It's the season for cherries! Whether you enjoy tart or sweet, you're getting a delicious dose of antioxidant-charged goodness. Tart cherries contain lots of phytochemicals including (fancy names alert!) anthocyanins, flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol), flavanols (catechin, epicatechin), and phenolic acids. Both tart cherries and sweet (Bing) cherries contain these compounds, however, tart cherries have higher concentrations.
Athletes love cherries due to these anti-inflammatory compounds, which can expedite recovery, and their nitric oxide-producing capabilities, which can improve endurance. These compounds can also support heart, brain, skin, and joint health.
Having trouble sleeping? Studies show that eating sweet cherries or drinking tart cherry juice may help with sleep by increasing overall time in bed, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency.
What’s more, all of these powerful benefits come in one little tasty treat for you! The Warm Cherry Cobbler below takes only ten minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to bake. But, believe me, that 40 minutes of baking is blissful when the aromas fill up your home. Give it a try and let me know what you think. P.S. This can also be a tasty breakfast or snack!
Tip: Purchase organic cherries whenever possible since these beauties made the Environmental Working Group's Top 12 list of dirty produce (pesticides!) this year.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
Bottom and Topping
2 cups oat flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 cup unsweetened plant milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
Cherries
2 1/2 cups sweet cherries (I used frozen cherries, but fresh will also work.)
1/4 cup maple syrup
How to make
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a shallow baking dish or four 4” ramekins with parchment paper.
Add the oat flour, baking powder, and salt, if using, to a large mixing bowl and mix.
Add the mashed banana, milk, maple and vanilla extract to a medium bowl and whisk well.
Transfer the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix. Set aside.
To a separate medium bowl, add the cherries and maple syrup and mix.
Scoop half of the oat flour batter to the baking dish or split half of the batter between the four ramekins, lining the bottom.
Next, add the cherries on top of the batter in the baking dish or divide the cherries between four ramekins.
Scoop the remaining batter on top of the cherries, spreading out evenly, or divide the batter between the four ramekins, spreading the batter out evenly. The batter may not completely cover the cherries and that’s okay. Having some cherries exposed will make for a very pretty dish!
Bake for 40 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown.
Nutrition Information
Per serving (4 servings): 426 calories, 88 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams fiber, 10 grams protein, 5 grams fat, 110 milligrams sodium
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