Picture Day: Cherry Bread

A few weeks ago (I don't remember when exactly), Nick and I were going through our freezer and came across a bunch of cherries we had gotten in Door County in July. Nick said "Cherries, hmm. Maybe you should make something with these." So, I pulled out my Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook and took a look. It has so much more than strictly Christmas recipes in it! Lo and behold, there was a recipe for pumpkin bread, with a cranberry variation. Cranberries, cherries, they should be interchangeable, right? I decided to give it a try.

First, I gathered the ingredients. I have started doing this lately so I can (1) show my readers what I all used; and (2) remember everything, because I have been known to forget something or race around trying to find something when I need it.

Door County cherries are so good! Yes, we pick them ourselves - that is part of the fun of Door County cherries. And, thanks to my mom-in-law, I have a handy cherry pitter to help pit all of them.

I decided to make one big loaf to eat right away, and couple of small loaves to freeze. That way, I didn't have to eat all the bread at once, and I have something ready (after thawed) if I want it in the future. This was my step-mom's idea, and it works lovely for all kinds of baked goods!

I enjoyed mine with a couple of slices of cave aged white cheddar from Hooks, a very good cheese! Cheese goes with anything doesn't it? :)

Looks like nothing went wrong, doesn't it? Not so fast...The cherries were really wet to work with, probably because they were frozen prior to use, so I had to cook the bread longer than suggested (a few minutes on the small loaves and about 30 on the large loaf - yikes!). Next time I might thaw them farther ahead of time and dry them on paper towels. Also, a couple of pits managed to make it through. Luckily, I was the one who got that piece! Even with those mishaps, I would say this baking adventure turned out pretty well. Not one I will be sharing with anyone, but that is OK.

Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits

I LOVE cheese! Let's just get that out of the way, right away. I was once told that the hives I was experiencing was an allergic reaction to too much dairy. I cried for a week. Though there are many dairy substitutes available these days (soy, rice, veggie, etc.), nothing compared to plain old from-the-cow dairy. Since that awful doctor's visit, I have significantly cut down on the amount of dairy I eat and switched to mostly organic. However, there are days where I just have to indulge my cravings and have real cheese, and lots of it. These biscuits are a great way to do just that.


Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
pinch chipotle pepper
pinch salt
8 oz extra-sharp Cheddar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine butter, salt and peppers with mixer (on low)
Add flour and combine
Add cheese and milk and mix until ball forms
Wrap ball of dough in wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you want to slice and bake, shape dough into a log before refrigerating.
Roll out dough to 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface and cut biscuits with cookie cutter, or slice rounds from log that are 1/4" thick.
Place dough slices on parchment lined baking sheet and bake until edges are golden brown, about 18 minutes

Store at room temp in a Ziploc or airtight container



I got the original idea for these biscuits from Vegetable Matter. However, I didn't want to spend the money on white cheddar, so I used yellow cheddar, which is usually a few dollars cheaper. I don't know if that made a difference, but I found that my cheese and flour mix did not combine well, and there was much more cheese than anything, so I added the milk and a bit extra flour. I also switched the pepper from cayenne to chipotle, since I like chipotle and we have tons of it . I used the slice and bake method, as you can see in the picture above, which worked fine but gave me slightly misshapen biscuits.

These biscuits smelled delicious as they were baking and I couldn't resist taking one right off the pan and eating it hot. I gave my husband a bite and I guess he liked them; his exact reaction was "take that Red Lobster biscuits! I don't think any of these are going to make it into work, or even until morning." This recipe made 16 biscuits so we did have a few left the next day. Since these received such high praise, I think I will be making these again!