Orchard Talk

Andy Ross of the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival shares his personal size cherry pie recipe featuring King Orchards IQF Montmorency tart cherries.

This recipe makes six personal size cherry pies. (5 inch pie tins)

Filling
5 C of fresh frozen unsweetened cherries or three 15 oz cans of tart. I use cherries fresh frozen from King Orchards brand or their canned tart cherries.
1 Tbls of organic tapioca starch or corn starch
3 C of superfine sugar.
1 Tbls lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract

Bottom Crust
1 C of crushed gram cracker crumbs plus some for dusting pans. I prefer Nabisco.
4 Tbls unsalted butter

Upper crust
1 box of prepared crust from either Pillsbury of store brand such as Stop & Shop.
1/8 C of extra virgin light olive oil
1/8 C of superfine sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Thaw the cherries and drain them well. Reserve the cherry juice for shakes or mixing with seltzer. Mix the cherries with 2 cups of the sugar, let sit and drain again. Mix in the tapioca or corn starch, almond extract and lemon juice and the balance of sugar to taste. Let them sit for 15 minutes while you prepare your crust and gram cracker crust bottom.

Take your small tin pans and spray them with butter flavored Pam or grease them with butter. Then dust the sides and bottom of the tins with gram cracker crumbs.

Melt the butter and mix it with 1 cup gram cracker crumbs. Take the dusted pans and place the gram cracker mixture on the bottom about 1/8 thick. Press the gram cracker mixture with a spoon until compacted. Place in freezer for 15 minutes to chill before filling.

Roll out you prepared pie crust and use one of the tins as a template cutting out a circle. You should be able to cut out three upper crusts per roll. Take your cherry mixture and scoop it out with a slotted spoon to leave any excess liquid behind and fill the tin piled a little high but not too high. Place the crust over the tin. Use fork tines to press down the edges of the upper crust against the tins. Carefully cut an x-shaped slit in the upper crust using a sharp knife.
Mix the olive oil with super fine sugar so you have a thick mixture. Brush the tops of the pies with the mixture using a pastry brush..

Bake the pies on a cookie sheet or directly on the rack for 35-40 minutes. The crusts should look golden brown not soggy.

Tags: cherry pie, iqf tart cherries, Our Websites, Recipes

Stop by the M-88 Market this Friday, February 19th, between 9 and 5, and enjoy a free slice of cherry pie. Happy National Cherry Month!

Tags: cherry pie, national cherry month, Powered by Red

This quick and easy cherry recipe is from Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross at Desperation Dinners. Desperation Dinners promises their recipes are not hard, do not require expensive equipment, and can be made in 20 minutes or less.

Start to finish: 5 minutes preparation, plus 20 minutes to bake and about 10 minutes to cool

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 refrigerated piecrust (half of a 15-ounce box), at room temperature (see Cook’s note)
• 1 cup extra-fruit cherry-pie filling
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec, or 3/4 teaspoon orange extract
• Zest of 1 lemon,
• about 1 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• Sugar, a light sprinkle, to taste
• Vanilla ice cream, optional for serving

Cook’s note: Bring the piecrust to room temperature following the instructions on the package so that the crust does not crack during baking. We used both Pillsbury and our local supermarket house brand in testing, and both worked well.

We used cherry-pie filling with extra fruit for testing.* Any of the leftover filling, gel or cherries can be refrigerated for up to four days. (Use it to top cheesecake or spread on toast and croissants.)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Unroll the piecrust (it must be at room temperature) onto the prepared sheet. Spoon the cherry-pie filling (using as many of the cherries as possible) onto the crust, leaving a 2-inch margin. Sprinkle the liqueur, lemon zest and almonds evenly over the filling only.

Gently fold the edges of the crust inward over the first 2 inches of the filling, leaving the center open. The sides of the crust will overlap slightly at the edges. If the crust tears, gently press it back together with your fingers. Sprinkle sugar lightly, to taste, over the exposed crust.

Bake, uncovered, until the crust is light brown and the almonds are golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet until slightly warm, slice and serve, with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Serves 6.

Nutrition information per serving: 217 calories (49 percent from fat), 12 g fat (4 g saturated), 9 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 189 mg sodium.

*We think King Orchards Cherrier Cherry Pie Filling is a perfect choice for this recipe, because it is chock full of cherries.

Tags: cherry pie, cherry recipes, Recipes