I have a single cherry tree in my backyard that produces bright red, tart cherries for about one week each year.  I love tart cherries.  Even though the yield is low and pitting cherries can be a lot of work, I anticipate that one week of the summer when the cherries are ready to be harvested and baked into something wonderful.  This year I went with a cherry quick bread.  I decided to add cornmeal to it as a subtle way to enhance the bread sweetness.

Spring Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Cornmeal Quick Bread

This recipe makes 1 (9″x4″) loaf.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pitted and quartered Cherries lightly dusted in flour
• 3 tbsp Cognac
• 2 Eggs
• 6 tbsp melted Butter
• 3/4 cup Milk
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 1/3 cup Flour
• 2/3 cup Cornmeal
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Beat together the eggs, butter, milk, and cognac.
3. Add in the sugar, and continue to beat until combined.
4. Gradually add in the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
5. Once everything is well combined, stir in the cherries.
6. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
7. Bake for about a hour.  Use the toothpick test to make sure that the bread has baked all of the way through.