Old Fashioned Cherry Vanilla Pie Food

CHERRY PIE INSPIRED BY AN "OLD FASHIONED" COCKTAIL (SOUR CHERRIES STEWED WITH RAW SUGAR, BOURBON AND ORANGE BITTERS)

Steps:

• For the cherry filling: Combine the cherries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, combine the cherries with sugar and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the tapioca and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the bourbon, almond extract and orange bitters. Let cool and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll each dough piece on a lightly-floured surface into a 12-inch disk. Gently place one disk into a 9-inch pie pan, bringing it up the sides. Make a few incisions in the middle of the remaining crust. Pour the cherry filling into the prepared pie shell. Lightly brush the border of the pie shell with water, and top with the second piecrust. Tightly seal the dough by pressing the edge with a fork or your fingers. Create some decorative touches with the scrap dough if desired to decorate the pie. Lightly brush the pastry shell with the cream and sprinkle with a little sugar. Place the pie on a larger baking sheet lined with parchment paper to catch any spills. Bake the pie until the crust is a deep golden brown color and the cherry juices are starting to bubble, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool, and then serve with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

VANILLA CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• First, make the pastry. Put the butter and flour in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like damp breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Whisk the egg yolks, 2 tbsp cold water and the vanilla in a bowl, then drizzle over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough starts to clump together, adding a drizzle more water, 1 tsp at a time, if the dough feels dry - try not to add too much or the pastry will be tough. Tip out onto a work surface and knead briefly to bring everything together to a smooth dough. Break into 2 pieces, one a little larger than the other, wrap in cling film, pat into flat discs and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove the larger piece of pastry from the fridge - if it feels a little firm, leave at room temperature for 20 mins to soften. On a floured surface, roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use the pastry to line a 20-22cm metal pie plate or tin, leaving a little excess pastry overhanging - trim with a pair of scissors if necessary. Line the base with baking parchment and baking beans, and blind-bake for 20 mins. Mix the cherries, cornflour and sugar in a bowl. Add the cherry jam, vanilla and butter, and mix again.
• Remove the beans and parchment from the base, brush the pastry with some of the beaten egg white and bake for 5 mins more until golden. Trim the pastry to neaten.
• Turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Tip the cherries into the centre of the pie. Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness as before, large enough to cover the pie. Slide the pastry onto a well-floured sheet of baking parchment and, using your favourite mini biscuit cutter or the wide end of a piping nozzle, stamp out a scattering of shapes - we used a 2cm star cutter, but hearts or circles would look nice - just don't cut out too many or the pastry will collapse. Brush the egg white over the edge of the pie rim and all over the lid. Place a few cut-out shapes back on the pastry, if you like. Carefully lift the baking parchment and pastry, and slide the pastry lid onto the pie, removing the parchment. Trim the excess pastry, then use a fork to press the lid to the base. Bake for 35 mins.
• Brush the pie with the remaining egg white and scatter with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Bake for a further 5 mins until golden brown and bubbling. Leave to cool for at least 20 mins before serving with crème fraîche, thick cream or ice cream.

OLD FASHIONED PIE

Steps:

• For the crust: Pulse the flour, shortening, granulated sugar, vinegar and salt in a food processor until it looks like fine meal. Add the butter, and pulse until it is in pea-size pieces. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of the ice water, and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Pinch the dough with your fingers; if it doesn't hold together, add up to 2 teaspoons more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, pulsing and checking the dough after each addition. Wrap the dough tightly, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or preferably overnight.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 375 degrees F. Roll the dough into a disc 11 to 12 inches wide on a lightly floured surface. Sandwich the dough between pieces of parchment or wax paper on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes. Lay the dough in an 8-inch pie pan so it extends about 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pan. Fold the outer edge of the dough up under itself, and crimp decoratively between your index finger and forefinger. Poke the dough all over with a fork, and refrigerate for 10 minutes more. Line the pie crust with parchment or foil, fill with pie weights or beans and bake until the dough appears dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and continue cooking the crust until it's light brown and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes more. Let the crust cool completely on a wire rack.
• For the filling: Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Whisk the heavy cream, granulated sugar, yolks, egg, bourbon, zest, cherry juice and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Place the cooled crust on a rimmed baking sheet, and pour the custard into the crust. To avoid overbrowning, cut 2 strips of aluminum foil to wrap over the crust edges. Carefully transfer the pie to the oven, and bake until the custard is set but still has a slight jiggle, 50 to 60 minutes. Let the pie cool completely on a wire rack, about 4 hours. If serving the next day, let cool completely, then wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• For the bourbon whipped cream: Beat the confectioners' sugar and bourbon in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the heavy cream, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until firm peaks form, about 1 minute.
• Put six 2-tablespoon dollops of the whipped cream around the pie, and top each with a cherry. Twist the orange slices, and place them in between the whipped cream dollops. Serve the pie with the remaining whipped cream.

MICHIGAN CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll pie dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim crust to 1/2 in. beyond rim of plate; flute edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes. , Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, toss tart and dried cherries with lemon juice, lemon zest and almond extract. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cornstarch; add to cherry mixture and toss to coat. In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients until crumbly. Transfer cherry filling to crust; sprinkle topping over filling. , Bake on a lower oven rack 45-55 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. If desired, serve with ice cream.

OLD FASHIONED CREAM PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place sugar, egg, half and half, flour, whipping cream, and butter or margarine in blender. Beat until thoroughly combined. Pour into pie shell and sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, until set in center.

CHERRY CREAM PIE

Steps:

• Beat cream cheese, sour cream, and milk together in a bowl. Stir pudding mix into the cream cheese mixture. Fold about half the cherry pie filling into the cream cheese mixture; spread into the prepared pie crust and top with remaining pie filling.
• Refrigerate until set and chilled completely, about 2 hours.

OLD-FASHIONED CHERRY VANILLA PIE

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Cut butter into pieces. In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, salt, butter, and shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 5 tablespoons ice water and toss or pulse just until mixture forms a dough, adding additional ice water, a little at a time, if dough is too dry. Divide dough in half and flatten each piece into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.
• Make filling:
• In a small bowl stir together sugar, tapioca, salt, and cinnamon. In a large heavy skillet cook fresh or frozen cherries over moderately high heat, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon transfer cherries to a heatproof bowl. Add sugar mixture to cherry juices in skillet and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir cherry sauce and vanilla into cherries and cool.
• Line lower rack of oven with foil and preheat oven to 400° F.
• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out 1 piece dough into an 11-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Fit dough into a 9-inch (1-quart) pie plate, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Pour filling into shell and chill, loosely covered with plastic wrap.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out remaining dough into an 11-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and with a sharp knife or fluted pastry wheel cut into 1-inch-wide strips. Working on a sheet of wax paper set on a baking sheet, weave pastry strips in a close lattice pattern. Chill or freeze lattice on wax paper on a flat surface 20 minutes, or until firm. Brush edge of filled shell with cold water and slide lattice off wax paper and onto pie. Let lattice stand 10 minutes to soften. Trim edges flush with rim of pie plate and crimp decoratively. Gently brush lattice top with cold water and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake pie in middle of oven 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden and filling just begins to bubble, and transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Serve pie warm with ice cream.

CHERRY MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, heat pie filling on low. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form., Remove pie filling from the heat; stir in extract. Pour into pastry shell. Spread meringue over hot filling, sealing edges to crust. Sprinkle with walnuts. , Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.