February hosts a lot of fun holidays and past times and among them, it’s National Cherry Month! Did you know that just one cup of fresh cherries is only about 90 calories? And is an excellent sorce of Vitamin C and fiber. Cherries are also chocked full of antioxidants, boasting over 4,000 in most standard one cup servings. What a tasty, sweet way to help fight free radicals! Cherries are also full of melatonin, a natural way to help regulate sleep cycles and helps your brain perform to it’s fullest. They may also help slow the process of age-related chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Cherries also get their deep red hue from anthocyanins, which helps promote and protect the heart! These tiny little fruits are amazing and definitely deserve a whole month to be cheered about!
And although it’s winter time, it’s so easy to enjoy cherries any time of the year with a few delicious products!
Looking for a cherry treat with a little more substance? I suggest the Cherry Vanilla Soft-Baked Cereal Bars by Kashi. These bars contain fresh fruit, rich vanilla and seven whole grains. Kashi uses rich Madagascan vanilla beans and bakes them directly into the dough. Red ruby cherries are used for the sweet center filling without the use of highly refined sweeteners or artificial ingredients. Boasting 3 grams of fiber per serving, these soft and sweet bars are great for an on the go breakfast or late morning snack!
We also were able to try a bag of Sun-Maid‘s Tart Cherries. These cherries alone are a bit too tart for Sonshine to eat alone and even made me pucker up a bit and I love tart things! The whole bag is one cup of dried cherries and each quarter cup is 140 calories and 2 grams of fiber. Tart cherries have a short harvest period, roughly two weeks, so they’re usually in high demand and short on supply. Thanks to Sun-Maid, you’ll never have to miss out on this delicious little stone fruit! As I couldn’t get the kid or husband to eat these alone, I thought they would bake well into a cake that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day!
- 11/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbl spoon baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 stick butter; softened
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbl spoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Sun-Maid Tart Cherries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Sift together dry ingredients
- Cream butter until fluffy
- Mix milk and vanilla together
- Alternate milk mixture and eggs into butter
- Blend wet into dry mix
- Fold cherries into mix
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean
We had ours without icing as Hubbers and the kid dove right in. But, I recommend mixing vanilla with granulated sugar to make a glaze and drizzling it over the top. I baked mine is a heart shaped pan (which are easy to find this time of year) in honor of Valentine’s Day!
I hope that y’all enjoy these cherry snacks as much as my family and I did! These super fruits are tiny little amazement’s that deserve our attention year round!
Buy It
You can purchase Stretch Island Fruit Strips from their website for $2.99 for an 8 count or find a retailer near you
You can purchase Kashi’s TLC Cherry Vanilla Soft Baked Cereal Bars at a retailer near you, prices vary
You can purchase Sun-Maid Tart Cherries 6oz pack of 6 from Amazon for $22.22
