Red, White and Sour Cherry Cobbler

Sour Cherry Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream

The only thing that was patriotic about my 4th of July weekend…well, actually nothing was. I barely even acknowledged the “holiday” save for a BBQ with some good friends last night.

I did have some vision of beautiful raspberry and blueberry pies at one point, and thinking I might be so ambitious as to move beyond eating blueberries by the handful (I guess we also eat them in yogurt and if I ask nicely, Brad might make these pancakes), I spent some time on Sunday searching the Gourmet archives. Here are some of the blueberry recipes I’m considering for a project next weekend:

The recipe I eventually decided to take on this past weekend on was not for blueberries, but for sour cherries, which I was super excited to find had arrived at the greenmarket. The farmer told me they wouldn’t be any better than they were on Saturday, that the trees had bloomed beautifully and it was a great harvest. Since I’m not really a baker, I was intrigued by this seemingly simple Sour Cherry Cobbler, and am happy to report that the recipe was perfect. Easy to make and hot damn was it delicious.

Sour Cherries

I happened upon this post on The Kitchen blog about using chopsticks as a cherry pitter. Convenient, as this is a kitchen implement that I do not own. Sure enough, the chopsticks worked like a charm – out popped the pit.

Pitted cherries, ready for cobbler.

Once I had 4 cups of sour cherries all pitted and ready to go, I combined them with some sugar, lemon juice and a bit of cornstarch. Cherries aside, I set to making the very simple (light and buttery) cobbler dough, and was ready to roll.

Using my cast iron skillet, I brought that sugary, sour cherry mixture to a boil. Next step, drop spoonfuls of the dough into the cherries, and pop the whole thing in the oven to bake until the tops of the cobbler bits are golden brown.

Sour Cherry Cobbler

I let the cobbler cool while we ate dinner, although it would of course be delicious warm out of the oven. All that really matters is that you serve it ‘a la mode’.

I’m already craving more of those delicious sour cherries, but I’m sure I’ll be adapting this cobbler with other fruit (did someone say peaches?) for the rest of the summer.

Here’s the link to the recipe, originally published in Gourmet, July 1991.

2 Responses to “Red, White and Sour Cherry Cobbler”

  1. #

    Marina v.K. says:

    I was desperately looking for sour cherries in the UN and wasn’t able to find them. What market did you go to? Maybe I should try this weekend.

    • #

      Heather says:

      I go to the Grand Army Plaza market in brooklyn, but I’ve seen them at our food coop and have also heard they’re at Union Square.

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