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sour cherry pie

July 08 2010 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Dessert » 22 comments

This recipe had me at first glance, which occurred on my early morning commute last Wednesday, while I sat bleary eyed in an El train’s carpeted plastic scoop seat, iPhone in hand. As is my Wednesday morning ritual (a real midweek treat, actually), I pulled up the New York Times dining section on my phone. I quickly spotted a link for Melissa Clark’s recipe for a twice-baked sour cherry pie. I opened the link, swooned over the recipe and its accompanying photo, and passed the phone across the aisle to Kevin. I took his resulting wriggling eye brows and broad grin as assent.

The pie would be ours.

If my initial interaction with the pie was new-fangled and high-tech, the experience of actually making the pie took a turn for the old-fashioned. Which is fitting, I think, because what’s more old-fashioned than homemade fruit pie? I’ve yammered on about my love of pie making in the past (ahem) and you were patient then, so I won’t put you through it again now. Instead, I’ll just note that standing at your floured kitchen counter, sleeves rolled to the elbow, apron knotted at your back and rolling pin gripped in your hands, with only a humble disk of dough and bowl of fruit sitting before you, knowing that the two will, in no time, become a glorious pie is something that is fantastically nostalgic and old-timey.

And, then there’s this: we picked the cherries ourselves. We woke up on Saturday, hopped in the car and, after fueling up with a bagel, traced the shore of Lake Michigan, first southbound out of Chicago and then curving northward up into Michigan, until we reached cherry country. We arrived at the orchard and, armed with buckets, we wandered the rows of squat tart cherry trees, eyes peeled for the glassy red orbs dotting the branches. We plucked and plucked until the buckets were full. Then, we headed to the barn near the orchard, where we stemmed and cleaned the cherries before sending them through a big, antique cherry pitter. I’d say this all qualifies as old school, no?

With a sack of pitted cherries in tow, all that stood between us and a pie was a quick stop for ice cream and a drive back to Chicago. Oh, and a lack of instant tapioca, which brings this story back to the information age. On the drive back home, I tapped a query into Google: instant tapioca replacement cherry pie. Well, whaddayaknow: another cook had the same question just last week—with regard to the very same pie—and had raised it on Chowhound, where the answer (corn starch) came back in a jiffy.

So we made the pie, tapping both traditional modes of cooking (procuring ingredients directly from the source, with our own hands; using humble ingredients to create something lovely) and the new-fangled aspects of cooking (finding inspiration online, in the palm of your hands; turning to a community of cooks that could exist only online to find answers to your questions and solutions to your crises). The crust was perfectly rich and wonderfully flaky and thanks to pre-baking the bottom crust, it had backbone enough to stand up to the dense cherry filling. And that filling—it was bursting and fresh and with a mellow tartness and the faint scent of cinnamon. Old-school or new-school, this pie was flat out delicious.

Twice-Baked Sour Cherry Pie
Melissa Clark / New York Times
.

Serves about 8

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, more for rolling out dough
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pounds sour cherries (about 6 cups), rinsed and pitted
1 tablespoon kirsch or brandy
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

1. To make dough: in bowl of a food processor pulse together flour and salt just to combine. Add butter and pulse until chickpea-size pieces form. Add 3 to 6 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture just comes together. Separate dough into 2 disks, one using 2/3 dough, the other using the remaining. Wrap disks in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days) before rolling out and baking.

2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place larger dough disk on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12-inch circle, about 3/8-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Line dough with foil and weigh it down with pie weights. Bake until crust is light golden brown, about 30 minutes.

3. While pie crust is baking, prepare filling. In bowl of a food processor, combine sugar, tapioca and cinnamon (use more tapioca if you prefer a thicker, more solid filling, and less if you like a looser, juicier filling). Run the motor until tapioca is finely ground. Place cherries in a bowl and add sugar and tapioca mixture. Drizzle in kirsch or brandy and toss gently to combine.

4. When pie crust is ready, transfer it to a wire rack to cool slightly and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Remove foil and weights. Scrape cherry filling into pie crust.

5. Place smaller disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it 3/8-inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (or several round cookie cutters of different sizes) to cut out circles of dough. Arrange circles on top of cherry filling in a pattern of your choice.

6. Brush top crust with cream and sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar. Bake until crust is dark golden brown and filling begins to bubble, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours, allowing filling to set before serving.

22 comments so far. »
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kickpleat says on July 08 2010 at 11:31 am:

This looks amazing!! I have sour cherries from last summer in my freezer that need to be used up and I’m always looking for a better pie crust recipe.
Jessica @ How Sweet says on July 08 2010 at 11:37 am:

I can’t even tell you how envious I am. We have vacationed in Northern Michigan my entire life and I live for the cherries. Luckily we are going in a few weeks so I can get my fix. I may have to make this pie while I’m there!
Shannalee says on July 08 2010 at 11:46 am:

I have never wanted to go to Michigan more.
Amy says on July 08 2010 at 11:47 am:

I have this on my to-bake list, too, Kristin – it looks so beautiful! The cherries are like jewels…lovely. Oh, and I’m very envious of the pitting capabilities of the PYO place you visited…I picked several pounds of cherries a few years ago and never used them all because I couldn’t bring myself to hand-pit them.
Whitney says on July 08 2010 at 11:49 am:

Which orchard you hit up? Lovely, lovely pic.
Whitney says on July 08 2010 at 11:52 am:

(and I just saw your response on Flickr).

I can’t belive how short the seasons last!
Barbara says on July 08 2010 at 11:59 am:

Gorgeous pie, Kristin. The crust look divine too. So important to have great crust with a fruit pie! And it should feel old fashioned! That’s part of the charm. Being formerly from Michigan, I well remember driving along M 31 and stopping at roadside stands for cherries!
Maddie says on July 08 2010 at 12:09 pm:

Your farm-to-table pie adventure sounds like a huge amount of fun. It’s nice to get out of the city sometimes, isn’t it?

I pitted and froze two pounds of sour cherries this weekend, then roasted the remaining pound with bourbon and brown sugar as you suggested a few posts back. They were amazing, so I’m definitely following your advice again and baking the rest into a pie!
Mama_B says on July 08 2010 at 1:33 pm:

Sour cherries are just coming on here. I feel that I need to bookmark this page and buy some. LOL Thanks for sharing!
heather @ chiknpastry says on July 08 2010 at 2:27 pm:

we did the same thing a couple of weeks ago, took similar pictures, and i made a pie with some of mine too and posted about it!

what didn’t happen where i went was the awesomeness that is the cherry pitter where you went. i gotta find that farm for next time
Gordy(PimpThatFood) says on July 08 2010 at 6:27 pm:

I will write this one down in my to cook list. Love Cherries
Jenn Sutherland says on July 08 2010 at 7:14 pm:

I am sharing your obsession with cherries this year, and sour cherries in particular. All the space in my freezer that would normally go to strawberries – cherries this year. I made your roasted sweet cherries last week – added some lime zest before baking and a splash of good balsamic after – HEAVEN.

Made sour cherry sorbet twice already, blogged about it, and it may just be my favorite sorbet ever. Which is saying something. I love sorbet.

The pie looks gorgeous, and I bet it tasted even better!
Sues says on July 09 2010 at 10:39 am:

How beautiful! I’ve been on a major cherry kick lately, but I’ve just been snacking on them rather than baking with them This looks perfect!!
Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) says on July 09 2010 at 10:55 am:

I love the top crust designs you’ve created!!!
Nicole @ the dirty oven says on July 09 2010 at 7:22 pm:

Yummy Yummy Cherries!!! Hooray. Love the top crust.( like everyone else.) I so want to make a cherry pie, but don’t have a pitter…(sad)
Your blog is so wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
hannah says on July 09 2010 at 7:57 pm:

yesyes! sour cherries are so lovely. this pie looks tasty.
Kirsten says on July 12 2010 at 8:17 am:

How crazy! I just picked tart cherries yesterday from my neighbor’s tree, and found this NY Times recipe online as well! You totally inspired me to make this pie. Yipee!
Tabitha (From Single to Married) says on July 13 2010 at 6:37 am:

wow – that pie is a work of art, it is truly beautiful and I’m guessing it tasted as good as it looked!
The Rowdy Chowgirl says on July 13 2010 at 8:00 am:

I don’t think I’ve had a piece of cherry pie since I was about 10 years old, and sour cherry pie never. But I like sour anything and this looks wonderful.
Leslie says on August 02 2010 at 6:56 pm:

WOW!!! A cherry picking place with it’s own prep area for cleaning & pitting after the picking!! I’ve never heard of that here in CA. Maybe I otta get out more often! The pie looks & sounds amazing!
Matt Kay says on August 29 2010 at 12:47 am:

Wow! Cherry pie is my favorite pie. Actually I’ve never met a pie I didn’t like but yeah…Cherry is my very most favorite. It’s kind of a bummer actually because fruit pies are one of the only things that I don’t work out when I cook. Mind emailing me a slice?
Rose says on August 07 2011 at 1:35 pm:

All of the years that I have been cooking, I’ve never made a cherry pie. My husband’s Aunt Louise always made the best cherry pie and I didn’t even want to try to compete. Aunt Louise has been gone for some years now and when we got pie cherries in our CSA fruit share, I decided to make a cherry pie in her memory. This is the recipe that I used. It turned out as I had hoped. Thanks.