Twice Baked Cherry Pie

The Essential Cherry Pitter from Williams-Sonoma

       Then Melissa hit upon a recipe that bakes the crust the way you’d bake an open-faced pie like a chocolate cream pie.  Its crust is pre-cooked and flaky when the filling is lavished on top.  So Melissa followed that technique, creating a crunchy, flaky, buttery crust that she then topped with a sensationally natural fruit mixture—in this case gorgeous fresh cherries—and baked a second time.  (In the interest of full disclosure, Melissa’s recipe called for Sour Cherries.  Andrew used tart farm stand cherries.)  She disdained covering the topping with a solid layer of pastry, opting instead for round cut out pastry discs.  The result is brilliant.  Juicy, fruity, crunchy, crispy, buttery all on a single fork.  Way to go Melissa.  And way to go Andrew.  Here’s the recipe for the best cherry pie I’ve ever eaten.  See if you don’t agree while all those fresh cherries are about. One more thing, you really need a great cherry pitter for this.  We got ours at Williams-Sonoma.

Recipe for Twice Baked Cherry Pie courtesy of Melissa Clark

Time: 1 hour 45 minutes, plus chilling time

 

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, more for rolling out dough

3/8 teaspoon kosher salt

15 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1 cup sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons instant tapioca

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pounds tart cherries (about 6 cups), rinsed and pitted

1 tablespoon kirsch or brandy

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Demerara sugar, for sprinkling.

1. To make dough: in bowl of a food processor pulse together flour and salt just to combine. Add butter and pulse until chickpea-size pieces form. Add 3 to 6 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture just comes together. Separate dough into 2 disks, one using 2/3 dough, the other using the remaining. Wrap disks in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days) before rolling out and baking.

2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place larger dough disk on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12-inch circle, about 3/8-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Line dough with foil and weigh it down with pie weights. Bake until crust is light golden brown, about 30 minutes.

3. While pie crust is baking, prepare filling. In bowl of a food processor, combine sugar, tapioca and cinnamon (use more tapioca if you prefer a thicker, more solid filling, and less if you like a looser, juicier filling). Run the motor until tapioca is finely ground. Place cherries in a bowl and add sugar and tapioca mixture. Drizzle in kirsch or brandy and toss gently to combine.

4. When pie crust is ready, transfer it to a wire rack to cool slightly and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Remove foil and weights. Scrape cherry filling into pie crust.

5. Place smaller disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it 3/8-inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (or several round cookie cutters of different sizes) to cut out circles of dough. Arrange circles on top of cherry filling in a pattern of your choice.

6. Brush top crust with cream and sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar. Bake until crust is dark golden brown and filling begins to bubble, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours, allowing filling to set before serving.

Yield: 8 servings.