Fresh Cherry Cardamom Pie

Take the everyday, all-American cherry pie, add some cardamom to it, and turn it into an exotic flavored pie. The cardamom scented filling is easy to make – just mix cherries, lemon juice, suagr, corn starch, and cardamom. 

I dont have a cherry pitter, so I just cut around the pit with a knife.

I made Ina Garten’s pie crust recipe which is buttery, flaky and delicious. You can keep things simple and use a store bought pie crust. However, keep in mind that most store bought pie crusts, pie shells, and pie dough are not vegetarian, they may contain lard. The only vegetarian pie crust I’ve seen is Mrs.Smith’s pie shells.

Here is a cherry pie recipe on joy of baking using some kirsch (a type of cherry liquor) on the filling – a great idea! This baked fresh cherry pie recipe on all recipes  also sounds delicious. If cherries arent in season and if you want a more fall time recipe, 6 bitter sweets blog has a lovely apple cherry pie recipe

Notes

- make sure the butter, shortening and water for the pie crust are very cold, this is what makes a flaky crust

- if you are not crazy about cardamom in the pie filling, use almond extract instead

- you can make the same recipe with apples instead of cherries

- if you dont want to use shortening, try this all butter pie crust recipe from simply recipes 

- Vegan yum yum has a vegan pie crust recipe using Earth Balance

Fresh Cherry Cardamom Pie Recipe

serves about 8

for cherry pie filling
4 cups pitted sweet cherries
6 cardamom pods
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or a few drops of rose essence

other
1 recipe (two 10 inch crusts) home made pie crust (see recipe below) or store bought pie crust
1 egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water
1 tablespoon sugar to sprinkle on top

Pre-heat oven to 400f.

Place pitted cherries in a large bowl. Smash the cardamom pods using the back of a wooden spoon. Remove the little seeds from inside the cardamom pods. Place these seeds in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and grind to a powder. Add cardamom powder and all other ingredients for filling to the bowl, mix well. Refrigerate while you work on the pie crust. See pie crust recipe below.

Place one pie crust on a 10 inch pie dish. Pour the cherry filling into the dish. Place second pie crust on top. Cut away over hanging bits. Tuck edges in. Crimp the edges to seal.  Make a few slits on top to vent steam. Brush the top with the beaten egg wash. Sprinkle sugar all over. Cover the crimped edges with a strip of foil to prevent from burning. Place on a baking sheet and bake till the crust is golden, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove foil half way through baking.

Ina Garten’s Pie Crust recipe

makes two 10 inch crusts

12 tablespoons ( 1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
1/2 cup ice cold water
Ina uses a food processor. I used a pastry cutter and my hands.

Place a large bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Cut butter into small cubes. Add all ingredients except water to the cold bowl. Using a pastry blender, mash the butter and shortening. Dont over do this, stop when the butter is pea-sized. You could also take hand fulls of the flour mixture and rub it in both your hands to form a coarse dough.

Add cold water to dough and gently mix just until it forms a crumbly ball. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take out the dough and divide into 2 portions. Roll out each portion on a well floured surface. Proceed with cherry pie recipe above.

Fresh Cherry Crumble or Crisp

cherry-crumble-or-crisp1
Its a crisp in America and a crumble in England. But not matter what you call it, this fruity dessert with its addictive, cumb topping is delicious. I used fresh cherries. To pit them, I simply cut around the pit with a sharp paring knife. If you have a cherry pitter, it will speed things up for you. You can use pretty much any fruit you like; apples, strawberries, blueberries, plums or peaches will all be wonderful. My mom was visiting when I made this, so she’s the ‘hand model’ in these pictures :)

cherries-in-a-cup

pitting-cherries-with-knife

Select fresh, good quality fruit. Wash the cherries and pit them. You dont need any fancy equipment for this, just cut around the pit with a sharp knife. I like to cook the cherries first with some sugar, water and corn starch. This reduces baking time in the oven.

Now top the cooked cherries with the streusel or crumb topping and bake till golden.

crumb-topping-on-cherries

I like to serve this cherry crumble/crisp slightly warm, and with some vanilla bean ice cream. But its just as delicious all by itself!

cherry-crumble-or-crisp3

cherry-crumble-or-crisp2

Fresh Cherry Crumble/Crisp Recipe
makes 6 small servings

For cherry mixture
2 cups pitted, fresh cherries
2 tbsp sugar (this will produce a mildly sweet crumble. add more sugar if you like)
4 tbsp water
1 tsp corn starch

For streusel or crumb topping
3/4 cup flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted plus more to butter baking dish

Preheat oven to 400f

Place the pitted cherries and sugar in a saucepan. Cook on medium-high heat for about 4 minutes or untill the cherries are lightly softened. Mix together the corn starch and water and add it to the cherries. Cook for about 1 minute or till the mixture thickens.

To make the streusel or crumb topping, combine the flour, brown and white sugars, cinnamon and salt together. Mix well. Then pour in the melted butter. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it forms a crumbly mixture.

Lightly butter a baking dish (I used 6 individual sized creme brulee dishes). Divide the cherry mixture among the dishes. Place the crumb topping on top and bake for 15 minutes or till the topping has lightly browned.

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