Monday, July 29, 2013

Playing with Cherries

How many times have you eaten a fruit pie and thought you could just eat the yummy filling? My family and friends are always in various states of dieting or foresworn foods, and I've noticed that the pie shell is often neglected and left in tattered bits on the plate. So when I saw a deconstructed peach pie, it got me thinking.


I had never heard of a deconstructed recipe before I started watching cooking competition shows. One of their favorite games is to hand the contestants the ingredients for a dish, say lasagna, or meatloaf, and ask them to deconstruct it and make something else out of the ingredients. You can imagine that it's sometimes very challenging.


In the deconstructed pie recipe, they cooked the peach pie filling on the stove in a pot. That's easy! But then they cut circles out of the pie dough, sprinkled them with sugar and baked them. Eh. I can think of more exciting things than pie dough.




So I pulled out frozen puff pastry. I read a recipe not too long ago in which the baker went to all the trouble of making her own puff pastry but then filled it with canned pie filling. She did the hard part, but said she couldn't find a recipe for cherry pie filling. Here it comes. So easy.



I did two things with my cherry pie filling. First, I used some to make turnovers. Except I made cute little packets instead, which I think are prettier than the typical triangular turnover. And then, I made the deconstructed version of the cherry turnover. The cooked cherry pie filling went into cute little ramekins, and I baked puff pastry (cut with cookie cutters) to decorate them.




If you're feeding kids, you could even use these cute little disposable shaped bakers that I found, No clean-up! If you don't have time for puff pastry (even ready made) stick a graham cracker or a favorite cookie in the ramekin. It would be just as cute. It's sort of like eating a fruity pudding. Warning though: if you hate tapioca, you will not like this.



If you bake your own little puff pastry shapes, be sure to brush them with a beaten egg and sprinkle sugar on top. Or use the icing below to decorate them and add a little zest.



Please note that I made these with sweet Bing cherries. If you are lucky enough to find sour cherries, you will want to increase the sugar substantially. The only trick here is to not burn the cherries. They are loaded with juices but it doesn't come out until they begin to cook. Keep an eye on them especially in the beginning. If you plan to serve them warm, eat plain or with ice cream. The icing will run off if they have not cooled.


Cherry Pie or Turnover Filling


4 cups of cherries
2 2/3 tablespoons tapioca
1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg, beaten

Place all ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan. Heat initially over medium high, watching to be sure they don't burn and stirring occasionally. Once the juices begin to release, cover, turn heat to low and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For square turnovers:

Cut a sheet of puff pastry into quarters. Place about 4 cooked cherries in the middle (about two tablespoons). Bring opposite corners to the top and press together well. Bring the remaining corners to the top and press together well. Brush with beaten egg. Bake 20 minutes or as instructed on the pastry package.

Icing:

powdered sugar
lemon

Place 1/4 cup powdered sugar into a small bowl. Stir in drops of lemon until it reaches a nice drizzle consistency. Too runny? Just add more powdered sugar.


You can even dip the wings into the icing!



 


10 comments:

  1. Very clever! Those little heart-shaped aluminum baking pans are adorable, too!

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  2. So simple. It works in place of a fruit gelatin, too. Very refreshing and almost all fruit!

    ~Krista

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  3. So pretty and I can taste them from here! Very creative, Krista!

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    1. We're really enjoying it, Mary Jane. So nice and cold. And except for a little sugar, it's fruit and fruit juice, so it's good for us, too!

      ~Krista

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  4. when my son was a wrestler in HS for 4 years..he had to watch his carbs....drove me nuts! Because he still loved his pies!!! So..I learned to make his pies in containers like you did...and I called them "puddings"!!! so he could have his peach, cherry, blackberry, or whatever....pie..but it is not a pie!!! LOL!! I still do this to this day..turns out......hubby likes it better.....the occasional crust is fine.....but, they like their "puddings"!!!!

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    1. SueAnn, it is like a fruit pudding. Kind of like cobbler without the top. I might make it more often. Why bother with a pie crust if no one is going to eat it anyway?

      ~Krista

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  5. Finally, cherry pie filling recipe that makes sense! Love it. Now how long does it take to remove the pits??

    Thanks!
    Daryl /Avery

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    1. The pits are one of the drawbacks. I used a nifty cherry pitter that does them two at a time. It didn't take all that long. It takes just as long to peel and slice peaches . . .

      ~Krista

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  6. You are so right...I see so many people, even here, when we have folks over, they tear apart the pie, getting rid of the crust..and I think, why bother?!!! I served a fruit pudding at a card game one time...we are in a card group...and they were SO impressed!!! LOL!!! You'd have thought I discovered sliced bread!

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    1. SueAnn, that's exactly what I see. Everyone tries to eat around the crust. And pie crusts can be a challenge. Why not serve them what they want?

      ~Krista

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