What else are you doing at 8 am Saturday morning?

It's summer (okay, almost ...) and summer means farmers markets. I just settled into my new apartment in Del Ray, just a few blocks from the farmers market on Mt. Vernon Avenue. It's a small market, similar to the Oakland farmers market near Pitt's campus. Even though there are only a handful of stalls, it's really crowded every Saturday from 8 am - Noon. Everyone in the neighborhood is out- wearing khakis, pushing strollers, walking dogs, and picking up locally grown produce.

Two weeks ago, I bought a beautiful head of butter lettuce (which I made into salads all week) as well as a pint of fresh cherries from one stall, and a half-pint of strawberries from another (I ate the strawberries as soon as I got home for breakfast). I also struck up a conversation, about Italy with the woman selling mushrooms. I bought way too many baby bellas from her.

While I munched on the cherries all week, rinsed and cold from the fridge, I thought I should do something of merit with my delicious find.

So I called Ben. Ben (amazing man/great friend/total foodie/world traveler/MBA student) suggested I bake something delicious with them. Normally, Biz is the baker of this partnership, but I thought I'd try my hand at putting things in my new oven and seeing how they turn out.

Besides, there's reason to celebrate: Amanda just moved across the country and into our apartment. So I halved and pitted the cherries and dug out a recipe worthy of sharing with all of you. Originally, this is the "Vegan Berry Shortcake" recipe from the City Bakery (88 Charlotte Street, Asheville, NC 28801). The City Bakery is a favorite place of the women in my family (this recipe was passed along from the Bakery to my late grandmother Margaret Kelleher to my mother nearly a decade ago and then to me). The copy of the recipe I have has notes and scribbles on it from both my mother and stepfather (who mistook it for a scrap piece of paper and wrote something on the backside of it).

Cherry Shortbread

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup soy milk

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pint cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Sifting isn't necessary unless you're a perfectionist.

Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly incorporate into the bowl of dry ingredients.

Add the cherries into the batter, mix slightly.

Pour batter into a loaf pan or small baking pan (I used an 8 x 8). I also greased it lightly so it would come out easier, but that's not necessary.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. (Although my oven seemed to take a bit longer.)

Notes:
You can really use any berry for this recipe.

Making an additional topping (rather than or in addition to my lazy recipe of just dumping the cherry halves into the batter) of berries and sugar would be delicious. Or even sprinkling a few on top after you've pour the batter into the pan to make it look festive would work.

You can obviously adjust this recipe for dairy and egg eaters, anything you have in your fridge in those regards would work as well.

Feel free to change and try this recipe! Post comments on what worked well for you for everyone to read and share.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-