Sweet (Flathead) Cherry Blondies, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Flathead cherries are in season! When I lived in Montana in my twenties, I spent one summer at the top of a ladder near Flathead Lake, handpicking cherries. It was hard, tedious work; I wasn’t that good at it. But the beauty of the Flathead Valley and spending time cherry picking with my friends made it all worthwhile.
Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. west of the Mississippi; it’s also the largest lake in the state of Montana and one of the cleanest and most pristine in the world. The lake is a product of the activity of ice-age glaciers, and is fed by the Swan and Flathead Rivers. The watershed contains a diverse community of plants and animals, including over 300 species of aquatic insects, 22 species of fish, the grizzly bear, bald eagle, bull trout, lynx, peregrine falcon, and grey wolf. The snowy Northwest mountain winters are perfect for the hibernation and growth of Flathead Cherries.
To our good fortune, Liz’s sister in Wyoming picked a batch of Flathead Cherries a few weeks ago and sent them along with her Mom to Minnesota. (Rumor has it she toted them on board in her carry-on.) We ate some of them one by one off the stem. But Liz was in the mood to bake. So she searched for a good recipe and landed on these Sweet Cherry Blondies from Northwest Cherries. We substituted the Flathead Cherries. The Blondies were to die for.
We ate the Blondies hot out of the oven while watching the Beijing Summer Olympics. They reminded me of a cross between a thick chocolate brownie and Mom’s Rocks. Hmmmm, good. Liz took them to work on Friday and, let’s just say, we’ve decided to make them a new family recipe.
Right now, Liz is baking Grama Hodne’s (Ex) Ginger Snaps. And we’re heading over to our friends for a fire under the August Full Moon. What better way to spend a perfect summer evening.
There are volumes of other recipes at the Northwest Cherries site, as well as tips on freezing, canning, and drying cherries, and information on growing seasons. And the same can be found at Flathead Lake Cherry Growers. Or if you are really adventurous, check out the 25th Annual Bear Hug Mountain Festival, September 12th – 14th on Flathead Lake near Rollins, Montana. In the meantime, enjoy the Blondies!
Sweet (Flathead) Cherry Blondies
1-1/3 cups flour
1-1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pitted and halved Northwest fresh sweet cherries (we used Flathead cherries)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Yield: 16 servings.
Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, oil, eggs and vanilla; mix on low speed of electric mixer until blended. Mix 1 minute on medium speed. Batter will be thick.
Spread half of batter in oiled and floured 9-inch baking pan. Toss cherries in small amount of flour. Scatter cherries over batter; spread remaining batter over cherries.
Sprinkle pecans over top. Bake at 325ºF 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on rack and cut into 16 pieces.
Chocolate Chip Variation:
Sprinkle 1/2 cup chocolate chips over batter with pecans.
-posted on red Ravine, Saturday, August 16th, 2008
I had to ask Kay, the granddaughter of Grama Hodne who provided me with the recipe for tonight’s treat of “(Ex) Ginger Snaps” what the “(Ex)” meant. Was this recipe somehow involved in a breakup? Oh, no, nothing so sad, Kay reported. It is a shortcut for ‘Excellent’, which they are. Perhaps I will share the recipe for that one too. After all, Kay said that Grama H would love to share it if it does some good in the world.
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By the way, if I keep up with the baking routine, perhaps I will earn myself a proper mixer on a stand… perhaps a KitchenAid in Cherry Red would be appropriate. As for now, I am getting by with the ol’ electric hand mixer, which I am sure was good enough for Grama Hodne!
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Ha! I wondered the same thing about the Ex Ginger Snaps. 8)
QM, I was logging on to my computer this afternoon to upload some pics of Jim’s homemade popsicles. I’m going to do a post about them. Seems food was on all our minds this weekend.
But, mostly I want to say, these brownies look so tasty! I would never think to put cherries in brownies, but wow, they look so moist and the combo of the brownie flavor and the nuts and the cherries — well, it seems to not only work but to be most excellent.
BTW, not knowing what Flathead cherries are (and not yet clicking on the cherry growers association link), can you tell me if they’re anything like bing? And aren’t cherries one of the best fruits? I could live off them and watermelon. We’ve been eating cherries all summer, but none homegrown.
Hope you have a great August moon fire.
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ybonesy, I remember those gold cherries in New Mexico when we went to the Growers Market last year. I think there is a photograph in the post A Conversation Between Friends (LINK). What kind were those?
I don’t know my cherries very well. But off the top of my head, the Bings seem firmer and a little lighter red than the Flatheads. There are tons of different kinds of cherries. They were brought to this country by the Colonists and settlers.
Here are a few more tidbits, one from this great source on cherries. Mark’s Fruit Crops – All About Cherries (LINK). Looks like he’s got a book out, too, called Introduction to Fruit Crops.
The word “cherry” comes from the French word “cerise”, which comes in turn from the Latin words cerasum and Cerasus.
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skywire, those ginger snaps last night were the best by the August Moon Fire. Oh, didn’t you try a couple that you made into S’Mores? How did that turn out? We might have to post Grama Hadne’s recipe sometime.
ybonesy, beautiful summer night last night. We watched the moon rise behind us as we sat by a fire on a pond. And right as we sat down, a Great Horned Owl flew over us. Our friends said the Great Horned Owls have been hanging out in the trees in their yard and near the pond. They see them every night. And we heard them last night, calling back to one another. They don’t sound anything like you would think they would! Kind of screechy!
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Here’s another interesting tidbit from Mark’s site (see link above).
Maraschino cherries are made mostly from sweet cherries, but a small proportion of sour cherries are brined for this purpose. Cherries with clear flesh are picked slightly early, perhaps are de-colorized with SO2, then steeped in Marasca, a liqueur distilled from the fermented juice of wild cherries. Sour cherries are primarily processed into pie fillings.
Also, I found these varieties of Northwest Cherries on their site (LINK): Chelan, Tieton, Bing, Rainier, Lapins, Skeena, and Sweetheart (see link for photos and descriptions). And Mark mentions: Napoleon (Royal Ann), Lambert, Early Burlat, Black Tartarian, Stella, and Van. So I don’t know if Flathead Cherries are one of those varieties or their own (?). It’s a good question. Maybe one of our readers will know. 8)
Here’s a local Montana Flathead Orchard site (they do mention Rainiers)with some cool Flathead Cherry Products including Flathead Cherry BBQ Sauce. Yum. They grow certified organic cherries:
The Orchard At Flathead Lake (LINK).
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I am on a mission to find some fresh cherries in order to make this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
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I don’t know my cherries either, QM. I had to look at the link to be reminded of the yellow cherries at the Growers Market. Wow, those are really yellow. I thought maybe they’d be yellow-and-red, which is more like a Queen Anne or a Ranier.
I understand from reading this great article about New Mexico cherries (LINK) that there is a yellow cherry that the local farmers call “Spanish” cherries and there is something called The Golds. But we have a bunch of other cherries, too.
I didn’t see cherries at the Growers Market this season, probably on account of so many of the fruit trees getting hit by the hard freeze that came in March after an unseasonably warm Feb.
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This blog is making me hungry.
Food on a stick… cherry blondies… gourmet popscicles..
you guys could give ‘smitten kitchen’ blog a run for its money.
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ybonesy, that’s a cool link on the cherries. I didn’t realize Michigan was the best-known cherry producing state. You just wouldn’t think that. I always think of Montana or Washington or Oregon. They seem to grow all over the country, but really like the North and the mountains. I like her descriptions of each of the kinds of cherries.
amuirin, I don’t know how it happened, but ybonesy and I had food on the brain at the same time. We seem to go in spurts with these things. BTW, there’s a Smitten Kitten here in Minneapolis. Quite a different thing than the smitten kitchen, I’m sure. 8)
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