Croatian Sour Cherry Pie Recipes

PERFECT SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Press the bottom pie crusts into 2 pie pans.
• Combine cherries, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Let sit until sugar begins to draw out the cherries' juices, about 10 minutes. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat; simmer until the juices thicken and become translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter and almond extract until well mixed. Pour into the bottom half of the pie shells. Cover with top crusts, crimp the edges to seal, and cut vents into the top with a sharp knife.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crust is golden brown, 45 to 55 minutes.

CROATIAN SOUR CHERRY STRUDEL (ŠTRUDLU S VIšNJAMA)

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup lukewarm water, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Place 2 cups all-purpose flour in a large bowl and cut in 1 tablespoon cold butter in as for pie dough. Add water mixture and stir by hand for about 5 minutes or until dough becomes smooth.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding as little extra flour as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.
• Cover a large table with a clean cotton tablecloth (it will become stained from the fat in the dough, so use an old tablecloth). Sprinkle the cloth generously with flour. Place the dough in the center of the cloth and brush it with melted butter. Roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness.
• Begin stretching the dough either over the backs of your hands or palm-side up, whichever works best for you. Work quickly, continually lifting the dough and stretching it by pulling your hands apart until it is almost paper thin and drapes over the sides of the table. See our recipe for making Serbian Cheese Strudel to get the idea. Using kitchen shears, trim off the thicker outer edges of the strudel dough.
• Place rack in the middle of oven and heat to 400 F. Brush the stretched dough liberally with melted butter. Place the cherry filling along one long edge in a 3-inch-wide strip, 2 inches from the edges. Sprinkle ground walnuts over the filling.
• Use the tablecloth to roll the strudel away from you, jellyroll fashion, until it is completely rolled. Brush the top of the strudel with melted butter. Cut into sections that will fit your baking sheets and tuck in ends of strudel.
• Place parchment on baking sheets and transfer strudel sections to them, seam-side down. Bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375 F and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until strudel is crisp and golden.
• Remove from oven, cool slightly and then cut on an angle into slices. Dust with confectioners' sugar. You may also cool completely to make the slicing easier and then rewarm in a microwave. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve as is or with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream.

MARTHA'S SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Make the filling: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss together the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla in a bowl.
• Make the crust: Roll out 1 disk pate brisee to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour in filling; dot with butter. Refrigerate while making top crust.
• Roll remaining disk pate brisee to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 4 to 5 holes using a 3/4-inch round cookie cutter or pastry tip. Place on top of pie.
• Trim bottom and top crusts to a 1-inch overhang using kitchen shears and press together to seal around edges. Fold edges under; crimp as desired. Freeze for 20 minutes.
• Brush crust with egg wash. Bake pie on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet set on the middle rack, until pie is bubbling in center and crust is golden, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. Transfer pie to a wire rack and let cool before serving.

SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Press one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie plate. Stir together the cherries, tapioca, sugar, and almond extract in a bowl. Let the mixture stand for 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the other pie crust into 1/2 inch strips to make a lattice top. Pour the cherry mixture into the pie shell. Lay the strips across the pie in a lattice pattern, and pinch the edges to seal.
• Bake in the preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool before serving.

CROATIAN SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Make dough following this schedule: flour, breadcrumbs, and lemon rinds, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla flavored sugar and melted butter.
• Mix everything in a bowl and at the end add egg yolks. Mix some more and add sour cream.
• Mix more until you get nice greasy dough. If it is too greasy you can add some more flour.
• When done, put into refrigerator for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, put the dough out and work a little to make it soft. Cut away a piece of dough size little more than a softball ball.
• Roll the rest of dough into ½ cm thin sheet. Cover the bottom of 28cm low rim cake pan with butter, and put onto it a dough sheet. Make sure that the rim is also covered with dough from inside.
• First cover the sough surface with semolina (it will soak the juices). Put sour cherry on dough (you can use frozen also). Cover the sour cherries eith sugar and cinnamon.
• Mix egg yolks with sugar until become light yellow. Add heavy cream into and pour over sour cherry.
• The dough you have put aside now grate over the topping. Put the cake into preheated oven on 180°C and bake 45-50 minutes.

SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to a 13-inch round, 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate, and trim dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang; refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• On lightly floured parchment, roll out second disk of dough 1/8 inch thick. Using a clean ruler as a guide, cut 14 strips (about 1/2 inch wide) with a pastry wheel or sharp knife. Place strips (and parchment) on a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, 10 minutes.
• Combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add cherries and vanilla, and toss. Pour cherry mixture into pie plate. Dot with butter. Lightly brush exposed edge of shell with beaten egg.
• Weave the lattice (see page 328): Lay 7 strips of dough across pie. Fold back every other strip. Lay another strip perpendicular in center of pie. Unfold strips over perpendicular strip. Fold back strips under perpendicular strip. Lay second perpendicular strip next to first. Unfold strips over second perpendicular strip. Repeat, weaving strips across half the pie. Return to center, lay a perpendicular strip on unwoven side of pie, and repeat. Trim strips to 1-inch overhang. Tuck overhang under edge of shell, and crimp to seal. Brush lattice with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Refrigerate or freeze 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Transfer pie plate to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling; if using fresh cherries, begin checking after 1 hour; if using frozen, about 95 minutes. (If top browns too quickly, tent with foil.)
• Transfer pie to a wire rack; let cool completely. Pie can be kept at room temperature, tented with foil, up to 1 day.

CROATIAN SOUR CHERRY (MARASCA) SAUCE

Steps:

• Cook wine, sugar and cinnamon until boils.
• Add sour cherries, cook 5 minutes.
• Make flour turbid with a little water and add into sauce. Stir until sauce become dense (you may cook it if necessary).
• Serve with game.