Sour Cherry Tart

My brother purchased two pies, one cherry and one apple, to serve as dessert on the 4th of July. While the cherry pie was tasty, it had an edge of artificiality, despite coming from a local bakery. The glaze was just too gloppy and red, as if the filling had originated in a can. I was pretty sure I could do a better job baking a cherry pie myself.

Just days later, kismet revealed quarts of gorgeous sour cherries at the farmers' market. I snapped one up and immediately began searching for pie recipes online. Smitten Kitchen's crumb-topped pie appealed, because it didn't require a top crust. (While I normally don't mind admitting to using store-bought crusts, I thought a home-made cherry pie deserved a home-made crust. I just didn't want to make two of them. Or, heaven forbid, a lattice.)  In another stroke of luck, I received an e-mail from Saveur magazine, touting their new brown butter blackberry tart recipe. The crust recipe seemed easy and didn't require any rolling out, so I resolved to use it. I ignored the fact that the shell was intended to be used for an unbaked pie.

While the crust recipe seemed pretty simple to begin with, I simplified it even further. The original recipe called for butter, water, oil, and sugar to be placed in a heatproof bowl and baked for 20 minutes until the butter began to brown. Why not put them in a saucepan and cook for fewer minutes?

I made the rest of the pie (filling and crumb topping) pretty much according to the original recipe. Because the crust was intended for use with a non-baked (pre-cooked), custard-type filling, the texture is pretty different from that of a regular pie crust. No matter, the combination of brown butter flavored crust + lightly sweet cherries was pretty swell. And the crust held up well enough for me to take the tart out of the tart pan without it falling apart.

Mmm...cherry pie. It was lovely, and much better than the gloppy bakery pie.

Sour Cherry Tart (adapted from Saveur and Smitten Kitchen)

For the crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup flour

For the almond crumble:
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the sour cherry filling:
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/4 pounds fresh sour cherries, pitted, or 2 pounds frozen sour cherries, partially thawed

Make the crust: Heat oven to 400°. Stir butter, water, oil, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter begins to brown, 5-8 minutes. Stir in flour until dough comes together. Press dough into bottom and up sides of 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes until browned; let cool.

Make the crumble: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until everything is coated with the butter.

Make the cherry filling: In a large bowl, mix the cherries with the sugar, cornstarch, and kosher salt.

To assemble the pie:  Reduce oven heat to 350°F. Pour the cherries into the pie shell. Sprinkle the crumble over the cherries. Place the pie plate on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and thick. Remove to a rack to cool to room temperature before serving.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Squash Hand Pies

Thank goodness winter squash are so hardy. We had a lone sweet dumpling squash, left over from one on-demand CSA or another, sitting on the dining room table for what seems like months. Sweet dumplings are fairly small, only about 8 ounces or so, and I had no idea what to do with just one of them. Since I was going to roast some other vegetables, I chopped it into quarters and threw it into the oven, too. I'd worry about what to do with it later. At least it was off the table.

After turning the other veg into soup, I tasted the dumpling squash. Unlike many other varieties of winter squash, it was naturally sweet, so it seemed like a perfect pie filling. Except that there was just one of them. Once roasted and scraped, there was a scant cup of filling. I seasoned it up until it tasted even better, then decided to utilize the box of pie crusts I purchased before Thanksgiving (just in case I needed to bake a pie).

All-ready pie crusts are round. I cut one into quarters and added a dollop of filling to the center of each wedge. To form roughly rectangular pies, I folded the dough like an envelope. You may choose to make them look more like a samosa. Either way, they taste yummy eaten warm with a dollop of ice cream.

Winter Squash Hand Pies

1 sweet dumpling squash
Olive oil
Salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon bourbon
Squeeze fresh lemon juice
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch cinnamon
3 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 all ready pie crust, at room temperature
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squash into quarters, remove and discard seeds. Rub flesh with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until tender, 40 minutes to an hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Turn oven down to 350°F.

When squash is cool, scrape flesh from skin and put in a bowl. Season with maple syrup, heavy cream, bourbon, lemon juice, spices, and nuts. Stir well.

Unroll the pie crust onto a cutting board and cut into quarters. Brush with beaten egg. Place a dollop of the filling onto each quarter. Fold like an envelope or a samosa, pressing edges together to seal them. Brush each pie with egg and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

If there's any filling left, eat it with a spoon.



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Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

We spent a couple of the last remaining hours of 2011 having a lovely dinner at B&O American Brasserie. Among the five courses we consumed were two that really inspired me to try a variation at home, one of which was a brown butter pear cake paired with figs and bacon.

The cake itself was just a rather plain yellow cake; the pear actually appeared to be within the jam-like accompaniment of caramelized dried figs sprinkled with bits of bacon. I thought the fig/pear/caramel combination was delicious and made a mental note to try it at home, with or without the bacon.

After a bit of thinking, I decided figsnpears would work nicely as a filling for tartlets, hand pies, or turnovers. Because I was already making a fairly complicated dinner the same night, I decided to forego the bacon, although it would have been a tasty addition.

Commercial puff pastry is always a breeze to use - just thaw, fill, and bake. The puffy little pies were terrific hot out of the oven and drizzled with a bit of the caramel sauce, but equally as good at room temperature with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream and more caramel.

Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
8 dried figs, quartered, stems removed
1 cup water
2 medium pears, skinned and diced
1 tablespoon butter
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1 egg, beaten

In a small saucepan, bring figs and water to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes, or until figs are tender, adding more water as necessary. Remove from heat and drain figs. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium sauté pan. Add pears and cook over medium heat until tender. Add 2 tablespoons of the bourbon caramel sauce, stir in reserved figs, and cook an additional five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Unfold one puff pastry sheet and use a rolling pin to flatten the seams and stretch the dough out a bit. Cut dough into six squares. Place a tablespoon of fig and pear filling in the center of each square (if some of the squares are rectangles, stretch the dough accordingly). Fold dough to form a triangle and seal edges with the tines of a fork. Place pies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush each with the beaten egg. Repeat with second pastry sheet.

Bake for 18 minutes. Serve with little ramekins of caramel sauce for dipping.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high and bring sugar mixture to a boil. Cook without stirring until the syrup turns a medium amber and starts to smoke (but is not burning!). Remove pan from heat and add butter and cream. Stir in bourbon and vanilla. Pour into a clean glass pint jar and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Reheat caramel by placing a couple of spoonfuls into a microwave-safe ramekin and microwaving for 5-second increments until caramel is hot and bubbly. Remove carefully, as it will be very hot.

Posted on Minxeats.com.