Recipe by: 9Kitchen
Serves: 10 or more
Time: >1 hour
Ingredients
Pastry
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125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
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1/2 cup caster sugar
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1 egg
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3/4 cups plain flour
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3/4 cups self-raising flour
Filling
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1kg fresh cherries, pitted
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2 tablespoons sugar
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pinch of ground cinnamon
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1/4 cup water
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1 tablespoon cornflour
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1 tablespoon demerara sugar
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1 egg, lightly beaten
Method
- Wash cherries and pit with a cherry pitter. Combine sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and two tablespoons of the water in a large pan. Cook stirring over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add cherries and stir gently to coat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Combine cornflour and remaining water in a small bowl and stir into the cherries. Return to heat and cook, stirring gently for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, cover and cool completely.
- Preheat oven 180°C/ 160°C Fan-forced and grease a 20cm pie dish.
- Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in egg. Add sifted flour and stir until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth. Press enough of the dough over base and up sides of dish to form a 5mm thick pastry case. Trim excess. Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Place dish onto an oven tray. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans or rice. Blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove beans and cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and then spoon in cooled cherry mixture.
- Roll out remaining pastry between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick and large enough the cover pie. Trim edge with a knife and press the edge to seal. Brush top with beaten egg and sprinkle the pie with sugar. Cut a 4cm circle from centre of pastry top and discard.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan then cut and serve warm or cold. Serve with custard or ice-cream.
Tips
- When purchasing cherries, It is important to look for cherries that have shiny bright skin. Overripe cherries will look dull. Fresh cherries will feel heavy for their size and make sure that the stems are still intact.
- Store fresh cherries in the fridge for up to 4 to 5 days. The best way to do this (if you have room) is to put them in a colander on the lowest shelf in the fridge. This allows air to circulate around them. Alternatively, store in the crisper inside a vegetable storage bag
