Serves: Makes one 9″x13″ pan, about 20 squares
Cost: ~€3.80
Preparation time: ~40 minutes
Calories: ~120 per square
Kicking off my guest posts is the wonderful Eva, from KitchenInspirations. Blogging from Canada she posts a wonderful selection of recipes and restaurant reviews, and always succeeds in making me so jealous when she posts pictures from her wonderful cabin. I’ve known Eva since almost as long as I’ve been blogging. I think I first discovered her blog when she’d just posted a wonderful cauliflower and celeriac mash recipe and I’ve been drawn back ever since by her stories and photos. She made a wonderful series of posts last year when she went on vacation to Morocco – posting almost every day with a summary and photos of her exciting trip. That’s what I call dedication!
I’m sure many of my regular readers will know of Eva already. If you don’t then I urge you to go and check out her wonderful blog – you won’t be disappointed! It’s an honour to have her here, guest-posting for me in my absence and she’s spared no effort – she’s even posted some photos from a recent trip she took to an area of Toronto called “Cabbagetown”. It’s a wonderful post and I’m so grateful to her for taking the time to write this up for me – thank you Eva! There’ll be a new guest post in a few days, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you in Eva’s capable hands! Enjoy her post!
Find Eva on: KitchenInspirations | Twitter
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I am rather thrilled and honoured that my good friend Charles has kindly asked me to guest post. Charles has been a valued commenter on my blog for over a year now, and as most of you know, he takes his time to formulate interesting and thoughtful remarks; his comments are a joy to read and sometimes even have a bit of a chuckle over. Thank you Charles, your friendship is cherished, I hope to do your guest post right.
In keeping Charles’ tradition of a little peek into living in Paris, I will give you a little peek into living in Toronto and a lovely Hungarian family recipe. I belabored over which recipe I would share as Charles’ guest post, because he takes so much time to photograph and document his recipes so well; I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and bite off more than I can chew (pardon the pun) so I hope you enjoy it. This recipe is a cherished favourite for my family (my brother always asks for it when I visit and now that my dear Mom is gone, it is up to me to carry on the tradition).
But first, A little adventure in Cabbagetown:
Hidden Gardens and Private Spaces
In early June, JT and I had the opportunity to visit Cabbagetown again, but this time for their Hidden Gardens & Private Space Tour. We were enchanted by the Victorian Architecture on our last tour and were equally intrigued by the Garden Tour. The cost was $15 Canadian which is about 12 Euros (all proceeds went toward various Cabbagetown Preservation Association projects). We received a bottle of water and some organic fertilizer mix as a thank you. There were eleven gardens in the tour and it took us about two and half hours to complete it. We walked the entire time, which provided good exercise because upon completion we stopped at an old favourite restaurant for lunch.
What surprised me the most of this tour was how small these gardens actually were, but I guess I should have known better, after all they are city homes and most of them were Victorian, so the gardens are narrow and not very deep. Many of them only large enough for a table and chairs, some had a little patch of grass, but they were mostly hard-scaped with lots and lots of foliage. I hope you enjoy the little tour and some of the photos (many of the places were so small, we couldn’t get a good shot!)
And now for the cherished recipe.
Cherry Squares
By Éva Hársfai-Robinson (my dear Mom 1936-2005)
Ingredients
- 1 jar pitted cherries 500 mL to 700 mL, drained but reserve liquid
- 3 eggs separated
- 120 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 125 g caster sugar
- 250 g flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- About ½ cup milk – or use reserved cherry liquid
Instructions
- Grease and flour 9” x 13” x 2” baking pan (22cm x 33cm x 5cm).
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175°C)
- Drain cherries, liquid reserved (you can use this as your liquid or make a delicious sauce or use it in soda as flavouring!)
- Whip egg whites until a stiff but not dry (should be able to stand in a peak) – no need to wash the beater if you do it in this order, if you cream the yolks first, then you must wash the beater and dry thoroughly).
- Cream egg yolks with butter and sugar until light and fluffy (should be a lighter shade of yellow).
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt – dry ingredients.
- Alternating dry ingredients with the milk (or reserved cherry liquid), fold into egg yolk mixture.
- Fold beaten egg whites into the mixture.
- Pour into greased pan. Note the dough should be quite thick, should have to spread it into the cake pan, it should not pour by it self.
- Dot with cherries throughout (you may want to give each cherry a squeeze as you dot so ensure there are no pits!).
- Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 30 minutes (test with toothpick to make sure it’s done).
- Cool in pan (don’t cut until it is entirely cool otherwise it will become ‘bacony’ or szalonás, as the Hungarians put it).
Helene Dsouza I Masala Herb says
Hey u two!
I love cherry squares! My aunty would always make some for us in the summer vacations. They are quite nice with some coffee or tea in the afternoon but I like them too with a fresh lemonade when its hot. In summer we would help with the fields, picking up the extra hay. Those were awesome days! you just reminded me of that time. =)
Eva Taylor says
Hi Helen, so glad that we were able to bring out such a lovely memory for you; the cherry squares were a very big hit at the pool party I went to.
Eva says
Thank you so much for your lovely words, Charles. Time does fly when you’re having fun! It’s been an honour to guest post for you, and my first! Thank you indeed.
Charles says
Thank *you* for the delightful guest post Eva. I’ve always loved cherries – used to raid the jars of them my mother had in her baking cupboard :D! Definitely going to give these a try. By the way, I’m curious… not knowing anything at all about Hungarian pronunciation, how does one pronounce “Hársfai” in your dear mum’s name?
Thanks again 🙂
Greg says
Those look awesome and I’m not huge on desserts. Just something wonderful about cherries.
Eva Taylor says
Thanks Greg. I took them to a pool party and they disappeared very quickly. Hungarians are not sweet dessert lovers, so many of our desserts are just lightly sweetened.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
I love this post! I want to go to Cabbagetown and then I want to dash home and make these Hungarian Cherry Squares.
Charles and Eva – I salute you both!
Eva Taylor says
Thanks so much Maureen they are not difficult to make at all.
Kristy says
These look great Eva. And I love that you’re carrying on your mom’s tradition. Congrats on your first guest post – wonderful choice Charles! 🙂 I also just love the garden shots.I would happily live in Toronto!
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Kristy. The cherry squares are a huge favourite, I simply could not Not carry it on!
I have to agree with you, Toronto is an amazing city to live in.
ChgoJohn says
I bet these are devoured quickly. They look like tasty bites and they must lure people to the serving tray.
For you first guest post, you did great, Eva. Well done!
Eva Taylor says
Thanks John, it means a lot coming from you.
Linda says
My father loved cherry desserts, he would have been thrilled to see this recipe…or for me to bake it for him! Love the little garden tour, I have a tiny area that I’m planning to landscape to the best use of size. I picked up a few great ideas here!! Great guest post!!
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Linda, the cherry squares are not too sweet so you don’t mind eating a couple of little squares! I’m glad my little tour gave you some great ideas for your small space. Any outdoor space, be it small or large is wonderful to have in the summer-time.
Jean | Delightful Repast says
Eva, I love an uncomplicated dessert that is as pretty as it is tasty! And I enjoyed your garden tour. Now I’m off to visit your own blog!
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Jean, the Hungarians also love to focus on the key ingredient to let it do its magic and this lovely dessert does it very well.
Sissi says
Great guest post, Eva. Thank you for sharing your mother’s wonderful recipe. You might not believe me but it looks very similar to my mum’s most frequent fruit cake. Sour cherry is the love of my life. Only sophisticated palates can appreciate it, so I’m very pleased we share the taste for it.
The gardens visit sounds amazing. Very original.
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Sissi, this is definitely a delicate but not too sweet dessert. I hope you post your mothers fruit cake recipe I’d love to try it to compare.
A_Boleyn says
Welcome, Eva. Thank you for a newsy post pre-recipe. Being ‘mobility challenged’ these days, I’m happy to take a sit-down tour of the various gardens and just enjoy your photographs. 🙂
And I really enjoyed seeing each individually placed cherry studding the baking dish in your treasured family recipe. Thank you for sharing on Charles’ blog while he’s away.
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Maria, I am very glad to have been able to share such a beloved recipe; I was quite surprised that I hadn’t posted it yet in the 6 years I’ve been blogging. But at least I had a good one for the guest post.
I’m very glad you were able to enjoy the garden tour, it was a lot of walking and we were quite tired by the end of it. Lunch was a welcome break.
Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen says
I also love Charles blog.. and his recipes! Yours looks heavenly, Eva! I love those gardens.. they looked like something from a magazine! Your pretty dessert.. do you think you could use fresh, pitted cherries.. or would they not cook up enough?? xx Smidge
Eva Taylor says
Hi Barbara, thank you kindly for your lovely words. Yes, absolutely, fresh pitted cherries would be just fine. I just made Sissi’s Financier cakes and used fresh cherries and they baked up perfectly fine.
shuhan says
Hello Eva! The cherry squares look delicious! I esp love that the recipe came from your mum, and that we got a private tour of your beautiful garden too (:
Eva Taylor says
Thank you for your kind words Shuhan.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Hi Eva, nice to meet you! What lovely squares – I can never resist cherry desserts!
Eva Taylor says
Very nice to meet you too, Laura and thank you for your kind words. I shall check out your blog shortly.
Hotly Spiced says
Charles has a lot of cougars around the world who love him. Great post Eva, I love the look of your cherry slice xx
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Oh Charlie, you make me laugh! I would not have thought of myself as a cougar, but I’ll take it as a compliment! It’s always a pleasure hearing from you. Have a lovely weekend.
Charles says
LOL! Don’t let my wife see that 😉
Liz says
Eva, you outdid yourself with this delectable family recipe…I can see why you cherish it so. Between the wonderful memories and the great taste, I’m sure it will not be forgotten. And thanks for taking us along on the garden tours…so lovely!
Charles, I hope you’re off doing something fun! You’ve left us in capable hands with Eva 🙂
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thank you kindly Liz, it was indeed a pleasure to do a guest blog post for such a lovely blogger friend.
Sawsan (Chef in disguise) says
Hello Eva and Charles 🙂
It is a pleasure to see two wonderful bloggers working together
Eva, you did a wonderful job on your guest post but that is no surprise you put in so much love and effort into all your posts
The cherry squares look like an amazing recipe, made extra special by the fact that it is your mum’s recipe!
Eva says
Your kind flattering words mean a lot to me Sawsan, thank you. I am glad I was able to share a family favourite on Charles’ blog.
Norma Chang says
I agree, you outdid yourself Eva.
Glad you invited Eva to write your first guest post, Charles, great choice.
Eva says
Thanks so much Norma, I’m very flattered that you think so.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
This is a lovely post. Not only for the beautiful little gardens but the recipe as well. It cherry squares sound great.
Eva says
Thank you so much Karen, I’m very happy to have been able to share it with you.
Yudith @ Blissfully Delicious says
Beautiful squares! And I love her blog 🙂 Congrats to you both.
Eva says
Thanks Yudith, so very sweet of you to say.
ChopinandMysaucepan says
Dear Eva,
These cherry squares look delicious and although I don’t have a sweet tooth, I love cherries and would gladly have a piece.
Eva says
Thank you kindly Chopinand; that’s the beauty of Hungarian sweets, they are not overly sweet!
melissa says
Hello Eva! Nice to meet you! What a lovely post 🙂
Best,
Melissa
http://www.ChinDeep.com
Eva Taylor says
Thank you kindly Melissa, I hope you can drop by my blog too.
Purely.. Kay says
I just love these cherry squares Ms. Eva. I can just see myself lounging in my house, enjoying these. I love this recipe
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thank you kindly Kay, it was well enjoyed by the adults and children at the pool party I brought them to.
Barb @ Profiteroles & Ponytails says
I enjoyed learning a little more about my hometown Eva. Charles always put so much effort into his posts and you certainly didn’t disappoint. Great post and so nice to see that you’ve shared one of your mom’s recipes. She was a wonderful cook, and certainly a woman ahead of her time!
Eva Taylor says
Thanks so much, these city tours are wonderful; perhaps when the ponytails get a bit older you will be able to enjoy a tour with them!
Amber @ The Cook's Sister says
The squares look lovely Eva! I love that you’ve shared a family recipe. Do you use sweet or sour cherries?
Eva Taylor says
Thanks Amber. The Hungarians typically use sour cherries for this sweet.
Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says
These chewy cherry squares look delightful Eva! What a thrill to see a spread on Cabbagetown… I have so many fond memories of that beautiful part of Toronto. In fact, I used to take my then 1 + 1/2 year old son to the farm on the edge of Cabbagetown (bordering the Don Valley) – we would spend glorious afternoons there together with the animals… sigh… where does the time go? Thank you for the memories!:)
Eva Taylor says
Glad you enjoyed the little garden tour, Kelly; that little zoo (I think it’s called Riverdale) still exists today, but just by a hair…they keep threatening to close it down.
The Squishy Monster says
I just got some cherries and think I know just what I’ll do with them! Great guest post—miss ya, Charles!!!
Eva Taylor says
Hi Squishy Monster, fresh cherries will work in this recipe, although I must admit, I’ve never tried it. But cherries bake very easily.
Kitchen Belleicious says
wow, the cherry bars look incredibly sweet, incredibly beautiful and incredibly delicious
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thanks Jessica, so lovely of you to say.
Minnie(@thelady8home) says
Looks yummmmmmm……so nice to meet you Eva!
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Very nice to meet you too Minni, I shall check out your blog now.
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Hi Eva! Your cherry squares are beautiful! This year I went cherry picking and had lots of cherries. I need to save this recipe for the next year so that I can use fresh delicious cherry for this. My clafoutis was rather softer and hard to bring it to go, but these squares are perfect for breakfast or snack on the go!
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thank you so much Nami. I’m sure you will find that the squares will not last long, they never do in our house!
Asmita says
Hi Eva,
These cherry squares look incredible! I love snacking on cherries and this looks like the perfect treat , anytime. Love it!
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thank you kindly Asmita for your lovely comment.
fati's recipes says
A wonderful recipe, matched with a wonderful post! 😀
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
I’m very flattered, thank you for your beautiful compliment, Fati.
Tanja| Cooking Corner says
Hi Eva, your cherry squares make my mouth water, these remind me of my grandmother’s cherry cake, love them!! Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos of Cabbagetown’ gardens, I trully enjoyed this wonderful post!
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Thanks Tanja, I hope you will be able to check out my blog too! Your grandmother’s cherry cake sounds lovely, I’m going to look at your blog to see if you have blogged about it.
Minnie(@thelady8home) says
Those look delectable Eva!! lovely!!!