Cherry Pie

It was the night of the World Cup finals. Popcorn popping in the microwave, soft drinks sitting in the refrigerator, choosing the right spot to sit, game fever was on. The night before lying in bed I contemplated over what victory dessert to put together. Presumptuous I know. But I settled for a Cherry Pie. As luck would have it, I had a jar of cherries in syrup just right for what I had in mind. Moreover this was a surprise dessert of sorts for Upasana and K who happened to be with us during game night. Anyways, since it was a ‘victory’ dessert, winning the match was crucial. Thank my stars we won and savored every crumb of the pie.

Refer to the Apple Pie (hyperlink) recipe for the crust.

Ingredients for filling:

1 ½ cups pitted cherries chopped finely

1 cup syrup from the tinned cherries

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn flour

A dash of fresh lemon juice

Whipped cream to top the pie

Method:

Blind bake the pie crust, that is, lining the pastry in the pie tin, placing butter paper over the pastry and filling it with grains such as kidney beans or lentils just to weight it down. Bake this for 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven (180C). Take it out of the oven and remove the grains and bake again for another 6-7 minutes. In a saucepan, heat the cherry syrup with the sugar and corn flour. Tip in the cherries and let it cook for about 10 minutes or till it has thickened. Tip this into the baked pie shell and bake for 25 minutes at 180C. Remove from oven and let it cool before you top it with whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

We enjoyed the pie just as we did the game J