Corn cherry scones (adapted from The Cheese Board Collective Works, makes 10-12 scones)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda*
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2/3 cup and also 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups medium-grind cornmeal*
• 2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter, cut into small “pea-sized” cubes
• 3/4 cup dried sweet cherries
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk*

Preheat the oven to 425˚F, bitches! Mix the flour, baking powder and soda together and then sift it into a mixing bowl of highest quality. Add the salt, 2/3 cup of sugar, and cornmeal, and mix with a wooden spoon until it is nigh on homogeneous. Add the butter and use your fingertips to incorporate the little butter-chunks into the dough (don’t mix it too much, though, just get the dry ingredients to adhere nicely to the outside of the butter). Mix the cherries in so that they are mingling casually with the dry ingredients, then make a well in the center of the bowl, pour the buttermilk in, and mix/fold until just combined.

Separate the dough into 10-12 scone-sized rounded chunks and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle them with the remaining sugar so the tops are coated nicely and then stick ‘em in the oven and immediately bring the temperature down to 375˚F. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are done. [Mine needed 25 minutes or so.]

* Notes on the ingredients: I think these might need a smidgen more baking soda. I couldn’t find any gradations of cornmeal other than “cornmeal” and “polenta,” but the latter is probably too coarse, so use the former (which seems right). I used %1 buttermilk and that also seems to have worked fine; who knows what difference whole buttermilk would make though?

Henry’s parents were in town this past week and we took them to eat a bunch of yummy Berkeley/SF places. You should come visit, because we have the restaurant-highlight-visiting down to a science. Henry’s mom left a bag of cherries in the fridge, and I’m not very good at eating cherries when I have them because the pits make them seem “like effort” even if they are delicious. So instead I thought I’d bake something with cherries in it: cherry clafoutis. The idea is simple—spend an hour of your life pitting and slicing cherries, then stick them in a cake pan, cover them with soft custard-like cake batter, and bake it.

Clafoutis aux cerises

• 1 1/2 lbs cherries, pitted and sliced (I quartered them because it is easier to get the pits out that way)*
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c sugar (I used 1/3 c, and you could probably go up to 3/4 c)
• 3 eggs (yes, three!)
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (but you can substitute extract if you are not as cool as me)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3/4 c milk (I used skim, but whole is probably best… most recipes I found actually use heavy cream here)
• Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Sift the flour and sugar together in a bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan on low, mix in the vanilla, and add the milk slowly, stirring all the while; let that sit 2-3 minutes (on low!). Crack the eggs on top of the flour/sugar, mix until incorporated into a batter. Finally, add the warm milk/vanilla/butter mixture, stirring (perhaps whisking!) all the while, until smooth. Careful: if the milk is too hot, the eggs will cook, which is Bad News, so keep the heat super low.

Grease a 9-inch cake pan, pour in about half the batter, layer the cherries on top, and then pour the rest of the batter over them. They cherries should peek a little. Put in the middle of the oven for 30 min or until “golden brown.” Sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it all purty.

Conclusion: It came out pretty well the first time (I have already eaten two slices, and I just made it). The cherries were tart and wonderful, and the batter was good and soft, but perhaps a tad bland? My inner baker conjectures that the recipe might benefit from a drop or two of lemon juice. Next time.

*According to wikipedia, crazy French purists leave the pits in. *shrug!*