and busying myself with work and errands that the idea of sitting on a boat with only a book and a stack of magazines to distract me seemed a little daunting.

But it’s amazing how quickly you slow down when you have nowhere to go and nothing to do.  By the end of the season, I was so accustomed to the whole routine of nothingness that the day would sometimes seem to pass in the blink of an eye.  As the season wore on, the sun would start to sink toward the west shore just a little earlier each evening.  And we knew it all had to come to an end.

Indeed, the weather turns quickly at 6,500 feet elevation.  Last weekend, with a tear in our eyes, we pulled the boat out of the water and towed it down the hill for winter storage Reno.

We’ll always have pictures to remember the summer by, and surely next summer will be here before we know it.  In the meantime, I’ll have more time for baking and cooking now that we’re spending more time at home.

Just this week I made almond butter cookies one evening while Moe watched football in the living room.  Shorter days… football… cookies in the oven.  A new season begins.

Chewy Almond Butter Cookies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy almond butter
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 375.  Grease two cookie sheets.

Cream the butter, almond butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl.  Add to the butter mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Drop batter by the tablespoonful and flatten slightly with the back of a fork.  Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of turbinado sugar and bake 7-9 minutes for soft, chewy cookies, 9-11 minutes for denser cookies.

Serve warm.  Cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to four days.

We ended up with a large bag of cherries after we hit the farm stands on our way back from Yosemite a few weeks ago which frankly weren’t so great after about the third day.  The weather turned warm here in San Francisco all of a sudden and the cherries got a little  soft and squishy sitting out on the countertop… I’m one of those people who loves cherries but only when they’re super firm and sweet.  What to do with not-so-great fresh cherries?  Bake a pie!  But instead of one large pie, I went for these petite pies.  They have a higher proportion of crust to fruit (and who doesn’t love a little more crust?) and they pack well for a picnic or hike.  Cherry season won’t last long, but you can substitute sliced plums or apricots (and the corresponding dried fruit) later in the summer.  Enjoy!

Cherry petite pies

1 ½ tablespoon corn starch
2 cups fresh cherries, rinsed, stemmed and pitted*
2/3 cup dried cherries
1 tablespoon cherry liqueur
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 14-oz package frozen all-butter puff pastry
Flour, for dusting
1 large egg white
1 ½ teaspoon raw (turbinado) sugar

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Stir cornstarch into 1 ½ tablespoons cold water in a small bowl and stir with a fork until cornstarch is fully absorbed.  Combine fresh cherries, dried cherries, liqueur, sugar and vanilla in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cherries release their juices.  (You can gently mash the cherries with the back of a wooden spoon as they cook to encourage this process.)  Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, stir in lemon zest, and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to an 18×15 inch rectangle.  Using a sharp knife, cut dough into nine 6×5 inch rectangles.  Whisk egg white with 1 tbsp cold water in a small bowl to make an egg wash.  Set egg wash aside.

Working with one pastry rectangle at a time, place on a work surface and brush edges with egg wash using a small pastry brush.  Scoop three tablespoons cooled cherry filling onto one side.  Fold dough over the filling so the short ends meet.  Press edges together with fingertips then crimp and seal with the tines of a fork.  Using a paring knife, cut a few slits into the top of the pie to create vents, then transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pastry rectangles and filling.  Brush each pie with remaining egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Chill assembled pies for 30 minutes. While they are chilling, preheat oven to 375F  and bake pastries until tops are flaky and golden brown, 30-40 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Note: I don’t generally push kitchen gadgets, but a cherry pitter is an especially helpful tool for this recipe and any recipe calling for fresh cherries.  You can pick one up for less than $10.

I’m honored to be featured as a guest poster this week at Steamy Kitchen, the award-winning blog of television host, professional recipe developer, and newspaper columnist Jaden Hair. She’s featuring my recipe for Meyer Lemon Clouds, pictured above. Hop on over to Steamy Kitchen for the full recipe!

Is there any part of the title of this post that sounds in any way unappealing?  Chocolate?  Honey?  Caramel?  Cookies?  If there is anyone on this planet who does not like any one of those four words, please make yourself known immediately.

I find it difficult to believe such a person exists.

Indeed these cookies are little gems of deliciousness.  They’re more like little pieces of candy than cookie — sweet buttery caramel sandwiched between tender rounds of chocolate shortbread.

Oh yes.

You’ll need a few pieces of special equipment for this one, and a little bravery in the sugar-boiling and candy-making departments.  Gather up your candy thermometer (that’s a cooking thermometer that reads temperatures up to 400F, like this one), some parchment paper (available near the tin foil and plastic wrap in your local grocery store) and some small round cookie cutters (1 inch and 1.5-inch rounds, to be exact.)

This is going to be fun!  Make a batch and package them up in little boxes or colorful baggies for the holidays.  Your friends will love you.

(I mean I’m sure they already love you.  But they will love you more.)

Chocolate Honey Caramel Cookies

Make the caramel:

2 tablespoons melted butter, for greasing
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature, cut into cubes

Use a pastry brush to coat an 8x8x2-inch baking dish with the melted butter.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and grease that with butter as well.  Set baking dish aside.

Combine the sugar, cream, honey, and corn syrup in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Stir gently over medium heat just until the sugar melts.  Stop stirring immediately and increase the heat to high.  Boil on high for 8-12 minutes until a candy thermometer reaches exactly 250F.  Remove from heat and stir in the butter cubes and vanilla extract.  Pour the caramel into the prepared baking dish and set aside to cool.  Once cool, transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 20 minutes.

Make the cookies:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.  Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a handheld mixer) until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.  Beat in the dry ingredients just until combined.  Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap or parchment paper.  Chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Use the 1.5-inch cookie cutters to cut disks out of the dough.  Transfer to the prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.  Press the scraps together and reroll until all the dough is used.

Bake cookies just until set, about 9-11 minutes.  Carefully slide the entire parchment sheet (cookies and all) onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Assemble the cookies:

Use the 1-inch round cookie cutter to cut small disks from the chilled caramel, twisting the cutter gently to loosen each disk from the parchment as you work.  (Beware, the caramel is sticky and becomes stickier as it warms, so you’ll need to work quickly.  Greasing your hands and the cookie cutter works wonders.)  Sandwich the caramel rounds between the cooled cookies, placing a caramel on the flat side of one cookie and then placing another cookie on top, flat side down.  Press gently to adhere.

Transfer the finished cookies to an airtight container, then to the refrigerator, as you work.  Note that if the room is warm, the caramel will get too soft and “spill” out from the sides of the cookies.  So find a cool space and work in small batches. Once assembled, the cookies can be placed in paper candy cups (think See’s candies, check your kitchen supply store or here), stacked in threes, and then wrapped in tissue and ribbon.

So this is the chocolate souffle recipe you’ve all been waiting for, the one I used for the mini-pilot I filmed with Johlt Productions last week. It’s a bit more like a flourless chocolate cake than a souffle though. It doesn’t give a whole lot of height like a traditional souffle would, primarily because the ratio of egg whites to the volume of the chocolate base is low. (In souffle-making, the mathematic equation is quite straightforward: the more egg whites, the more rise you get during baking.)

But alas, what comes up must come down, and most towering souffles do indeed collapse by the time you set them in front of your guests. Which is why I like these less fancy little things. They’re denser and more chocolaty and if you take them out at just the right moment, they’re a little gooey in the middle in the best possible way. They don’t rise as tall, but I think you’ll love them anyway.

I’m making these for Thanksgiving tomorrow, along with a pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin. (Which is in an entirely different class from canned pumpkin, if you’ve never tried it.) I was up late roasting the pumpkin, making pie dough, and measuring ingredients for the souffles, all of which I’m packing into the car this morning and carting with me to Santa Maria where I’ll be with my parents for the weekend. It’ll be just the three of us this year because my younger sister is living in Bangkok and my older sister is in Mexico visiting her new beau. I’m trying to keep my chin up but I won’t lie… we’re all feeling a little lonely here in California.

(Kate? Maya? Are you listening?)

Anyway, I phoned my parents last night to go over the grocery list and kitchen logistics one last time and my father was already busy making stock and seeding pomegranates. My mother was out on her third jaunt to the grocery stores.

Imagine if there were going to be more than three of us!

Bittersweet Chocolate Souffles

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, separated
pinch of cream of tartar

Finely chop the bittersweet chocolate and place in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Combine chocolate with the next six ingredients (cream through salt) over low heat and stir gently until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 35oF.  Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a stand mixer (or with a hand held mixture) until soft peaks form.  Whisk the yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture, then fold in one third of the whites.  Gently fold until the whites are completely incorporated, then repeat with the remaining whites in two more batches.  Be careful not to overmix; you don’t want to deflate the whites as you work.

Pour the souffles into 8 large (3/4 cup)  ramekins and then transfer them to a baking sheet for easy transfer in and out of the oven.  Place the sheet of prepared souffles on the center rack of the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until they are puffed but still soft in the center.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.

No, I didn’t just sneeze.  Pflaumenkuchen is German for plum cake (pflaumen = plum, kuchen = cake) and this may be my new favorite dessert.  I discovered it via my friend Marc, who is indeed German.  I asked him one day,

“What is the German food you miss most?”

I fully expected him to say something about beer or bratwurst.

No.

He said “Pflaumenkuchen.”

And I said…

“Wha?”

He translated.   We looked it up.  I studied a handful of recipes and came up with this one, which is really not much more than a tender coffee cake with sliced plums arranged on top.  But it’s better than that.  It’s divine!  The cake is moist and the plums make it just a tiny bit gooey on top.  But in a totally good way.

I say it’s fair game for breakfast or dessert.  For dessert, serve it with whipped cream.

Oh, what the heck.  Serve it with whipped cream for breakfast, too.  Why not?

Pflaumenkuchen
(German Plum Cake)

Here it is, the pie I made earlier this week with apples picked at Heidi and Jason’s Wondrous, Magical Wedding in Santa Cruz.  I ended up taking this pie to my office after I photographed it, and you can see what happened to it by scrolling all the way to the bottom of this post.

Make the Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 cup bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4.5 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Chill the butter cubes and dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) in the freezer for 20 minutes before you begin.

Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse a few times until mixed. Add the cold cream cheese cubes and process until the mixture resembles meal.  Add the frozen butter and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas.  Add the water and vinegar, pulse again until incorporated.

Transfer the mixture to a large freezer bag and press it together with your hands until it forms a dough.  Leave the dough in the bag and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.

Prepare the Apple Filling:

2 1/2 pounds crisp, flavorful apples (Jonathon, Fuji, or Granny Smith are good ones)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon corn starch

Peel and core the apples, then slice them 1/8 inch thick. Toss them in a large bowl with the lemon juice, sugars, nutmeg and salt.  Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to three hours.  Strain the macerated apples using a collandar suspended over a bowl; you should collect at least 1/2 cup of juices.  Transfer the drained apples back to the large bowl and toss with the corn starch until all traces of the starch have disappeared.  Set the apples aside.

Transfer the juices to a small saucepan and cook on the stovetop over medium heat with the butter.  Bring to a boil and reduce by half.  The juices will be concentrated and syrupy.  Pour the concentrated juices over the apples.  If the syrup hardens on contact with the apples, do not worry.  It will soften again during baking.

Assemble the pie:

Prepared pie dough
Prepared apples
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup apricot preserves, melted and strained

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Remove the chilled pie dough from the refrigerator.  Roll two thirds of it into a 12-inch disc on a lightly floured nonstick surface.  Trim the edges so it’s a (near) perfect circle, reserving any scraps.  Carefully transfer the disc to a 9-inch pie plate, tuck the edges under, and crimp the edge gently with your fingertips.  The edge should exceed the rim of pie plate by about 1/2 inch.  Refrigerate while you make the decorative leaves.

Roll the remaining dough (scraps and remaining 1/3 of the original recipe) into another, smaller disc.  Use a cookie cutter to cut leaves that will decorate the rim of the pie.  (Alternatively, you can cut them out by hand.) Use a paring knife to gently press “veins” into the leaves. Place them on a platter lined with parchment or waxed paper and transfer them to the refrigerator.

Remove the chilled bottom crust from the refrigerator and line with parchment paper, then fill with pie weights, dried beans, or rice.  (Pie weights help to ensure that an empty crust does not shrink or slide down the sides of the pie plate during baking.)  Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the pie weights and parchment.  Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork three or four times, then continue to bake 3-5 minutes more, until the crust is a light golden brown.  Remove the crust from the oven and allow to cool.  Brush with 1/2 egg white, lightly beaten.

Arrange the apple slices in the bottom crust in overlapping, concentric circles, working from the outside in until all slices have been used.  Pour any remaining juices over the apples.  Dot the apples with the unsalted butter.  Arrange the chilled “leaves” around the perimeter of the pie, adhering them to the bottom crust with drops of water.  Place the assembled pie in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to allow the pastry to rest.  (This will maintain flakiness.) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425F.

Remove the pie from the refrigerator and use a pastry brush to brush the pastry leaves and any exposed crust with the lightly beaten egg.  Bake the pie for 15 minutes uncovered, then cover it loosely with tinfoil.  Cut 2-3 vents in the tin foil to allow steam to escape.  Bake for another 45-50 minutes, or until the apples are tender but not too soft and the crust is golden brown.  Cool slightly, then brush the apples with the melted preserves.

Serve warm or at room temperature.  (With vanilla ice cream of course!)  Put it on the kitchen table at your office, and this is what it should look like in about 15 minutes flat:

One of the nicest cooking-related compliments I’ve ever received came from a colleague of mine, Jill, just last week after I brought a bag of these cookies to her at the office.  She said they were “better than the ginger cookies at the Cheese Board.”  Better than the ginger cookies at the Cheese Board?! Have you ever had the ginger cookies from the Cheese Board?  Let me tell you… their ginger cookies are pretty darn good.   I’ve been buying them since I was a in college and trying to replicate them ever since.  (Never heard of the Cheese Board? If you’re outside the Bay Area, you probably wouldn’t know it, and you’re missing out. The Cheese Board sells fantastic cheese and bread and to-die-for takeout pizza. Oh! And ah-MAZE-ing pastries and cookies.)

So, Jill’s compliment was music to my ears.

Of course, some like their ginger cookies crispy and snappy.  These cookies are not crispy.  Nope, no snap here.  These cookies are soft in the middle, chewy around the edges, and laced with mouth-watering bursts of fresh candied ginger.  A generous coating of turbinado sugar gives them a bit of subtle sweet crunchiness in every bite.

If you love a moist, dense, chewy ginger cookie… this is definitely your recipe.

Oh — and the dough is really, really good.  I would never (ever!) advise you to eat anything containing raw eggs, but if I didn’t advise it and you still took a little nibble, perhaps to hasten the cleaning of the bowl, I bet you would be glad that you didn’t follow my advice. 

Yield – about 2 dozen cookies.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1/2 cup turbinado sugar, for coating

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Mix in crystallized ginger and toss to coat. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar, shortening and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Spoon sugar in thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands and working quickly, form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer to racks and cool. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature. They also freeze well, in a sealed freezer bag, for up to four week. Remove from the freezer and defrost at room temperature.)

Well I’ve finally gotten my head out of the show-biz clouds and I’m back to the ol’ bump and grind.  My TV pilot is in editing now and there’s nothing for me to do except sit and wait.  It’s killing me to be idle, but I know the editing team is working their magic on the more than 24 hours of film we shot for a 23 minute episode.  Isn’t that crazy?!  That’s a helluva lot of footage. I know it’s going to be great.

So I’m back at work (oh yeah, still have that day job) and making time for all the fun things I enjoy: hitting the farmers markets a few days a week, taking care of my vegetable garden, and doing some road biking in the early mornings.  I suffered a running injury over Fourth of July weekend, so I made the plunge on a spiffy new Specialized.  I love the wind on my face and being able to cover such great distances in a short amount of time.  I’m seeing more of my neighborhood (the whole city, actually) than I could ever see before on foot.

And I’m spending more time with friends than ever.  With school behind me and the pilot wrapped up, I’m loving leisurely dinners at some of my favorite spots in the Bay Area.  I had a fabulous dinner with two of my closest girlfriends earlier this week at Farina in the Mission.  It was a farewell meal for my friend Richa, who is off to trek in Nepal for a month.  She is a brave, adventurous girl with a big heart and a strong spirit; We were missing her before the meal even ended.  We had tender house-made pasta and a bottle of spectacular red wine, Occhipinti SP68, which is bottled by the beautiful 28-year-old Sicilian winemaker, Ariana Occhipinti.  (Here’s her website, if you happen to read Italian.) The woman herself will be at Farina next Tuesday for a special wine dinner in Celebration of SF Natural Wine Week and I’ve already made a reservation.  Come join if you’re in the Bay Area!

And of course I’m cooking and baking a lot.  I’ve been having squash with almost every meal because I seem to have planted the world’s most prolific squash plant this year.  (And squash is a pretty prolific crop to begin with, as you may know already if you’ve ever grown one.)  And I’m baking a lot, mostly cobblers and pies because I buy too much fruit at the farmer’s markets and I hate throwing it away.

Which leads me to the Best Fruit Cobbler Ever recipe and the story of Berk.  Berk is a colleague of mine, a Turkish-born software engineer who knows his sweets — he always brings delicious little candies and desserts back from Turkey when he goes home to visit his parents.  And when his mother comes to visit him here, she bakes decadent homemade goods that Berk brings in to share with all of us.  But Berk is also a man of few words.  And that is why, after I brought this cobbler into the office a few weeks ago, it seemed notable that Berk stopped me in the hallway to tell me it was the best fruit cobbler he had ever had.

The BEST.  Ever.

Those were his words.

Try it for yourself and let me know if you agree.

Filling

8 cups pitted and sliced stone fruit*
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
grated zest and juice of one lemon

Crust
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

To prepare the filling, combine the sugar, flour, and lemon zest in a small bowl.  Whisk to combine.  Place the sliced fruit into a large bowl and toss with the lemon juice.  Sift the flour mixture over the fruit and stir gently with a wooden spoon until no white flour remains.

Grease an 11 by 9 by 3 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Pour fruit filling into dish and set aside.

To prepare the crust, mix together the flour, 1/4 of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk to combine thoroughly.

Combine the buttermilk and melted butter in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

Slow add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir to form a soft dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until the dough is firm enough to roll.

While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 375F.

With lightly floured hands turn the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and roll into a 12- to 14-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick.

Using a sharp knife and a ruler or straight edge, cut strips of dough and arrange them over the cobbler in an alternating basket-weave pattern, leaving 1-inch gaps for steam to escape. Trim any long ends even  with the edge of the baking dish.

Brush the strips with egg wash (I egg beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon water), sprinkle with turbinado sugar, bake for 40 to 45 mins until fruit is bubbly and the top is golden brown.

*Peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, blueberries, or any combination of the above work great.  You can peel the fruit if you wish by dunking it in simmering water and removing it with a slotted spoon after 60-90 seconds.  The skins should just peel off once the fruit is cooled.  Note that apricot skin is so delicate, there’s really no need to bother.  And if you’re using blueberries (as I did in the photo) they just go in whole.

Do you find yourself shedding a small tear when you realize that cherry season will end just as abruptly as it started?  Well, cry no more my friend.  You can preserve cherries by soaking them in brandy and then canning them until winter.  Just imagine for a moment that it’s December (hard to imagine in this heat, I know) and you’re serving this summer’s sweetest cherries in a rich liqueur syrup over vanilla ice cream at your holiday dinner table. It’ll blow pumpkin pie out of the water.

Knowing what we now know about botulism and other scary bacterial illnesses, canning can seem a little intimidating at first.  It’s true that if you’re not careful, you can make yourself and your loved ones very sick.  Washing the fruit carefully, heating it to the appropriate temperature, using sterile equipment, and following all directions very carefully are super-duper important steps.

I am by no means an expert on canning, but I’ve done it enough to feel pretty comfortable with the process.  (And I even think it’s fun. Such a food nerd, right?)  It all started about five years ago when a neighbor brought over three grocery bags full of navel oranges one cold winter morning, harvested from their small orchard.  I stared at those oranges for about half a day before I realized there was only one thing to do with them: make marmalade.  I did a little online research, bought some canning jars at the grocery store, and ended up with enough jars of marmalade to check about 30 people off my list of friends and family for whom I otherwise would have had to buy a holiday present. And they loved those little jars of homemade goodness… there’s nothing like a gift from the kitchen.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia is really the authority on the subject of canning, so definitely set aside some time to do a little browsing there before you dive in.  If, after reading up on canning, you decide you don’t even want to mess with it,  you can simply store the finished cherries in their syrup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three weeks.

But I hope you’ll try canning.  If you have a garden or are part of a farm share, you’ll quickly learn that canning is a great way to preserve all that leftover produce.  And don’t put this project off because cherries will be all but gone from the farmers markets by the end of July.  You’ll be sorry come Christmas Eve when you have nothing but boring ol’ pumpkin pie on the table.

Brandied Cherries

3 1/2 pounds Bing cherries
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups water
juice of one lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/4 cups brandy
1 tablespoon vanilla

Rinse, stem and pit cherries. Combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Heat to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the vanilla.  Pour 1/4 cup syrup into each clean, hot jar. Fill jars with cherries. Add 1/4 cup brandy and more syrup as needed to fill each jar, leaving 1/2-inch headspace; seal. Process in a boiling water bath 20 minutes.

Yields 5 pints.