Cherry Pie

I’m dedicating this pie to Yaron – whenever Yaron would come home from a trip, or from the army for the weekend, his response to my usual question “So, what do you want me to prepare when you come home?” would be “Cherry Pie” (or alternatively, “Apple Pie“).

For this pie, I use the dough which Savta Rivka always used for her apple pies – it is easy and perfect for this pie.

You can make the dough in advance and freeze it if you like.

I don’t roll out the dough for this pie; I pat it into the bottom and partially up the sides of the cake pan (I usually use a “detachable” (springform) cake pan for this pie).

For the dough on top, I just grate it on a coarse grater onto the top of the pie – no rolling out, no torn crusts…….!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 200 grams (7 oz) butter, cut into cubes
• 2 cups regular white flour
• Almost 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 egg yolks

For the filling:

• Fresh or frozen cherries, seeded
• good cherry confiture – or,  prepared cherry pie filling in a can
• splash of lemon juice
• some extra butter (no more than 50 grams – 3 1/2 oz –  cut into little pieces)
• If not using cherry pie filling, then you will prob. need a sprinkling of sugar.
• some fine bread crumbs

Preparation:

1. Prepare dough by putting the ingredients into a food processor; process until dough is formed.
2. At this point, you can either put the whole ball of dough into the refrigerator, or you can pat a bit more than half of it into the bottom and up about 2 cm (1 inch) the sides of the pan. Then put the pan in the refrigerator to “rest” for an hour or so, along with the other half of the dough that you will use later for the topping.
3. After the dough is in the pan, and refrigerated, sprinkle some bread crumbs in a very thin layer, on the unbaked crust. This will absorb some of the liquid from the cherries.
4. Over that, spread the cherry jam, or some prepared cherry pie filling.
5. Over that pour in the fresh or frozen cherries, in an even layer.
6. If needed you can sprinkle some sugar over that. Add drops of lemon juice around the cherries.
7. Put a few little cubes of butter around the top of the cherries.
8. Grate the rest of the dough coarsely and spread evenly over the cherries.
9. Bake in 180 C (350 F) oven, for about an hour. It should be a deep golden brown color. The cherry mixture should bubble and peek through the top “crust” here and there.
10. Let it cool slowly in the oven, with door partially opened.
11. Can serve when it is lukewarm.
12. Enjoy!