It doesn't look like I'm going to have time to get a full post up before Sunday ends but here are a few pictures just to prove I did actually get the pie made on Sunday :) I was skeptical about this week's recipe and almost didn't participate as I couldn't find sour cherries anywhere, but at the last minute I came upon some cherries and changed my mind. And boy am I glad I did - I really enjoyed this pie! Many thanks to Michelle of Flourchild for this pick - it's a good one! I hope to get a full post up about the pie later tonight...
UPDATED: Well, I failed at getting a full post up last night but I did want to post a few thoughts about the recipe today:
- After a lot of searching, I wound up using red tart canned cherries from Oregon Fruit Products Company (I used two 14.5 oz cans). The cherries were packed in water so no issues with sugary syrup. I drained the cherries because I wasn't sure all the liquid in the can would be absorbed by the cornstarch. These cherries had great flavor and I would definitely use them again. My only qualm is that they were fairly expensive, though in all fairness I don't ever buy or bake with cherries so maybe cherries are just an expensive fruit in general?
- I don't know if I'd use Melissa's flaky pie crust recipe again. It uses a lot of shortening (as opposed to butter) to achieve the flakiness and I didn't think the crust had much flavor. Also, I had a lot of trouble rolling this crust out. It kept crumbling and I kept having to piece it back together again. Maybe I should have added more water?
- I used almonds instead of pistachios in the crumble topping. I don't like pistachios and I never have them on hand. I did, however, have both almonds and walnuts. I did a quick internet search to get a sense of whether almonds or walnuts would be a better match with the cherries. I found more almond/cherry combo recipes so that's what I went with. I thought it turned out wonderfully and I'd definitely go with almonds next time I make this recipe.
