Heart of stone

oh, you thought you liked cherries?

We love sweet cherries, but we would freaking marry a balaton sour cherry. It’s nature’s sour patch kid. The sweetness comes out when you bake them and the tartness remains just enough to never get enough. The deep red color is literally intoxicating. On top of all that, they don’t have a super long season, so when we’ve got em, they’re that much more delicious. Not sure what to make? So many options, so little time…

SOUR CHERRY PIE

Tart cherries and pie is a match made in heaven. Whether you’re adding a little lavender twist and making them on a skillet, going the galette route, or fashioning it all into a tart, you absolutely cannot mess this up and if you do just eat the filling on top of ice cream.

SOUR CHERRY SYRUP

Why bother with a pie, actually, when you can just get it into a syrupy jam format and add that sour cherry syrup to your favorite cocktails, mocktails, pancakes, spoonfuls? Feel free to use maple syrup instead of sugar.

SOUR CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHUNK MUFFINS

This recipe is so decadent and sinful you might actually forget it’s made with pretty wholesome ingredients. Freezes well, too, in case you want to save yourself a muffin for later.

CAKE IT, CRISP IT, COBBLER IT

Maybe you’re not generally reaching for a cobbler, a crisp, or a coffee cake, but these recipes are sure to activate both your Midwestern vibes and your gourmet cravings so hard when tart cherries are involved that you might actually need to set a reminder for yourself to be around next year so you’re sure not to miss the short season.