Sour cherry desserts
Sour cherries are quite popular in Romania, and
are the basis of a wide variety of desserts. They are even turned into a widely
enjoyed sweet spirit, left to soak into grain alcohol sweetened with sugar. At
the same time, they can also be served as a regular dish, namely a soup, which
is one of the more exotic influences left in Transylvanian cooking by the
Saxons, an ethnic German group that settled in that region in the Middle Ages.
The other obvious application is to make preserves, and sour cherry preserve is
part of every Romanian’s childhood memories.
Ștefan Baciu, 02.08.2015, 12:12
Sour cherries are quite popular in Romania, and
are the basis of a wide variety of desserts. They are even turned into a widely
enjoyed sweet spirit, left to soak into grain alcohol sweetened with sugar. At
the same time, they can also be served as a regular dish, namely a soup, which
is one of the more exotic influences left in Transylvanian cooking by the
Saxons, an ethnic German group that settled in that region in the Middle Ages.
The other obvious application is to make preserves, and sour cherry preserve is
part of every Romanian’s childhood memories.
Today we’ll start by presenting a simple
preparation, a fluffy cake with sour cherries. Take 3 eggs, a cup of milk, 200
g or sugar, 250 g of flour, baking powder, the shredded rind of one lemon, and
half a kg of sour cherries. Pit the cherries and sprinkle them with a couple of
tablespoons of sugar in a bowl, leaving them to take it in. With a mixer blend
thoroughly the sugar and eggs at higher speed, then add the milk and flour and
set the mixer at lower speed to blend. Put the mixture in a tray lined with
baking paper, then drop the cherries on top of it. Bake in a preheated oven on
medium for about half an hour. It can be served hot or cold, sprinkled with
powdered sugar.
One other possibility is sour cherry cookies.
We use almost the same ingredients, with the exception of the fact that you
only use the yolks of the eggs. Take 200 g of sugar, three egg yolks, 100 g of
butter, 200 g of flour, baking powder, a pack of vanilla sugar, the shredded
rind of one lemon, and pitted sour cherries. Use a mixer to blend the butter
and sugar to a cream, and add gradually the flour until it forms a light dough
that doesn’t stick to the bowl. Take tablespoons of the mixture, lay them on a
baking paper lined tray, then flatten them. Stick a sour cherry on top of each
dollop, then bake on medium in a preheated oven about 20 minutes, until golden
brown. You can also drizzle melted chocolate on top of the cookies.
Enjoy!
