Sour Cherry Pie #30

Phew. We just BARELY caught the tail end of the sour cherry season here in New York. I saw them at the farmer's market a few days before we went to Seattle, searched for them the whole time we were in Seattle, and kept coming up empty-handed. It wasn't until the end of our trip that someone told us that sour cherries are just a East Coast variety. (Though, never fear non-easterners, there are many orchards throughout the country that grow sour cherries...it just takes some research. I've heard that many people list their sour cherry crop on craigslist, so that could be a start.)

We were lucky enough to find these babies at ONE stand in the Union Square Farmer's Market after we got home (after a lots of searching, that is).

Finding the cherries was really only one step in this whole process too.

Then there was the saga of finding the cherry pitter (the success of that is due to Ryan).

Carrying the cherry pitter and the cherries all over Manhattan and then back to our apartment (Again, Ryan was on that).

Then pitting them (um...Ryan did that too)

Then putting together the ingredients and cooking them.

Phew. Well, at least it was worth it.

All and all, this was a great cherry pie. I don't have too many cherry pies under my belt (eating or making--no pun intended), but I've had that gloppy canned stuff and after tasting something like this, you shouldn't be allowed to call canned cherry fillings food...especially not pie fillings! 

Does that make me a snob?

Just to warn you, when this recipe says that the cherries produce "juice", THEY GET SOUPY. I mean it's kind of amazing how quickly and how much juice there is. However, the tapioca really gels the liquid right up once it starts cooking, so don't worry about it. I didn't add all the liquid (because I put a huge amount of cherries in our pie and the liquid just couldn't all fit. But if you were to add all the liquid, I don't think it would create a soupy pie in the end.

Anyway, long story short. Of all the cherry pies I've had, this recipe outdoes them all. I was very pleased with the taste and I'm counting down the days until NEXT sour cherry pie season.

Also, you should know, it was our one-year anniversary on Sunday when we made this pie (Yeah!). Since we served this pie at our wedding, we thought it was pretty appropriate to have it a year later. 

One other note, while Ryan was feaverously working to pit our cherries, I was working on another project and we were listening to This American Life. This particular show was about how people want significant dates to be perfect, as if it's symbolic of something.

So, being that my husband had done the majority of the work on this anniversary pie (not to mention that he is always cutting up fruit or taking pictures for this blog), I couldn't help but think how our little sour cherry pie could be a sweet anniversary symbol of the little team we are. And even at the risk of killing the mystic anyone might have about me being the pie guru of the family, you should know, that as much as these pies are FOR my husband, they could hardly be done WITHOUT my husband.

It's either that symbol or the one about me being a lazy wife...

...but I think I like the first one more.

Sour Cherry Pie

(adapted from Bubby's Pie Book)

Crust:

5 to 6 ablesoons ice cold water

2 cups all-pirpose flour

1/2 teasoon salt

11 1/2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Filling:

5 1/2 cups sour cherries

1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca flakes

3/4 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on the top crust

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

pinch salt

DIRECTIONS:
Pit the cherries into a bowl and combine them and the juice the create with the tapioca so that it has a chance to soften.

Roll out the pastry and line a 9-inch pie tin with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Re-chill the pastry if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 450F

Add the sugar, butter, zest, extract, to the cherries. Toss briefly and fill the bottom crust with the mixture. Cover it with a lattice top crust or any variation on the top crust design. Trim and crimp; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Sprinkle the top lightly with sugar. 

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 10 minutes, or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375F , and bake for at least 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thick and bubble slowly through the lattice top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature, up to 3 days.

Apple and Tart Cherry Pie with a Buttermilk Crust#10

You may or may not have read about our Pi(e) party here.
And if you didn't, you should know I made 6 pies this weekend (five new pies that I will post on this blog and one repeat, the chocolate cream pie, since it seemed like it would be a crowd pleaser).

Here's the thing with apple pie. There are probably 1,000 ways to make an apple pie and they are all good. I mean, who doesn't like apple pie? But to really make one that knocks you socks off is a little bit harder and let's just say my socks were not knocked by this one although, it was still pretty good.

And not to discourage you on this apple-cherry combination, but it should be noted that it was my least favorite of all the pies at the party (which is why I'm posting it first...we'll work up to the best one). We talked about it after the party and I think that if it weren't up against such flavorful pies (which it was at the party) AND if it were made in the fall (since the cloves give it a very harvesty flavor) it's a pretty decent pie.

Also, I think that the buttermilk crust was worth trying, but it was only okay. The bottom crust was a little on the soggy side and it almost seemed like the sour buttermilk flavor cooked right out of the dough and in the end it tasted kind of like your basic homemade crust.

Was that just a whole load of rambling contradictions?

In short:
Pretty good for an apple pie, but
don't make it until Thanksgiving
and don't pit it against pies with a whole lot of flavor because I was expecting a lot more tartness from those "tart" little cherries I mixed in there.

Apple and Tart Cherry Pie with a Buttermilk Crust

Buttermilk Crust
(Adapted from epicurious.com)

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced

1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Apple and Tart Cherry Pie

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

3 to 3 1/4 pounds large apples (about 6, though I used 8), peeled, quartered, cored, and sliced

3/4 cup dried tart cherries

1/4 cup cherry preserves

Glaze

One egg white

Directions

The Crust:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add butter and shortening. Cut in using hands or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir with fork until moist clumps form.

Press together to form dough. Divide dough in half. Gather dough into balls; flatten into disks. Wrap separately and chill 1 hour.

The Pie:
Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Combine all ingredients and make sure apples are coated.

Roll out 1 dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Spoon filling into crust. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Arrange dough over filling and cut out a small hole from center or decorative steam vents. Trim double overhang to 3/4 inch. Fold under, crimp edge. Brush crust (except edge) with glaze.

Place pie on baking sheet. Bake until apples are tender; cover crust with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool on rack. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store at room temperature.)