Sweet Cherry Pound Cake

I've been coveting a cherry pitter. That's right a cherry pitter. I'd pass it in the gadget aisle at Target and always decided not to put it in the cart, whether because it was just not cherry season or because I didn't want to add to the collection of "must haves" already in the pile (can anyone get out of Target for less than $50?--seriously, you need everything there). Well, I up and done it. I bought myself said cherry pitter. A gadget for no other purpose than to pit cherries.

By golly...I love my cherry pitter.

Of course, I had to put that pitter to good use immediately and let me tell you--it is slick! I shucked the pits out of a whole bag of cherries in a matter of minutes. As a bonus, the kitchen didn't look as if I had just slaughtered a pig! Do you see the little shatter shield on this thing? It works! :)

After Pete and I ate our fill of fresh cherries, I still had quite a huge bowl full. They begged to be made into something (tell me I'm not the only one who hears food chanting to them). I swear I heard them whisper "pound cake". Who am I to refuse such a request?

Sweet Cherry Pound Cake

Printable Recipe

Cake:

3 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

2 cups chopped, fresh cherries

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cream cheese

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.; grease and flour a 10” Bundt or tube pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Beginning with the flour mixture, add alternately with the yogurt to the egg mixture. Gently fold in the cherries.

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In actuality, I had neither plain nor vanilla Greek yogurt in the house. I threw in a 6 oz container of pineapple yogurt and called it a day. No one was the wiser.

Pour batter into tube pan and distribute evenly. Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Invert onto a cake dish and let cool another 30 minutes before glazing.

Please remember to grease and flour your pan...even if it is non-stick. Don't ask me how I know that this is so important....

For the glaze, beat confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, and a tablespoon of milk; add additional milk as necessary. Drizzle over the top of the pound cake.

Woohoo! Sweet Cherry Pound Cake success!

My husband beat me to the next gadget on my list...he had all of the strawberries hulled before I got to them. Wait--what's that I hear? Muffins?

What are your favorite kitchen gadgets?

Baby Elephant Ears...#ImprovChallenge

Welcome to another edition of Monthly Improv. Hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, the Monthly Improv challenges bloggers to come up with fabulous recipes incorporating two ingredients. This month our ingredients are Cinnamon and Sugar!

I confess to having been largely absent from the blogging scene lately as I have been consumed with another cooking related obsession---entering recipe contests. In actuality, it's really just one contest I've been obsessing about-- the mother of all cooking contests-- the Pillsbury Bake-Off®.
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This year, the Bake-Off® is all about easy. Recipes are limited to only 7 ingredients and 30 minutes or less of prep time. Funny how "easy" becomes an oxymoron when you are trying to come up with the recipe....yikes! Keeping it seven ingredients was hard!

I'll admit it...I don't always make my own pie crust...these are always in my fridge.

Even harder than coming up with 7-ingredient recipes is keeping all of my entries private. I really want to share and get feedback! So, while I have to keep the lid on my actual entries, I can certainly share a few "easy" ideas that came to me while I was using up some ingredients.

Just 5 ingredients for these very easy cookies....

Have you ever had an Elephant Ear? You know, those huge pastries that are flaky and full of pecans, cinnamon and sugar? My dad made the best Elephant Ears! Around here, I see something similar called a Pecan Crispie (good, but not quite there) or I see big deep fried dough versions that aren't the same at all. My inspiration for this month's Improv comes from the Elephant Ears from my youth and from the "easy" recipe concoctions I've been immersed in. Let me present Baby Elephant Ears!

Baby Elephant Ears

1 refrigerated pie crust, softened per package directions

1 tablespoon melted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees; line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll the pie crust onto the parchment paper. Brush with the melted butter. Combine the sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the crust. Top with the pecans. Roll the crust back up. Cut into 12 slices (if you like a thinner cookie, cut into 18 slices). Use a drinking glass to press each slice into a 2" circle (the end pieces will be smaller). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the sugar is caramelized and the cookies start to brown.

I may have cut them too thick...next time I'll try a thinner cookie. 

I initially used too much sugar, but it was all good since I threw the remainder over the tops.

Who knew easy could be so tasty? They went very quickly when I brought them to work, no matter that I thought I could have made some changes. Wouldn't these be fun to make with kids? You could leave out the nuts, make them smaller (or bigger!) and they will still taste good. Plus, there's no wasting of dough...it all bakes up. Another successful Improv!

Now, take a look at what everyone else is making with Cinnamon and Sugar.

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

It is the winter that never ends. Seriously, we have snow in the forecast for the next three days. In May. When the rhubarb should be popping up all over the place. Luckily, I spotted some in the grocery store last weekend and nabbed a few stalks.

Nothing says Spring in the Midwest quite like rhubarb. It's prolific. So when I found it, it was as if I was bringing a little bit of Spring home with me. Sigh. Well, if I can't have a real Spring, at least I can have some really good coffeecake.

I've been wanting to make a crumb cake for awhile. You know the ones--Entenmann's makes one with the really big crumbs on top. Those crumbs are just so yummy. It's a New York thing, apparently. Lucky for me, The New York Times had a recipe for a Rhubarb "Big Crumb" Coffeecake. Perfect. I borrowed the "Big Crumb" part and played around with the rest of the recipe. You will not be disappointed.

Rhubarb Crumb Cake 

Printable Recipe

Rhubarb Filling:

2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Crumbs:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cup cake flour

Cake:

2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; butter and flour a 9" X 13" pan.

In a small bowl, combine the rhubarb with the sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt. Fold in the cake flour. Mixture will be thick. Set aside. 

The crumb "batter" looks like cookie dough. I added a pinch of cardamom to make it just that much more Minnesotan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Cream together the brown sugar and butter. Beat in the sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Fold the flour mixture into the sour cream mixture, stirring until just blended. 

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan. Evenly top the batter with the rhubarb pieces. Break the crumb topping into pea-sized pieces and sprinkle over the top of the rhubarb. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

I actually ran out of cake flour and used all-purpose flour for the cake. While it turned out fine, I think the cake flour would give it a more tender crumb.

Just so you don't think my husband and I ate the whole thing, I brought most of it to work (where I could munch on it throughout the day).

Wow...was this a success! I can't wait to try this with blueberries. Or peaches. Or apples.....

What kind of Crumb Cake would you make?

Profiteroles with Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce and Candied Bacon #Improv

It's Improv time and this month we're talking about Eggs and Bacon! Confused? Improv is a monthly challenge hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. Each month we are given two seasonal foods to get creative with and this month we've got Eggs and Bacon. Eggs and Bacon? A piece of cake ...er...pastry. **grin**

Not long ago, I wasn't crazy about the idea of using bacon in any kind of dessert. Mixing meat with sweets just seemed so wrong. Then last June I had the opportunity to try Bacon Ice Cream made by Executive Chef Julian Grainger of the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel....it was topped with a Bacon Lollipop (!) and it was fabulous. Still, I was hesitant to try it at home. An Egg and Bacon Improv theme was just the ticket to get me motivated....it was time to try Candied Bacon.

I searched the Internet for the bacon recipe and was most inspired by the one posted by Recipe Girl. Simply mix some brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and coat both sides of the bacon slices. Put an oven safe rack on top of a parchment lined baking sheet; spray it with cooking spray. Arrange the bacon slices on the rack and bake at 350 degrees F. Since I only had thick slices of bacon, I baked mine for just about 30 minutes. Watch it carefully near the end, to make sure the bacon doesn't burn.

Frankly, I had no idea how I was going to use the bacon after I made it...the dessert just evolved after these beauties emerged from the oven.

One of the best "eggy" desserts I can think of are cream puffs. Made from just a little water, butter, flour, and eggs, they are not only easy to make, but they look impressive as well. They can be filled with whipped cream or custard or chocolate mousse. If you fill them with a scoop of ice cream, you get to call them "profiteroles" and you are immediately elevated to the status of fancy schmancy baker. Look at how easy these things are to make:

Simply combine 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of butter (I used unsalted), and a pinch of salt into a medium sized saucepan. Bring it to a boil and add 1 cup of flour all at once. Stir vigorously until the mixture forms a ball. Let this cool for 5 minutes.

The hardest part is the workout your arm gets from beating the eggs in....

After the mixture has cooled for 5 minutes, add 4 eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture should be smooth and shiny when you are done.

Next, use a cookie scoop to drop the batter onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and browned. Immediately cut a small hole in each one to allow steam to escape.

Aren't they pretty? They freeze well, too...bag up what you don't use and save them for a quick emergency dessert.

When they are cool, just cut the tops off and pluck out some of the insides. Now you have the perfect vessel for the good stuff. You could even make little savory tarts by filling them with chicken...hmmm...pot pies?

Meh, it was Sunday afternoon and I was feeling a bit lazy, so I just filled these with vanilla ice cream. Now I'm thinking that some Sweet Potato Ice Cream might be good.....

At any rate, it still needed a topping, and since bacon and maple are such a good combination, I turned to the Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce. If you haven't made this yet, go do it now. I've used this a bunch of times over apple pie and bread pudding. It is life altering. Btw, one tablespoon of whiskey is plenty--it gives it just the right boozy flavor without overpowering.

Fill your profiteroles with a scoop of ice cream, pour some warm Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce over it, and crumble some of that Candied Bacon on top...that is if you have any left. 

Now go see what everyone else is making with Eggs and Bacon.