Tart Cherry & Almond Cornbread

I am a huge fan of Foodbuzz as evident by my icons to your right and appreciate all the other very talented food bloggers they have introduced me to for over a year now. This November, they are hosting the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco, CA - which is quite a ways away from the Panhandle of Florida. As a treat to Featured Publishers, Foodbuzz has teamed with Nature's Pride to offer a chance to attend the Festival sans cost. To be considered for this opportunity, bloggers are creating recipes using one of the natural bread products offered by Nature's Pride.

I cannot recall a time I made a recipe using slices of bread other than a sandwich, but I set to work contemplating a unique recipe I could create with slices of bread. After some deliberation, cornbread came to mind and seemed like a fantastic idea. It's a straightforward recipe I am comfortable with and is delicious to devour. Instead of using flour, I decided to replace it with the bread. However, fresh bread would not work. My favorite cornbread recipe includes browned butter, which creates a rich flavor in the bread that is sensual for a simple dish. I settled on not using butter and instead toasting the bread to mimic the rich flavor profile I love.

Once I went to the grocery store to find the Nature's Pride bread, I stumbled upon their option of Honey Wheat bread which sounded perfect. Although not as soulful as the organic sprouted spelt flour bread I love from my local co-op, it is one of the best conventional breads I have seen offered, without harmful substances like high fructose corn syrup. I felt the honey would compliment the sweeter cornbread I wanted to prepare and went with this option.

The addition of almonds and tart cherries provides a subtle sweetness to this filling side dish, and transforms it into more than just something to sop up gravy with. I enjoyed it as a breakfast treat and found it goes fantastically with hot coffee. Not to mention a satisfying snack or faux dessert. I brought in half the cornbread to work and received rave reviews. I had never had so many compliments on something I shared with friends, so I know I'm on to something with this recipe.

The toasted bread is a perfect substitute to browned butter and did provide the richness I crave. The almonds and tart cherries gave little bursts of sweetness, but were not overpowering enough to be considered a sugary dessert. It was wonderful to create a cornbread without using cups of flour just to try something different and allow other flavors to shine. I am so happy with my successful cornbread and hope you give this recipe a try this autumn to keep your belly full and your heart warm.

Tart Cherry & Almond Cornbread
Printable Recipe

5 pieces of Nature's Pride Honey Wheat Bread, toasted - yields 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 1/2 tbsp almond slices, toasted
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup turbinado
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup tart cherries
stick of butter

Place an 8" or 10" cast iron skillet in a cold oven and preheat the oven to 400*F (adding the cast iron skillet to the cold oven to gradually warm will prevent it from warping or becoming damaged). Lay the bread pieces on a cookie sheet without butter or cooking spray. Allow the bread to toast 10 min on each side, although watch carefully in case your oven cooks rapidly.

While the bread is toasting, turn a burner on the stove to medium heat. In a small skillet, add the almonds and cook for approximately 5 min until the almonds are toasted, tossing occasionally. Remove from the stove and set aside.

Remove the bread from the oven and carefully add it in pieces to a food processor and pulse until the bread turns into breadcrumbs.

In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients of breadcrumbs through kosher salt.

Mix thoroughly.

Next add the wet ingredients of eggs through tart cherries, plus 1 tbsp of the toasted almond slices, and mix well.

Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven with an oven mitt and thoroughly coat the bottom and sides with a stick of butter so the batter doesn't stick. Pour in the thick batter and spread evenly with a spatula. Lastly, add the remaining toasted almond slices evenly over the top of the batter. Using your oven mitt, return the cast iron skillet to the oven at 400*F and cook for 20 min.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 min before slicing. Serve immediately or store for savoring later.

~Yields 8 servings.

~Adapted from Cooking Light.

A sample product of Nature's Pride was made available to me by Foodbuzz with no obligations for review.

Tart Cherry Scones

For this month's International Incident Party by Jeroxie, with co-hosts Anh and Cherrie, the theme is scones.

This is another recipe from this month's Book Club, keeping with the theme of English tea snacks. It also is the first time I baked with coconut concentrate, which is a becoming a more versatile ingredient in my kitchen as of late.

If you've been noticing, I still cannot get enough of these dried tart cherries from my local co-op. I'm fairly certain I may need to join a support group to break my habit of using them in nearly every dish I cook, but they're that good! They paired beautifully with these scones and added a tone of sweetness to match with the sweeter cornmeal dough. These are the easiest and best scones I've made to date. The scones are not sweet like typical sugary desserts, but are just enough to satisfy my wicked sweet tooth.

Tart Cherry Scones
Printable Recipe

1 large egg
1/2 cup cream
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup turbinado
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
6 tbsp butter, diced
1/4 cup coconut concentrate
3/4 cup dried tart cherries

1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp raw milk
1/4 cup turbinado

Preheat the oven to 400*F and butter a cookie sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. In a large bowl, stir together the ingredients of flour through salt. Mix in the butter so it is incorporated, but not creamed. It should be pea sized, and this can be done by hand or carefully with a mixer. Add the egg mixture and coconut concentrate, stirring to combine and make the dough wet. Then add the dried tart cherries and mix until just incorporated.

Using your hands, shape the dough into a ball and lay on parchment paper. On the counter, press the dough into a disk about 2" tall and 8" wide with a floured rolling pin.

Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 equal wedges.

Place the scones onto the greased cookie sheet and brush with the egg yolk and milk mixture. Then sprinkle each scone liberally with turbinado. Bake for 22-25 min until the edges are browned.

~Yields 8 scones.

~Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz.

Update: Hello! Thanks for your kind comments and questions about the coconut concentrate. I've included two photos below of the bottle from Tropical Traditions. It's a mixture of coconut meat and oil, so it's very thick, like honey. It's a wonderful and very versatile ingredient to have in the kitchen. They have sales and specials often, so visit their website if you'd like to order some of your own!