Cherries. It's a wrap.

I think my poor grandmother, a pro at baking biscuits, rolled over in her grave last week.

On my final cherry project -- the last of 18 pounds! -- I attempted what seemed like a simple vanilla biscuit recipe for cherry cobbler. I was loving it...  

But the result was like Oklahoma in August. Hard, burnt and flat.

Part of the problem I suspect (or maybe my excuse) was the cooking implement. Given my relatively new living arrangement due to relationshipitorial stuffage (vague, vague, blah, blah), I'm without a proper oven. This is all I've got, babe.

"But you write about food!" you might be saying, "You can't operate without an oven!"

Oh but I can. This is an opportunity! The capabilities of a toaster oven are mine to master! I'm gonna try a pie in that beotch. And more biscuits to come, my friends.

In the meantime, I leave you with a final recipe from Project Ba Da Bings -- a spiced vanilla cherry jam. I adapted it significantly from the version here. But I say the vanilla, spices, brandy and lack of pectin make it better. Dessert-worthy like a cherry gloss for drizzling over ice cream with walnuts, but rustic enough for toast.  

Spiced Vanilla Cherry Jam

4 cups Bing cherries, pitted and halved

1/4 cup lemon juice

A little less than a 1/4 cup brandy

Pure vanilla extract to taste

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 1/4 cups sugar

1. Combine cherries, lemon juice, brandy, vanilla, salt and spices in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in sugar and return to boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 10 minutes.

2. Pour into jars and process in boiling water bath (if saving for later). 

Maybe my biscuits were more like his biscuits (but not the biscuit in question, of course). 

Biscuit from Joseph Michael on Vimeo.