Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Delicious Dishes - Cherry Ripple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I am starting a new series that I hope will accomplish a few things...my goal is to cook or bake at least one item completely from scratch each week, whether to keep for my peeps or to share with friends. This is one of the ways I like to show love to my family and friends.  It also gives me quite a sense of accomplishment, as I intend to do this by only using items from my pantry.  Very budget friendly!

You see, I am a lover of fresh produce.  I love going to the farmers' market - the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells are exciting.  It really is a sensory experience for me.  The fact that these folks have put a lot of sweat equity into their offerings, that these items are of the earth, is magical to me.  And it really carries me back to my childhood...more specifically my Pa Pa's garden.  That garden fed my grandparents' five children, their spouses, and thirteen grandchildren for many, many years.  I could go on and on about this now, but will save it for another post in the near future.


Back to the task at hand.  This past weekend's effort was quite literally "the pitts!"  Fresh cherries were on sale for .99 cents per pound!!!  What a STEAL!  (Ok, I'll try to relax a little and leave the exclamation points to a minimum).  But seriously folks, they might as well have given those little beauties away.  So I bought some - a lot of 'em.  Now, please keep in mind that Big B and Little A do NOT, I repeat, do NOT share my passion for fresh produce!  Shame, isn't it? So as my beauties started to wither because I just couldn't eat them fast enough, I had to find something to do with them...a grander purpose if you will.  I stumbled across this recipe in a back issue of Cooking Light.

 
Cherry Ripple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

(I would have provided you pictures of the process, but my camera is on the fritz.)

Let me just say, it was DEE-LICIOUS.  Due to my vow to only use what I have on hand, I did not make the struessel topping (no whole wheat flour or orange juice concentrate in my house). It still turned out beautiful AND delicious.  I have a fancy bundt pan, so it was really really pretty.  I believe the base recipe would work well with any other fruit you have on hand...blueberries would be especially nice.  And did I mention that I don't have a cherry pitter?  Now that was a chore, but the sense of accomplishment I felt was beyond words.  Big B loved it, so I was able to sneak a little "fruit" into his diet also.  Wink wink, nudge nudge.  Let's just keep that our little secret.


Who knows what next week will bring.  I would definitley urge you to give this one a try.  Let me know what you think. I love reading your comments.

Cheers!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds delicious!!! Thanks for the recipe...

    I just pust up a NEW POST! If you get a chance, stop by for a visit and say hi!
    Have a great day,
    Aimee

    ReplyDelete

I'm thrilled you stopped by...I look forward to reading your comments.