 |
| Look at these beauties!! :) |
This pie was really outstanding, especially the filling! I could eat entire bowls of this filing on it's own! The crust recipe was very specific and a bit time consuming, but I could see how following these steps led to a flaky almost puff pastry like crust because of the science behind the method. She really emphasizes that cold butter leads to flaky crust and so every step of the recipe accounts for this. The addition of the vinegar made the dough taste outstanding as well, mostly because of her belief that acid is a flavor booster in the right proportions. Can't wait to try more of her recipes in the future!
One final word of advice- we ate this while it was warm because we just couldn't wait, but I would definitely let it cool because the magic happens when the filling gels back together once at room temperature!
Note: the filing recipe is separate from the book, and can be found here!
Ingredients:
Filling-
4 cups tart cherries (we had a mix of 2 types tart for 2/3 and 1/3 sweet)
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tbsp butter, diced
1 tbsp white sugar
Crust-
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 generous tbsp sugar
Large pinch salt
8 oz chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup ice water
1 tsp white vinegar
Directions:
1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt for the crust in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, then freeze the entire thing for 20 minutes (bowl and ingredients). Freeze the butter and ice water as well.
2. Mix at lowest speed, adding in cubed butter a few pieces at a time until the butter looks like broken walnut pieces. Avoid overmixing.
3. Add the vinegar in a thin stream, and then add just enough water to mix until the dough barely holds together (if unsure, take dough in your palm and squeeze- if it crumbles add more water and if it holds together its done).
4. Dump the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and avoid touching with your hands. Wrap in a ball then cut into two halves and wrap individually and press each ball into a disk. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
5. While the crust chills, make the filling by placing the cherries in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cover until they lose their juice, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat.
6. Mix the cornstarch and sugar together in a small bowl and add to the cherries along with the extract and mix well.
7. Return to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring often. You can add more cornstarch if it's not thick enough. Allow to cool completely.
8. Preheat the oven to 375, and roll out one of the dough disks to fit a 8 or 9 inch pie pan. Top with pats of butter then cover with the other dough disk.
9. Sprinkle with remaining tbsp of sugar and bake for 50 minutes. Allow to cool completely before eating.
