Morello Cherries Pie Recipes

CHERRY CRUMB PIE

Steps:

• Stir the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Grate or shred the cold butter over the flour mixture, stopping occasionally to toss butter with flour mixture. When the whole stick of butter has been added, stir mixture with a fork or use your fingers to make the mixture evenly coarse.
• Add water 1 tablespoon at a time and stir with a heavy duty scraper until dough comes together. Shape into ball. Wrap in plastic and keep chilled until ready to use or use immediately.
• Filling: Separate syrup from cherries and measure out 3/4 cup of the syrup.
• In a large saucepan, stir together sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the cherry syrup, then set over medium heat. Whisk the mixture until it thickens and becomes translucent. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon juice and extract, then stir in the drained cherries.
• Pie Assembly: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and put a heavy rimmed baking sheet in the oven. You'll be baking the pie on the hot, preheated cookie sheet (which is supposed to help keep the crust crisp).
• On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12 inch circle. Transfer to a 9 inch round pie tin and crimp edges. Pour filling in the center of the pie.
• Topping: Combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt and cinnamon in the bowl you used for your pie crust. Add butter and stir until crumbly, then sprinkle over pie filling.
• Set the pie on the hot baking sheet and put it in the oven.
• Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F. and bake for 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to make sure your crumb topping isn't browning too quickly. If it is, lay a sheet of foil over it.
• Let the pie cool before serving.

CLASSIC CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• For the crust: Blend shortening, flour, powdered sugar, butter and salt. Cut flour until it resembles cornmeal. Beat egg, blend in vinegar and water, and sprinkle over flour mixture. Toss with fork. Chill before rolling, about 1 hour. Makes 2 (9-inch pie crusts).
• For the filling: In a large size bowl, mix together all ingredients and pour into the pie shell. Cover with top crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 45 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

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.

MORELLO CHERRY & ALMOND TRAYBAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a large square traybake tin, about 28 x 28cm, with baking parchment. Put all the cake ingredients (apart from the cherries) in a large mixing bowl or tabletop mixer and beat together until thoroughly combined. Toss the cherries in a little flour, then fold them into the cake mixture using a spatula. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 mins until the cake is golden brown, springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
• To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then add the lemon juice and enough water to make a thick yet fairly fluid icing. Transfer 3 tbsp of the icing to a small bowl and set aside. Spoon the remaining icing over the cooled cake - it should be liquid enough to level itself out; if not, use a knife to smooth it. Knead the marzipan to soften it, then incorporate enough red food colouring to turn it bright red. Roll into 48 cherry balls.
• When the icing is almost set, place 2 balls directly next to each other on the icing, in rows of 4, with enough space between each to cut 24 equal pieces. Colour the reserved icing with green food colouring, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a very fine nozzle, or simply snip off the end, and pipe cherry stalks next to the marzipan balls. When all the icing is completely set, take the cake out of the tin and cut into 24 pieces.

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.

LATTICE-TOPPED TRIPLE-CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Strain syrup from Morello cherries into measuring cup. Combine drained Morello cherries, 1/4 cup of strained Morello syrup, and cornstarch in medium bowl; stir to blend. Combine remaining strained Morello syrup, dried cherries, cinnamon, nutmeg, and star anise in heavy large saucepan. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until cherries are plump, about 10 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium, and simmer until mixture bubbles thickly and is reduced to 3/4 cup, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes longer. Discard cinnamon stick, nutmeg, and star anise. Add Bing cherries and sugar and stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves; increase heat to medium and simmer until fresh cherries are tender when pierced with sharp knife, about 5 minutes. Add Morello cherry mixture and stir over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens, about 3 minutes. Transfer pie filling to medium bowl and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
• Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Roll out 1 pie crust disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1 inch. Spoon cooled filling into crust. Roll out second pie crust disk on lightly floured surface to 13x10-inch rectangle. Cut dough rectangle lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide strips. Arrange 5 dough strips across cherry filling in 1 direction and 5 strips in opposite direction, forming lattice and spacing evenly, weaving if desired. Brush bottom crust edge lightly with cream and press dough strips to crust to seal. Trim any overhang from dough strips. Turn dough edge of bottom crust up over dough strips, pinching gently to seal. Crimp edges decoratively. Brush edges and lattice lightly with whipping cream.
• Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles thickly, about 50 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool to lukewarm, about 2 hours.
• Serve pie lukewarm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.