Lazy Summer Days

I’ve been waiting for Ontario sour cherries all month and now they have arrived. I get so excited about this tangy and flavourful fruit so much so that I even found pitting the cherries therapeutic and relaxing. I’m a bit odd, I know. Even watching the natural juices fill the bowl made me happy. Some may say, I have too much time on my hands. I prefer to think of it as enjoying these lazy summer days and passing time with things I love to do.

Since we’re talking about having too much time on my hands, I thought this summer would be boring for my kids. The exact opposite is true. They’ve been filling their days with traditional activities, which seems to be a lost art form lately. I’m not sure my neighbours are loving the extra noise but personally, I love hearing kids from the neighbourhood laughing and playing outside together (social distancing in effect). There’s something simple and traditional about how they are passing their days. This desserts has the same feel.

I thought it might be nice to pair the stewed cherries with a sugar cookies, instead of making biscuits. I flavoured them with orange zest and thyme and they smell amazing, coming out of the oven. If you have lemon thyme on hand, that would be a nice addition and you could swap out the orange zest for lemon, instead.

Here’s to lazy, summer days and of course, eating!

Cherry Orange Thyme Cobbler

Serves: 6-8

Orange Thyme Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened slightly

1/3 cup coconut sugar

1 Tbsp orange zest, about half of a large orange

1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 Tsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, thyme, zest and salt.
3. Using a pastry cutter, mix together the butter with the dry ingredients, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Gently knead the mixture together in the bowl.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough using a 2 1/2-inch round cutter.
6. Place the cutouts on a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.
7. Bake 13-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned.
8. Remove and let cool.

Baked Cherries

8 cups fresh tart cherries, pitted. (You can also use frozen, pitted sour cherries)

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp orange zest, about half of a large orange

Juice of 1/4 of an orange

1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)

Directions:

1. Increase the oven temperature to 400F.
2. In a 8×8 baking dish, stir the thyme, maple syrup, cornstarch, zest and juice.
3. Add 4 cups of the cherries
4. Bake 25 minutes or until thickened and bubbling. Remove from oven.
5. Stir in remaining uncooked cherries; cool slightly.
6. Serve warm.

Assembly:

1. When ready to serve, top the cherries with the cookies; serve the remaining cookies on the side.
2. Top cobbler with vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of maple syrup and thyme.