I’ve always considered myself to be more of cake person in the cake versus pie debate (Mel is a pie person), but this one…this one moved me a little more towards the middle.
The pile of cherries that I picked from the tree in my yard (Montmorency sour cherries) were sitting in my fridge while I dithered about what to make – they sat a little too long, actually, and I had to toss a few. But I still had enough to make this delicious cherry pie with a little less filling!
The recipe was from the June issue of Bon Appetit – it’s been reproduced on another blog here. I halved the filling, but made the same amount of crust, and didn’t do a lattice (obviously).
The crust was perfect – super duper flakey and delicious! It’s been a long time since I’ve made pastry – actually, now that I think about it, I’ve never really done much! My mom used to bake things with crusts, and I’d get the leftover scraps to make mini-strudel shaped things with jam inside. Never too late to get started though! I used a few tricks I’ve heard here and there – I cut the butter into small cubes then stuck them in the freezer for about 15 minutes; I also measured the dry ingredients into a bowl and stuck that in the fridge for the same amount of time. I also used the pastry cutter rather than my fingers, although I did have to use my hands a bit to get it to stick together before I put it in the fridge.
The dough was a bit crumbly to work with, but overall it wasn’t bad – although my rolling technique needs some work! I saw a pie/pizza dough lifter thingy on a blog somewhere, but now I can’t find it – that’s what I need! My pie’s kind of ugly, but did I mention the yummy-ness? I think a homely pie is kind of cute, anyway.
Did I mention the flakey? I was so amazed. I’ve been brainwashed by grocery store pies.
Please note that this slice was the second (messy plate); photo taken before the addition of a scoop of Hagen-Daas Half-fat Vanilla (which is very good!).
Now I can think about is pie.
