- My first ever cherry pie for Pie Party!
Hey there folks—it’s Leena, and I’m back from baby land, knee-deep in dirty diapers and enjoying a life without time for personal hygeine thanks to my new bundle of joy, Ella. My recovery has been a bit slower because I had to deliver Ella via c-section, and the last time I can actually remember cooking or baking was months ago.
So guess what I did as soon as the grandparents came over to play with Ella? A shower? Nope, but that would have probably been a good idea. I decided to bake a pie. A from-scratch cherry pie from Ad Hoc, a cookbook by Thomas Keller, a chef known for loving complicated recipes. Ain’t no Betty Crocker recipe here, folks.
And perfect timing too, because there is a pie party today! The Gluten-free Girl is hosting a day of pie posts of any shape, size or flavor (read about it here). A current favorite blogger of mine, Nomnivorous, posted a kick-ass looking chocolate strawberry pie for #pieparty that is already on my summer to-do list. But first? On to the cherry pie…before the baby wakes up and ruins it all.
- I started with cherries bought from farm side fruit stand in Novato, California, pited and halved. Be sure to have a wooden spoon handy to ward off any hungry family members–or extra cherries, if you don’t dig violence.
- The reduced thickened cherry juice. This took the longest to make in the recipe, but was worth it. I added cinnamon to my pie filling, my only deviation on Keller’s recipe.
- This is what them fancy food folks call a double crust pie.
- The finished cherry pie! I was BEYOND stoked that I didn’t eff up the crust and have it shrink on me.
- A slice of my first post-baby baking project: cherry pie with a hint of cinnamon, served with vanilla ice cream. Beyond good. Like showering every day sort of good.
- This is what happens when you rush Thomas Keller and ignore his recipe…I only let the pie rest for 1 1/2 hours, not 3, and all the juices ran out! Should have let it cooled more…
Recipe: Cherry Pie from Ad Hoc cookbook
Summary: Another great Thomas Keller recipe, altered slighly by me.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 7 cups of sweet cherries, pitted
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup granated sugar
- 1 tablspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 basic pie crust (recipe below)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl unti corstarch dissolves to make a slurry, which thickens liquids.
- Puree two cups of cherries in a blender (doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth), taste for sweetness.
- Put the puree, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium saucepan (add up to 1/4 cup more sugar if puree is tart on its own) on medium heat, simmering for 30 minutes until mix reduces to 1 1/4 cup. Stir often to prevent burning. Lower the heat to medium low and add the cornstarch slurry, stirring the entire time. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring and cook until it turns translucent, which will signal that the cornstarch has dissolved. To test this, remove puree from heat, spoon some onto a plate and allow to cool for 30 seconds before rubbing a bit between your fingers to check for any grains of cornstarch. Puree can be cooked longer to further dissolve any cornstarch.
- Place filling in a bowl, stir in the vanilla extract and allow to cool completely.
- Roll out pie dough into one 13-inch circle and one 12 -inch circle, both 1/8 inch thick. Place the larger one in the pie pan and the other on a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan, and place both in the fridge for 15 minutes to allow butter in dough to harden.
- Remove doughs from fridge, and preheat oven to 400 F with one rack on bottom and on in the center.
- Mix the puree with the whole cherries and pour into the pie dough base. Brush the rim of the pie with a little egg, and cover the filling with the rolled out crust and press to seal the edges, then pinch the top and bottom crust together, create a raised edge, and trim off the excess. Shape the edges however you like (I like to make the crust raised and scored with a fork on the edges).
- Brush the top crust of the pie with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Use a paring knife to cut a few vents in the top of the pie. Bake for 20 minutes on the bottom rack, then lower heat to 375F, move pie to center rack and bake for 20-30 minutes until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown.
- Let pie cool on a baking rack. Serve it 2-3 hours after you bake it, so the filling has time to cool and thicken.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Recipe: Pie Crust from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, in 1/2 inch cubes, cold
- 5 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- Place flour and salt in a large bowl.Add butter and using your hands, mix with flour. Start to slowly work the butter in with the flour until the butter is in pea-sized chunks.
- Add 1/4 cup of water to the flour mixture and stir together with a fork until the dough just holds together. If dough is really dry, add the other tablespoon of water. Knead dough until butter is mixed through out.
- Divide dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Shape into a 1 inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and store in fridge at least an hour.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
~LTG!
Tags: Cherry, cherry pie, Gluten-Free Girl, Pie Party
