Mini Cherry Pies

It’s summer! The season of cherries!

Last week I had the most precious guests – my sister with her partner, mum and dad. We were all together because we had a wonderful occasion to celebrate – our mum’s 60th birthday! We had organised a mini trip to Tyrol for a surprise, in the heart of the magnificent Alps, and very close to the border with Germany. This was also the place for our final destination – the Royal castles Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.  Everything was wonderful and mum was astonished since seeing the “New Swan Stone” castle has been her dream for a very long time. Everything there is beautiful – the castles, the nature, the mountains, even the weather was great. But as every thing, so did our holiday had an end. On the way back we stopped in Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber for a short break. The parking lot was surrounded by nature… and two huge cherry trees! So of course, we had to have some cherries. For half-wild, they turned out to be very juicy and sweet so we picked up some and ended up with a bag full of the little red fruits. We couldn’t eat them all so I wanted to bake something with them, but what?

One of my favourite English desserts are the mini mince pies but you can find them only in the months before Christmas. My sister brought me two boxes of mini apple pies from London since these were the only ones she could find at this time of the year, and I thought – I have cherries now, so I better make a good use of them. And this is how this recipe for Mini Cherry Pies was born!

Ingredients for 8 Mini Cherry Pies

Ingredients for the Crust:

• 300 g flour
• 225 g butter, room temperature
• 50 ml cold water
• 30 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp salt

Ingredients for the Cherry Filling:

• 400 g cherries
• 150 g sugar
• 50 g big raisins
• 45 ml rum
• 45 ml cold water
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• oil for greasing
• 1 tbsp sugar for sprinkling

You will also need: 8 ramekins (the ones I have are 7cm in diameter and 4cm deep, depending on the size you might need more or less), cling film, parchment paper, cherry pitter or a wooden skewer, rolling pin, small cookie cutter to make decorations, round cookie cutter, saucer (small plate)

Mini Cherry Pies Preparation:

1. Cut the butter into cubes.
2. Put the flour in a big bowl. Add in the butter, sugar, water, vanilla and salt. Mix well until a smooth dough is obtained.
3. УWrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least one hour.
4. Wash the cherries and remove the stones.
5. Place the raisins in a small pot over medium heat. Pour in the rum and stir until the alcohol has almost evaporated.
6. Stir in the cherries and sugar. Place the lid on top and leave it to simmer for 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally.
7. Put the corn starch in a mug. Stir in 45 ml cold water and then pour it into the cherry mixture.
8. Remove the lid, and leave it to simmer for a few more minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and set aside until completely cool.
9. Take the dough out of the fridge and place it between 2 sheets of baking paper. Roll it out to ½ cm thick. Grease the ramekins.
10. Preheat the oven to180°С.
11. Place the saucer, bottom up, and use a knife to trace its edge and cut a circle. Repeat it until you have circles for all ramekins. Place them inside and press the crust into the ramekins and up the sides.
12. Shape the remaining dough into a ball, roll it out again, and using a round cookie cutter, cut out 8 circles to top the mini cherry pies. Using a small cookie cutter (flower or heart), cut out a small hole into the crust top. You can place the remaining scrap next to it as decoration.
13. Spoon over the cherry filling until each pie is full. Place the top crust over and gently press the edges.
    
14. Place the ramekins onto a large baking tray. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 25 minutes.

Bon appetit!

Tips: 1. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, you can use a wooden skewer (or a chopstick or even a straw). Using its pointed end, gently push a shallow hole (about 1/8 inch) into the cherry at the end opposite from the stem. Remove the skewer and slowly push the wider end of the chopstick into the depression left from the stem, and gently poke around until you locate the pit.Use the chopstick to push the pit through the other end, through the hole you created. It takes a bit of time but once you get used to it, you’ll get much faster. Wear and apron as it might get messy!

2. You can decorate the mini cherry pies in many ways – you can make a lattice top or not put one at all – you can bake them even when they are open. It is important to make a small hole so the filling can “breathe”. Otherwise it might come out from somewhere else and it won’t look as beautiful. I used a fondant plunger cutter to cut out a tiny flower and made a few lines with a skewer. It’s not necessary to sprinkle with sugar.