National Cherry Month with #FoodieExtravaganza

Welcome back to our monthly Foodie Extravaganza!

If this is your first time joining us, the Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party hosted by bloggers who love food! Each month we incorporate one main ingredient into recipes to share with you and this month that ingredient is a Valentine's Day classic...cherries!  Which means there are 17 delicious & unique cherry recipes waiting for you at the end of this post. Yay!

Did you know that February is National Cherry Month?  Well, it is.  Living here in Michigan, where we grow 75% of the Montmorency Cherries grown in the country, we should all know that.  But I didn't until I joined Foodie Extravaganza and Kaylin of Keep it Simple Sweetie, assigned it as this month's theme.  I always thought National Cherry Month was in July.  After all, that is when we have our big Cherry Festival each year.

Living in Michigan, I use cherries quite often when cooking.  I especially like adding dried cherries to salads, sauces, quick breads and cookies.  I also use them in my oatmeal in place of raisins.  We have companies that specialize in cherry jams, relishes and salsas and they are delicious!  We even make cherry wine and use cherries when brewing our beer.

Did you know that cherries, especially tart cherries as grown here in Michigan, are very high in antioxidants?  Some studies have shown that cherries can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's and ease the pain of arthritis.  Those are some pretty impressive statistics!!

Michigan also grows wonderful sweet cherries as well but not nearly as many as tart cherries and while sweet cherries are also heart healthy they don't really come close to matching their tart counterparts.

My eldest daughter, Amy, invited us over for dinner so I volunteered to bring dessert so that I could make this recipe.  It was delicious.  More like a shortbread than a pie but really tasty.  I know that this will be a recipe I will make time and again.  It went together in a snap and can be made ahead of time.

I printed out this recipe from Cooking Classy way back in May and never made them.  I had even bought the cherries for the recipe and they were still sitting in my pantry so when Foodie Extravaganza assigned us all cherries this month it was an easy peasy choice for me.  I adapted Jaclyn's recipe just slightly.  Her recipe was for a 9x13 pan and made 16 servings.  I adapted it to be made in a deep dish pie pan and serve 8.

Cherry Pie Bars
very slightly adapted from Cooking Classy

1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 t. baking powder
scant 1/2 t. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. almond extract
1 (20 oz) can cherry pie filling

Glaze

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1/4 t. almond extract
2-3 T. half and half

Preheat oven to 350*.  Spray a deep dish pie pan with baking spray.  Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add vanilla and almond extracts.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared baking dish.  Top with cherry pie filling, spreading evenly over batter.  Place dollops of remaining batter over cherry pie filling.  Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.

In a small bowl, whisk together ingredients for glaze.  Pour into a sealable bag, cut a small tip from the corner of the bag and drizzle over cooled bars.  Allow glaze to set and then cut into squares. Print Recipe

And here is what other's brought to the party to share with you this month!!

• 4 Ingredient Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake Balls by Keep it Simple, Sweetie
• Chocolate and Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies by Making Miracles
• Real Maraschino Cherries by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Fresh Cherry Crisp by Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Chocolate Cherry Brownies by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Breakfast Yogurt with Cherries Sauce by Brunch with Joy 
• Cherry Apple Crumble Tart by Food Lust People Love
• Cherry Pie Bites by The Freshman Cook
• Dark Cherry BBQ Sauce by The Joyful Foodie
• Balsamic Cherry Brie Stuffed French Toast by Pantry Friendly Cooking
• Cherry Chocolate Coconut Slices by Baking in Pyjamas
• Vanilla Ice Cream with Dried Cherries and Dark Chocolate by Sew You Think You Can Cook Chocolate Cherry Protein Smoothie by Mrs. Penguin
• Cherry Danishes by Passion Kneaded
• Dark Cherry-Cranberry Compote by Rhubarb and Honey
• Crock Pot Balsamic Cherry Beef Roast by Rae Gun Ramblings
• Cherry Glazed Cherry Muffins by We Like to Learn as

                                   

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