Cherry pie of DREAMS

I hope you enjoy making this as much as I have enjoyed recipe testing and eating it. The time I got it just right I gasped and it hit the tops of my cheeks and made me smile.

Makes 1 x 8 inch pie x 2inch height

Ingredients:

Pastry

225g strong white flour

175g unsalted butter, cold, cubed

15g caster sugar

5g fine salt

70ml ice cold water

2tbsp milk, for brushing

1tbsp demerrera sugar for sprinkling

Cherries

500g pitted cherries

180g golden caster sugar

¼ tsp almond extract/Disaronno (optional)

50g cornflour (this is the same as corn starch)

Make the pastry:

1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour, salt and sugar together

2. Add in the butter and mix until the butter had formed breadcrumbs, you still want to be able to see some chunks of butter

3. Add in the water in one go and mix quickly to form a dough

4. Tip the dough out onto your work surface and bring together with your hands

5. Wrap tightly in cling film and place in the fridge to firm up, about 4 hours

Make the filling

1. Pit the cherries and place them in a large bowl (the amount of cherries post pitting should be 500g)

2. Coat the cherries in the sugar, almond extract/Disaronno (if using) and the cornflour

3. Set aside whilst you prepare the pie case. There may be some juice that leaches out from the cherries but don't worry too much that's what the cornflour will help with.

Prepare and bake

1. Gently knead the cold dough a bit, cut ⅓ off and keep aside for the top. Roll out to 4mm, grease an 8 inch pie case or closed bottom cake tin.

2. Line the tin with the pastry, leaving a bit of an overhang. Keep the scraps if you have any and add this to the ⅓ for the top. Put the lined tin in the fridge whilst you prepare the top.

3. Roll the rest of the pastry to 4mm and cut a lattice or leave whole, put in the fridge to chill for 15 mins on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

4. Once the case and top are cold, add the cherry mixture and top with the lid. Pinch the edge of the pie and the top together to seal. If the top is being left whole pierce a hole in the top. Return to the fridge

5. Heat the oven to 200 degrees fan/ 220 oven. Put a heavy baking tray in the oven to heat up, it works best on the very bottom shelf of the oven.

6. Brush the top of the pie with milk and sprinkle the sugar on the top

7. Bake for 1 hour and 15 mins until golden brown.

8. Allow to cool slightly before serving with ice cream, custard, cream or in Jeremy Lee style - ALL THREE.

Notes:

The cherries will leach out a bit of liquid once they've been tossed in the sugar and cornflour but this is a good thing babes, it makes it nice and JUICY. The cornflour will also mingle and do it's thing in the oven and turn that juice into SAUCE. You can use frozen cherries for this recipe, however it is essential that they are fully defrosted before using. Once they are fully defrosted, strain off the excess liquid and then toss in sugar and cornflour.

Taste the cherries before using them! I always think this is important. If the cherries are super sweet -like you can't believe how sweet they are- then take 50g of sugar out of the recipe and then taste them again once you've coated them. Then you can judge whether it needs that extra 50g of sugar.

Also please do bear in mind that the pastry is not sweet, it's buttery, flaky, a touch salty and carries that filling. Therefore a contrast in the salty/buttery and sweet cherry is a thing of beauty.

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If you make this, tag us in a photo will ya?

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