I don't want to talk about how it's been roughly a year since I've made a blog post. The 2021-2022 school year was chaotic, and finding the time to really commit to developing recipes was virtually nonexistent.
But it's summer time now, so I'm recommitting myself to this, dammit!
At this point, I've been on summer vacation for a week. Finn and I kicked off the season last Friday by picking fresh cherries at Linvilla Orchards. I've gone picking for fruits before -- strawberries, blueberries, apples -- but never cherries. We must have chosen the right day because the trees were lush with fresh fruit perfectly ripe for picking, and the crowd, if you could call it that, was incredibly small. This meant first dibs on peak cherries.
I have no fondness or childhood memories linked to cherries, unlike I do with strawberries, whose fields were only a few miles from my childhood home in Brandon, Florida. Cherry trees aren't really a Florida thing. However, I know the future will hold many more opportunities and experiences to share with Finn, and hopefully he can have fond memories of picking cherries and it can become a bit of a tradition for us.
There's nothing better than a freshly picked cherry: deep, earthy and bursting with fresh juices and a sweet finish, what's not to love? For a few days, I was grazing on cherries and spitting the pits directly into the garbage can. Had I been in a car with a rolled down window, you could've mistaken me for Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally. Fast forward a few days and I spot a cherry that's almost on its way out, I knew I needed to do something to preserve these cherries. I still had almost 3 pints worth that I didn't want to throw in the compost bucket! Thus, this cobbler was born.
Initially, I thought about making pie, but I really didn't want to be bothered with making and rolling out a pie dough. Plus, I wanted to add another flavor to the dough component without tampering with the flavor of the cherries. I chose to top the cobbler with tender, slightly sweet corn biscuits, bringing some unexpected layers to an otherwise classic approach to cobbler. The biscuit dough isn't overly corny, but has enough cornmeal to add some intrigue. My cobbler lets the bright, fresh cherries take center as the star of the harvest, while playing with the natural sweetness of the corn. Otherwise, this cobbler is pretty straightforward. If you're looking to add more twists to your cobbler, you can include fresh corn kernels into the biscuit dough, or spice the cherries with some warming spices like cardamom or cinnamon, or the classic almond extract.
With an itch to go back and pick more cherries,
~c.j.
CHERRY CORN BISCUIT COBBLER
PREP TIME: 20 minutes (most of which is for pitting fresh cherries)
COOK TIME: 35 minutes
YIELD: 8 servings
INGREDIENTS
5 cups (710 g or 25 oz) fresh or frozen sweet cherries, pitted*
1/2 c. (100g or 3.5 oz) + 1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 c. (120 g or 4.2 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 c. (80 g or 2.8 oz) yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 c. (6 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 c. (80 g or 2.8 oz) sour cream
1/3 c. heavy cream + more for brushing
raw sugar for topping
flaky salt for topping
vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional, but is it really?)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle.
In a large bowl, combine cherries, 1/2 c. sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and 1/2 tsp of salt and toss to coat thoroughly. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish and set aside.
For the biscuits, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add butter and toss in the flour mixture to coat. Using your fingers, smash the butter into the flour mixture and continue to work until the mixture resembles course meal.
In a medium bowl, whisk sour cream and heavy cream together until smooth. Make a well in the flour mixture, then add the dairy to the flour mixture. Use a fork to bring the dough together until it is shaggy but not completely combined. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and work until just combined. Work dough into a square and cut into four quadrants. Stack the quadrants, then gently press down the dough into a slab. (This creates layers of butter for flakiness!) At this point, it's dealer's choice about how you want to cut your biscuits and assemble them on the cobbler. My preference is to work the slab into a square and cut a "hashtag" to create 9 equal biscuits. Place the biscuits atop the cherry mixture. Brush tops of biscuits with cream, then sprinkle with raw sugar and flaky salt.
Bake cobbler on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes until biscuits are golden and cherries release bubbling juices. Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes, then serve warm with ice cream.
*COOK'S NOTE: I did not try this with frozen cherries, but if you do you may want to include another tablespoon of cornstarch, as frozen cherries tend to release more juices. Additionally, I tested this recipe with sweet cherries. If using sour cherries, which are very popular for baking, you may want to scale up the sugar.
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