Teresa Bergen, RFT’s Vegan/Vegetarian Editor, recently traveled to Door County, Wisconsin, where she fell in love with the state’s tart cherries. (Read Teresa’s story “Door County, WI: Cherries Galore.”) She also brought back plenty of dried cherries and these delicious and easy-to-make cherry recipes. (You can buy dried cherries in the bulk section of most grocery stores.)

Cherry Granola

Recipe courtesy of The Cherry Marketing Institute. choosecherries.com

Yield: 8 cups

• 2 cups dried tart cherries

• 4 cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked

• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

This recipe for cherry granola is chewy and delicious.

• 1/2 cup sunflower kernels

• 3/4 cup honey

• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine oats, pecans, and sunflower kernels in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine honey, melted butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over oat mixture, and stir until all ingredients are well-coated. Spread mixture on 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring mixture every 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Stir in tart cherries. Cool mixture completely.

Store tightly covered at room temperature up to 1 week.

You can shape these cherry pie ‘balls’ anyway you’d like.

Tart Cherry Pie Snack Balls

Recipe courtesy of Anne Mauney, FannetasticFood.com

• 1 1/2 cup dried tart cherries

• 1 cup dry roasted, salted almonds

• 1 cup walnuts

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

• 1 tablespoon water

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process about 1 minute, or until ingredients are in small, relatively uniform crumbles.
Form mixture into balls or bars.