Recipe using dried cherries?

[beccathebaker]

Just bought some great dried cherries at trader Joe's and I wondered if anyone has a good cookie or quick bread recipe using them. I also bought a beautiful chunk of Giardelli chocolate and would love to find a nice cookie recipe for that as well. (Or I may just have to eat it as is!!) thanks- Becca

[alice*]

Hey Becca,
we love dried cherries plain, have you ever tried sour ones? Now THERE's a taste bud waker uper http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif Anyway, I have tired dried cherries in salad (toss in some spinach and toasted nuts)... These cookies look delicious, however, they are not light...

Cherry Cordial Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup cherry liqueur
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup chopped white chocolate
1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts


Directions
1) Immerse dried cherries in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and set in a small bowl with the cherry liqueur to soak, the longer, the better. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) In a medium bowl, cream the butter with the brown sugar and white sugar. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Gently fold in the cherries, with the liqueur, white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and macadamia nuts. Batter should be soft and creamy.
3) Drop cookie dough by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheet. Leave 2 to 3 inches of space between cookies. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven, cookies should be lightly browned. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

*Ok, these cookies (below) are low fat, but perhaps not as fun...

Low Fat Cherry Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup soy margarine
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white spelt flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cherries


Directions
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C)
2) In a medium bowl, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar and soy margarine. Add egg white and mix well.
3) In another bowl, stir together the spelt flour, wheat flour, baking soda and salt. Add this to the sugar mixture and mix well. Finally, stir in the dried cherries.
4) Drop cookie dough from a teaspoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 13 minutes.

Good luck!


[This message has been edited by alice* (edited 02-08-2001).]

[Leanne]

Not low fat - but a good cookie none the less. I take the Neiman marcus recipe & leave out the chocolate - & add white chocolate chips & dried cherries - just kind of eyeball the amount. They're good. (You can do a search & find the NM recipe.)
Also - I have a friend who makes a regular choc chip cookie recipe - but adds cherries & toffee bits - they're some of the best cookies I've ever had.

[lorilei]

You might be interested in reading about the health benefits of dried cherries here: www.driedcherries.com/cherries3.htm (http://www.driedcherries.com/cherries3.htm)

Why not try them in place of blueberries in muffins (no recipe needed)? You might also try adding them to an apple pie (which is delicious!)

Otherwise:

CHICKEN with TURNIPS & CHERRIES

2 T unsalted butter
4 boneless skinned chicken breast halves --
(about 1.5 lbs each pounded between sheets of wax paper)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 turnips, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dried sweet cherries
1 T chopped fresh parsley

Heat the butter in a large skillet. One at a time, dredge the chicken breasts in the flour and brown on both sides. Remove to a side dish and season with salt and pepper. Place the turnips in the skillet and cook, stirring, over moderately high heat until they are a light golden in spots; add the onion, reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the maple syrup, thyme and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer, add the chicken, scatter over the cherries, partially cover and simmer until the chicken is
cooked through but still tender, about 6 minutes. Check the seasoning, adding additional salt and pepper, as necessary.

Transfer the chicken to a warm platter, spoon over the sauce and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Per serving: 294 calories, 24 gm carbo-hydrates, 84 mg cholesterol, 345 mg sodium, 28 gm protein, 9 gm fat, 5 gm saturated fat
_________________________

And if you're feeling indulgent, this recipe is very good. I like pouring a bit of liquor over the top of the cake after it's done and serving with whipped cream http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAKE

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup pitted dried cherries
2 teaspoons cherry-flavored liqueur
8 teaspoons butter or margarine, softened 1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch tube pan with non-stick vegetable spray.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and cocoa; set aside. In a small bowl, combine cherries and liqueur; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Add almond extract to cherry mixture; fold into batter. Pour into prepared tube pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

[lu lu]

I have a great Oatmeal, toffee, dried cherry cookie recipe from Martha Stewart. I am at work, so I don't have it with me but you could search for it on her site. They are one of my favorites.

[beccathebaker]

Thanks so much everyone for the GREAT recipes! I am definately going to try the indulgent cookies, the salad idea, and the chicken. I was also thinking (this may sound wierd) of making my peasant bread today and incorporating the dried cherries into it along with some chopped up Giardelli chocolate! Very european! Almost like a dessert bread (but I'll eat it for dinner!) Thanks again-it's so nice of everyone to take the time to write out the recipes-I'm so glad to have found this great board.-Becca

[BethH]

Becca,
You must try these biscotti from epicurious.com! I made them with dried cherries and white chocolate ghiradelli chips mixed in (instead of melting and drizzling on top.) They were the best biscotti I've made...and I have repeated them 3 times! **Not low-fat or healthy though**

Epicurious.com (http://www.epicurious.com/run/recipe/view?id=5817)

[venus]

Cherry Chocolate bread pudding is out of this world!!!! Make it with brioche or croissant dough and a nice egg custard.

[lindrusso]

Becca - Here's the recipe that lu lu was referring to - it's one of my favorites and would use both your chocolate and cherries (just don't look at them through a dietician's eyes http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif !!!).

Some people have a problem with these cookies spreading (they do come out thinner and chewy - not puffed up), so you may need the chill the dough a bit. I also love dried cherries on my oatmeal!

For these cookies, you don't have to go through the whole log procedure unless you'd like to freeze them. When I bake them right away, I just do them like regular drop cookies. And definitely use parchment paper or Silpats - the toffee makes these cookies stick.


TORIE'S CHOCOLATE CHUNK TOFFEE COOKIES
(from Martha Stewart Living)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup toffee pieces

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking soda and set aside.

2. In an electric mixer, using a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add egg, mix on high speed to combine. Add vanilla extract; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour in additions on low speed until combined. On low speed, add the oatmeal, cherries, chocolate and toffee pieces and mix to combine.

3. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and roll into logs using plastic wrap, approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Dough can be frozen, chilled in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days or baked immediately. Cut logs into 3/4 inch pieces. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a baking rack to cool. Store in covered container with wax paper between layers.

Mmmmmm....cookies......



[This message has been edited by lindrusso (edited 02-09-2001).]

[JLS]

How funny... I just bought dried cherries to make those Martha Stewart cookies !!

One question: I have only had them with white chips... are they good with semi sweet chips too? Has anyone tried them that way?

[jandy2]

For some lighter biscotti, I took the recipe for the cranberry chocolate chip biscotti from the month with all the biscotti recipes and replaced the dried cranberries with cherries. Very Good. I also made a bulgur stuffing with dried cherries that I got out of Good Housekeeping's NOV issue. I can get it for you if you are interested. It was very, very good.

[Curleytop]

I also bought some of the sour dried cherries from TJ's THIS week. I found this recipe in my Master Deluxe v.5. I have Mastercook CL on my hard drive, but downloaded all the cookbooks from the other CD. I had this recipe in mind, and I will bake it later today. Will give my assessment tomorrow! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

* Exported from MasterCook *

CHERRY BISCOTTI

Recipe By :MORNING MEALS BOOK
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Biscotti Cookies
Fruit Italian
Low Fat

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Whole Eggs
1/4 Cup Oil
1 Tablespoon Orange Juice
2 Teaspoons Orange Peel -- Grated
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla
2 Cups Unbleached flour
1/2 Cup Walnuts -- Finely chopped
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Dried Tart Cherries -- Finely chopped
1 Egg White
1 Tablespoon Water
Granulated sugar

Combine 3/4 cup sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed, scraping bowl often, 2 to 3 minutes, or until thick and pale yellow in color. Add oil, orange juice, orange peel and vanilla; beat 1 to 2 minutes, or until well mixed. Combine flour, walnuts, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Mix on low speed 1 to 2 minutes, or until well mixed. Stir in cherries by hand.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface (dough will be soft and sticky). Lightly sprinkle with additional flour; knead flour into dough. With floured hands, shape into 2 (8 × 2-inch) logs. Place 3 to 4 inches apart on a greased baking sheet; flatten tops slightly. Combine egg white and water; brush on logs. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake in a preheated 350 ° (325° convection) oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until light brown and firm to the touch. Let cool on baking sheet 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Cut logs diagonally into 1/2-inch slices with a serrated knife; arrange slices, cut-side down, on baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes; turn slices. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack; let cool completely.

Description:
"These twice-baked Italian cookies are perfect for dunking in coffee
or milk."
Cuisine:
"Italian"
Source:
"Cherry Marketing Institute"
S(Internet address):
"http://www.cherrymkt.org/index.html"

[lindrusso]

JLS - I have never made those cookies with white chips, but I have made them with semi-sweet chips and they were good that way. Overall, I prefer them with the bittersweet chocolate because they are very sweet to begin with and the bittersweet gives more of a contrast to all the sweetness.