Ukrainian Cherry Bars (Chereshnyanyk)

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I’ve written a bit about my Mum’s side of the family (the mostly English-Scottish-Danish tradition), but I’ve also been exploring another part of my heritage. My Dad’s Mom (Baba Christine) was born in Canada to Ukrainian immigrants. They owned a wheat farm in Manitoba. My Baba Christine wasn’t someone I grew to know in the same everyday family way of my other Gran. I don’t really know why. When she came to the U.S. she met my Grandfather Karlyle while he was shearing sheep and she was working as a cook on a sheep ranch in Colorado. I’ve heard that my Grandfather’s sisters made fun of her accent and language so she changed her name and never passed the language or customs on to her children- I think that is a shame. I would have loved to have at least some part of that colorful heritage from her.

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Karlyle and Christine my paternal grandparents

My Dad talks about the Canadian-Ukrainian relatives now and then and I’ve met my Grandma’s brother Alec, who is an inventor. I think most of her family live in Alberta now and the wheat farm must be long gone. When she married my Grandfather they settled in Southern Utah (where his family came from) and raised four boys. They owned a sandwich shop for a while. He was a control officer for U.S. Fish and Wildlife and tracked Mountain Lions. He seems a rough and tumble kind of guy. I never knew him- he died when my Dad was still a boy. My Grandma Christine raised her boys by herself and then (at least to me) seemed to retreat into the background. I know she loved us though, and she was sort of around but not very involved.

My Grandfather’s Father- Joseph was a frontier doctor and town Marshal in the 1890’s- one day I’ll pass on some stories about him and my Great-Grandmother Sarah who worked by his side in the surgery and also gave birth to 9 children. They died when my Grandfather was just a tiny boy and he was then raised by various siblings.

Any way since I’m interested in knowing some of the Ukrainian cooking and customs that I missed out on- I’ve been gathering some recipes over the years. I’m sorry I can’t remember where I got this one, or I’d give credit- it’s been stuffed into my recipe file for a while and since I recently bought some luscious pie cherries I decided to make these. I think they’re a keeper. I cut them down the middle before I thought to take a picture.

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Ukrainian Cherry Bars -Chereshnyanyk

  • 2 cups sifted AP flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 cup light cream
  • Sugared pie cherries or a can of cherry pie filling
  • a bit more flour to thicken fresh cherries if needed

Sift the flour with the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Combine the lemon juice, zest and cream. Add to the flour mixture and mix lightly. The dough should be soft. Spoon it into a buttered 9 x 13 cake pan and pat gently, elevating the sides to hold the filling. Fill with the sugared cherries (well drained and a little flour -1-2 Tb- added to thicken if juicy) or a can of cherry pie filling and bake at 375F for 35 minutes or until done. Cool and cut into squares.

I hope you enjoy!

Diakuiu! (Thank you in Ukrainian)

Revisiting Cherry Almond Scones

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I posted this recipe last January but though I’d bring it forward again since my visit to Woodyatt Cherry Farms on Saturday. I actually made these on Saturday morning before our trip but I used the same dried Montmorency Cherries from Woodyatt’s that I had purchased at the Farmers’ Market at Pioneer Park where they operate a small stand. So if you can’t make it to Willard go to the Farmers’ Market early on Saturdays into October. Please note: I have no affiliation with the Woodyatts I am just a loyal customer 🙂

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Cherry Almond Scones

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cold butter
  • 1 cup whole dried Montmorency cherries if you can find them if not use other dried tart cherries
  • 1 cup toasted and cooled natural almonds, roughly chopped, reserve a few Tablespoons and chop them a little finer for topping
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 beaten egg for topping

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and cut into the flour with a pastry cutter or rub between your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs with a few pea sized butter pieces remaining. Add the cherries and almonds and stir in. Mix the buttermilk, one large egg and extracts together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture. Stir just until combined and the dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Dump out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead only a few times until the dough holds together. Don’t over work as with most short doughs.

At this point you can form small handfuls of the dough into balls and place on parchment lined baking trays or you can pat out into a large circle, brush with a little beaten egg and pat the reserved finely chopped almonds lightly onto the surface. Sprinkle with a little sugar, place the round on a parchment linked or lightly greased baking tray, cut into 8 wedges and separate slightly (a bench scraper works great for this job) and bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden and risen and just springs back slightly when very lightly touched in the center.

Serve warm or room temperature. They will keep well covered for a day or two but are best the day they are baked.

These double well and I made a double batch to give some to my Mum and some to our friends Joe and Nancy. I hope they enjoyed them- I know we did!

xo

Saturday Night at the Grill

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Earlier today, I took my Mom on a little road-trip in my Jeep up Highway 89 towards Brigham City to the Willard, Utah  fruit-stands. I forgot my camera or I would have been able to show you a beautiful “Mayberry” type of country.

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We bought two half-bushels of locally grown peaches, some corn in the husk, green and hot peppers, a local melon and some jarred preserves and then we headed over to Woodyatt Cherry Farms for some Montmorency tart pie cherries. They sell various size tubs of pitted pie cherries with sugar (these make the best cherry pie ever!), dried cherries, jam and cherry juice. Of course being such a cherry fan- this is my idea of heaven. I used to go up to the farmer’s co-op to buy the cherries but it has since gone defunct and from my conversation with Mrs. Woodyatt, it was evidently so unprofitable for the fruit growers that I gather most of them took out their cherry orchards and replaced them with peaches. I am so grateful that the Woodyatts didn’t pull their cherry orchard out because I would find the world a distinctly less lovely place without their cherries.

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These are the dried cherries- the picture doesn’t do them justice.

After we had finished making our haul we had a fun dashboard lunch at the drive-in at Maddox including some of the best peach milkshakes we’ve ever enjoyed.

I came home a bit tired and decided that a grill up would be the way to go for dinner.

Earlier this Summer, Marie at Proud Italian Cook, one of my all around favorite bloggers, posted a pork tenderloin that she filled, tied and grilled. I have been wanting to make one ever since. She stuffed hers with olives and mustard and I decided to try using Chevre, sun dried tomatoes and pesto in mine. It was so easy and delicious.

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Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chevre, Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes ( along with grill peaches, corn and baked potatoes)

  • pork tenderloin, rinsed and patted dry
  • Chevre
  • Basil Pesto
  • Sun-dried Tomatoes
  • olive oil
  • garlic
  • salt and pepper

Place the rinsed and patted dry tenderloin on a cutting board and cut into it vertically and then horizontally to open it like a book. Place a small portion of Chevre in the center and top with pesto and tomatoes. Close it up and tie with kitchen twine so all of the stuffing is encased. Put a minced clove of garlic in some olive oil and rub the tenderloin and then salt and pepper. Heat your grill and rub with a little oil. Grill on all sides over medium heat until the internal temperature of the meat reaches just under 160F. Remove to a platter and tent with foil to rest while until ready to serve.

Meanwhile remove the silk from some fresh corn- leave the the husk on but rinse both the cob and husk. Sprinkle with a little chile powder and salt and pepper.  Pull the husk back around the cob and grill for a few minutes on all sides just until al dente. Remove the husk or tie it back for a handle if you wish. Brush with butter and squeeze a little lime juice over and serve.

Grill some peaches. Wash them and halve and pit them. Brush with a little olive oil and place cut side down on the grill over medium low heat. Heat through and serve with a  drizzle of balsamic vinegar- or plain. Mm-mm.

The baked potatoes are served with a scoop of Fage 0% fat Greek yogurt and some chives. They were delicious.

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I’m guessing I’ll have lots of peach and cherry recipes for you soon.

Hope you enjoy!

xo

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