Thinking of Cherry Pie

   Being home full time now has its up and downs.  As much as I love being able to work in my pajamas and sipping coffee while working here on the computer I do miss a few things from being downtown. Now I don't want to mislead anyone when I say downtown. I live just outside of Montello, Wisconsin so, downtown consists of a few main streets and a handful of shops, a few taverns, beauty shops and gas stations. We do have a pharmacy and a grocery store.



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One of my favorite shops in town I have mentioned before is the Teapot Quilt Cottage and after looking over the February class schedule noticed that on Saturday February 20th they are having Cherry Pie Day.  Seeing that I just had to ask what was going on.  In the past we have had chocolate tastings, a pumpkin pie bakeoff, christmas cookie and others all in the Cottage. People would enter their tasty dishes for a chance to win a gift cerftificate or small prize, bu the real winners were those who stopped in and tasted, then voted on their favorites. So much fun.  This time Jean is giving out Cherry Pie slices on this day. What a nice treat when you stop in and see alll the great things she has. From quilting supplies and yarn to produce in season and plants. You could make an afternoon of it, just in her shop. 
     Jean and I also started the Easter Bunny Parade in town, over the past few years it has grown into quite a fun tradition for the families in town and those visiting Grandmas on that weekend. Since we started the New Montello Group, about four years ago,  we have worked very hard to get visitors to stop in their journey through Montello and see what there is to offer.
   As of late it seems some things have changed and maybe not for the better.   Promoting a small town is an ongoing project, as each small town is working to attract visitors to keep it alive and growing.  Montello has so many great natural resources and such nice people it just needs to say " HEY, look at me" and get some good attention. Just about one hour north of Madison and about four hours from Chicago it is a great place to visit with the family or maybe a girls weekend.  All that said back to cherry pie
  Since reading about the cherry lices, I went to one of my favorite websitres to look for a recipe to try .
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/cherry-cake-pudding/
Over the past few weeks I have made about a dozen recipes from this site and all were raved about.
Cherry Cake Pudding

Ingredients
■Cake
■1 cup Sugar
■2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
■1 whole Egg
■1 cup All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon Baking Powder
■⅛ teaspoons Salt
■½ cups Whole Milk
■1 can (15 Ounces) Cherries In Syrup (NOT Cherry Pie Filling) Drained, Juice Reserved
■½ cups Pecans, Finely Chopped
■Sauce:
■1 cup Juice From Cherries (add Water To Make 1 Cup If Necessary)
■1 cup Sugar
■1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
■1 Tablespoon Butter
■½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
■Unsweetened Freshly Whipped Cream

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a square 9 x 9-inch baking dish.
Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt then add to mixing bowl alternatively with milk. Add cherries and chopped nuts and mix gently. Pour batter into buttered pan and smooth out the surface. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown on the surface and no longer jiggly.
While cake is baking, make the sauce by combining cherry juice, sugar, and flour in a small saucepan. Boil for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thick. Turn off heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter and vanilla extract.
Drizzle 1/3 of the sauce on the cake as soon as you remove it from the oven. Spread to distribute over the surface and wait ten minutes before serving so the sauce will seep into the top of the cake a bit.

Spoon out pieces of warm, sticky cake and top with unsweetened whipped cream

I can't wait for hubby to get back from the store so I can get this in the oven.

by the way Walmart carries The Pioneer Woman new cookbook, a must have!  I ordered mine online from Walmart as our store was out of them.

All of this cooking has cut into my "hooking " time. I am trying to get a good amount of bunny and spring hats done. I have some of them destined for Josephines in Watertown and the others for Grammas Gifts the Etsy shop. I also just signed on for a show on April 8th in Fitchburg so I will need to get busy.