Baking with bings
The sour cherry harvest has been ruined by drought but bing cherries are large, and cheap. My first experience baking the latter was a cherry-rhubarb crisp. I like that the cherries retained their shape but they lost some of their flavor. Other than clafouti, are there good baking recipes for fresh bing cherries?
By the way, thanks to whoever suggested using the tip of a piping bag as a depitting tool. Works better than a crochet hook or paper clip (I have a gadget purchase moratorium in effect).
-
I know this is OT and doesn't help deal with the surplus of bings. But years ago Gourmet magazine had a beautiful chocolate cake with the top rim lined with a row of bings dipped in chocolate.
I don't know if there were cherries in the filling or cake itself. But to look at, it was really a showstopper.
-
applgrl
Aug 21, 2012 11:23 PM
I love CI's "Any Fruit will Do Muffins"---they have you freeze the fruit for 20 min before baking which leaves lovely big pieces intact.
Not sure how you feel about deep frying, but I wrote this recipe for our fruit co-op's website: http://www.bctree.com/recipes/view/sw...
You might have a better fritter/donut batter in your repertoire--I tested with and without eggs, with beer, some with club soda.....they were all Fried Food Good :-) Originally I used ground cardamom to spice the batter which was marvelous, but I was worried that it would be a turn-off for a large number of people so I left it out of the final version.
-
Caitlin McGrath
Aug 21, 2012 12:25 PM
I've made two good cakes with bing cherries and almonds, both moist and good keepers, and cherries (like all stone fruits) work so well with almonds.
One was this recipe, to which I added orange zest, and a sprinkle of sliced almonds on top: http://thekitchensinkrecipes.com/2010/06/28/this-business-with-the-cherries/
The other was a bundt cake, where the cherries are cooked into a compote that is swirled into the batter; recipe is paraphrased here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/856713#7437875
Photo here: http://www.chow.com/photos/786323 -
biondanonima
Aug 21, 2012 11:53 AM
I tried the CI recipe for sweet cherry pie this summer - it calls for two tart plums to be whizzed in a food processor along with a few of the cherries and then the strained liquid added to the rest of the fruit. It was ok, but still not nearly as good as sour cherry pie - sweet cherries just become sort of insipid and one-note when cooked, IMO.
