With summer in full swing, nothing beats a sweet treat on a hot day.
Cherry Clafoutis & Marionberry Hazelnut Crisp
Which one are you most excited to try?
Sour cherries have a much shorter season and can be found for a week or two, usually during the middle of June in warmer areas and as late as July and August in colder regions.
Taste cherries before you buy them. Sweetness varies from farm to farm and tree to tree AND week to week. Always look for shiny, plump cherries with fresh green stems and dark coloring for their variety.
Keep them unwashed with stems attached, in a paper bag until you are ready to use them. Rinse in cool water right before using or eating them. To pit cherries, take off the stem and insert the end of a medium-large paper clip into the stem hole. Snag the pit and scoop it out. Sour cherries are the easiest to pit, but with a deft hand and just a little digging and twisting, the paperclip method is also effective for sweet cherries.
Cherry Clafoutis
🍒 Cherry season is here and we're feeling oh-so-sweet 🍒
From the beloved Bing to the delicate Rainier, these delicious fruits are in peak season from May to August.
Cherry Clafoutis is an easy, delicious, traditional French dessert made at the height of the cherry season. It can be described as a sort of flan meets crêpe affair. A clafoutis is a rustic peasant-inspired French baked dessert made by baking cherries in a custard-like batter similar to pancake batter. Its history comes from the Limousin region in France. Some French pastry chefs leave the pits in the cherries during the baking process to produce a stronger cherry flavor in this dish.
Ingredients
1 lb. cherries
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 buttered baking pan. Rinse the cherries. Pit the cherries; as you pit them, put the pitted cherries in the buttered pan.
Put the eggs and milk in a blender and whip to combine. Add flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt and combine with wet mix. Pour mixture over cherries.
Bake clafoutis until puffed and browned, about an hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Garnish with powdered sugar.
This recipe serves 6-8 people and is perfect for this summer. Happy cooking!
Offerings of marionberry shakes, pies, tarts, ice creams, sorbets, salads, and more litter menus across the state of Oregon when in season. Wise shoppers order flats of these juicy berries to freeze and otherwise keep past the all-too-brief season.
The Marionberry is the queen of blackberries with a complex and rich earthy flavor that skirts that edge of bitterness found in many blackberries. Many tasters find a similarity between Marionberries and the rich earthy juiciness of Cabernet grapes. It is sweeter and juicier than the Evergreen blackberries found in wild brambles up and down the West Coast. It is a medium-sized blackberry that ranges in color from very dark red to true black. It is grown exclusively in Oregon, where it is prized above other blackberries. In Oregon, Marionberries are always labeled as Marionberries or by their more formal name, Marion blackberries.
The Marionberry was developed at Oregon State University in 1945 by crossing a Chehalem blackberry (a berry with native blackberry, Loganberry, and raspberry in its background) with an Olallieberry (itself a blackberry cross) and named after Marion County in Oregon. They were first brought to market in 1956.
Marionberries are still held up as the blackberry to beat by berry breeders.
Marionberry Hazelnut Crisp
This will make your taste buds sing!
Ground hazelnuts add an earthy note to this Hazelnut Berry Crisp. Brown sugar and whole wheat flour add to the heartiness, making this crisp equally welcome at breakfast and at dessert. Use Marionberries, blueberries, or raspberries (or a combination). Like all crisps, this one benefit greatly from a side of ice cream.
Ingredients
6 cups Marionberries
3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 cups hazelnuts
1 cup oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a 2-quart baking dish combine the berries, 1/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice. Taste and add up to another 1/4 cup of sugar to taste if you like.
In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until finely ground. Do not over-pulse or you will end up with hazelnut butter instead! Put the hazelnuts in a bowl and set aside.
Put the oats, flour, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in the processor. Pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and hazelnuts and pulse until well combined.
Spread the topping over the berries.
Bake until the berries are bubbling, and topping is browned, about 1 hour. Let cool at least slightly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
This recipe serves 6-8. This warm berry crisp is best when served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
Hoping these two mouth-watering summer desserts will make you forget about the summer heat.