Triple Cherry Pie

Updated: This is damn near the best pie I've ever made. Seriously perfect.

Last week, I thawed out the remaining sour cherries from last summer's harvest. I had a couple bags of fresh cherries in the fridge, and I wanted to make a quick pie with all three varieties.

Yes, it's near 100-degree temps in St. Louis right now...I know it's crazy to turn on the oven in my 115-year-old house that only has central AC upstairs.

But...but...pie-baking always makes me feel better (and with the world as it is now, we could all use something to feel better about...if even it's something small for just a few moments). #peacebypiece

Besides, I can fit a full-sized pie plate in my toaster oven. ;-)

So, I said this was the best pie I've ever made. It's true. The filling was the perfect consistency, thick and "gooey" (for lack of a better word). The cherry pies I've made in the past were always too liquidy inside. This time, however, I used quick tapioca instead of flour or cornstarch. It thickens the juice better and doesn't taste so pasty. If you haven't tried this ingredient before, I highly recommend it. I will do this from now on in all my berry pies.

Triple Cherry Pie

adapted from Art of the Pie

Old Fashioned Raspberry Pie with Hot Water Crust

I'm calling this an "old fashioned" pie because it features a hot water crust and tapioca in the filling...two things you don't see much of these days.

This recipe comes from The American Gothic Cookbook, copyright 1979.  The small, 62-page booklet was inspired by Grant Wood's iconic painting.

The introduction explains:

Born in Cedar Rapids through the eye, mind, and paintbrush of Grant Wood, the American Gothic couple uniquely reflect the cultural traditions of the Midwest.

Here are the recipes from the models who posed for the painting, from the artist who painted them, from people who knew them, and from their neighbors, including the famous.

While the Woods and the McKeebys, as their names imply, were of stock from the British Isles, their Iowa neighbors were the Germans of the Amana Colonies, the Czechoslovakians, the Scandinavians, and the Amish of the Kalona area. Part of the essence of the Midwest is the blend of culinary traditions now even including the Oriental. Here are the recipes of the American Gothic people.

I bought this book at a used cookbook sale. Considering my love of American Gothic, I had to have it.

I referred to this pie as "Raspberry Frankenpie" because I had some problems with the top crust. It wasn't crumbly, but it would break whenever I tried to roll it out or pick it up. So, I pieced it together on top of the pie, going for a patchwork look, and added some "stitches" for decoration.

I know what I did wrong. The recipe says it will make two crusts. It does not. So, when I mixed a second crust, I didn't use boiling water...I used the hot water that was left in the kettle without reboiling it. As a result, the shortening never got creamy when mixed with the water. Since the first crust worked perfectly, I'm sure this was the problem.

Still, it tasted just fine! I did miss the buttery flavor of my regular pie crust recipe, but this was an interesting recipe to try...and an easy way to make a crust for those who might be intimidated by making pie.

The filling, however, was spectacular. I liked using instant tapioca to thicken the filling as opposed to cornstarch or flour. It created tiny, translucent, fruit-flavored pearls. It wasn't slimy, gelatinous, or chunky (which is what I think of when I think of tapioca pudding). I may use it in all of my fruit pies now!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

ANOTHER pie? 

That's right.

This one was made by request (You're welcome, Joni) for an outing to see Shakespeare's Henry V in Forest Park with a couple of my school pals last Saturday.

While I've made a few strawberry desserts and rhubarb desserts over the years (see the list after the recipe), this was my first strawberry-rhubarb concoction. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

recipe slightly adapted from The Kitchn

Made with love & ready for the oven

Apple Custard Pie with Brandied Raisins & Almonds

I keep a journal in which I jot down favorite quotes and whatnot from books as I'm reading. Often, I find myself making lists of food described in the books as well.

One such description, from Neil Gaiman's novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, has stuck with me since early last fall:

Dinner was wonderful. There was a joint of beef, with roast potatoes, golden-crisp on the outside and soft and white inside, buttered greens I did not recognize, although I think now that they might have been nettles, roasted carrots all blackened and sweet […]. For dessert there was the pie, stuffed with apples and with swollen raisins and crushed nuts, all topped with a thick yellow custard, creamier and richer than anything I had ever tasted at school or at home.

That pie. I haven't been able to get that pie out of my head.

So, I made it.

Mole Carnitas with Strawberry Salsa

I created this dish for the 1, 2, 3 Cook & Snap Recipe Contest sponsored by The Foodie Blogroll. Each month, participants are asked to create a signature recipe using three ingredients. This month's ingredients were--in the spirit of Valentine's Day--chocolate, strawberry, and cinnamon.

~ Please VOTE for my entry! ~

Immediately, I knew I didn't want to make something sweet. Too obvious, right? But, how could I combine such desserty ingredients into a savory dish?

The answer: Mole and salsa.

A traditional mole sauce contains a long list of ingredients--including several kinds of chile peppers, garlic, seeds, nuts, tomatoes, spices, herbs, chocolate--and takes several days to make. According to Diana Kennedy, the authority on Mexican food:

The word mole comes from the Nahuatl word molli, meaning "concoction." The majority of people respond, when mole is mentioned, with "Oh yes, I know--that chocolate sauce. […]" Well, it isn't a chocolate sauce. One little piece of chocolate (and in Mexico we used to grind cacao beans for the mole) goes into a large casserole full of rich dark-brown and russet chiles. […] As in other Mexican sauces, the seasonings and spices are not used with such a heavy hand that they vie with each for recognition, but rather build up to a harmonious whole.

For my recipe, I include the chocolate in the form of unsweetened cocoa powder AND chocolate stout beer to braise a big hunk of pork (because, what's sexier than deliciously fatty pork? NOT MUCH). There's cinnamon in there, too, which is traditional for a mole sauce. A sweet and spicy strawberry salsa tops it off.

Mole Carnitas with Strawberry Salsa

carnitas adapted from Pinch of Yum

Caramel Apple Cake

I've been dragging my feet on this post for weeks, writing and rewriting...wondering how much is too much to say, how little is too little.

So, I'll just say this:

Life isn't going as I'd planned or hoped. I am heartbroken. Again.

Doesn't that seem to be a reoccurring theme for me?

But, I'm dealing with it as best I can. Trying my hardest to heal myself and to be a better, stronger person. Keeping some hope--what little there might be--alive. For now.

Because I have to. I have to belief in love and happiness.

Besides, cake always makes it a little better, right?

Blackberry-Peach Breakfast Crisp

I call this a "breakfast crisp" because it's healthier (no sugar added to the filling & only 1/4 cup in the topping!) and more suited for breakfast than as a decadent dessert...and because I made this for brunch at a friend's house last weekend.

While I've made many crisps before, I usually just throw together the topping with whatever I have on hand. This, however, is the best version I've made and is now my go-to recipe.

You can use whatever fruits you want in this. I used wild blackberries and local peaches because I'd just bought them at the farmers market.

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

My "back to school" letter from the superintendent arrived today, AND Schlafly just announced that their pumpkin ale should be hitting stores next week...so that makes it official: Summer is Over.

This has been the most rejuvenating break I've had in a while. I cut back on hours at my other job, so I've had time to do some things around the house...like redecorating the living room and cleaning out the basement.

In June, I made a list of 50 things to do this summer. So far, I've done 15 of them. But, I plan to do a few more in the next couple weeks...go to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, check out the new library downtown, finish painting the kitchen, have drinks on the roof of the Moonrise Hotel, try baking bread in the crockpot, and go thrift store shopping.

Blueberry Lime Pie

Last Friday, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum's outdoor concert & film series for an evening picnic on Art Hill. The museum hosts this event every Friday in July, with music starting at 7:00 and a film starting at 9:00. My friends and I brought quite a spread, as usual...eggplant caponata, cheese, salami, chicken salad, hummus, olive tapenade, veggies & guacamole, and lots of wine.

For dessert, I baked a blueberry pie. I found an awesome-sounding recipe with lime zest & juice added to the berries and decided to give it a try...my first blueberry pie! (I'm rhyming. It's not easy. Sure, I make it look easy.)

Instead of rolling out a top crust, I rolled the dough bigger than I needed and folded the edges over the filling. Easy!

Strawberry Pie with Basil & Mint

Ahhhh....summer break. I've been out of school for two weeks now. So far, it's been a pretty happy-inducing/heart-mending vacation (which I desperately needed). I got the initial tattoo on my finger redesigned into a lotus flower ("Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted"), saw Shakespeare's Twelfth Night performed in Forest Park (my favorite St. Louis summertime event), and bought a new VW Beetle (an early 40th birthday present to myself).

 

I've been spending my time enjoying leisurely breakfasts on the front porch, reading (finished two new novels about Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald), and cooking...working my way through the ever-growing stack of books on my nightstand and the never-ending list of recipes I want to try. This list includes most of the recipes on my new favorite food blog Yummy Books, where author/butcher/voracious reader Cara recreates dishes from various books. Food + literature = heaven!

I read through all of the posts on Yummy Books last week and decided to try the strawberry pie inspired by Steinbeck's East of Eden (one of my favorite authors). Cara's recipe is unique because she adds basil and mint to the strawberries. Brilliant. 

This isn't one of those strawberry pies in which the fruit is drowning in a thick, cloying syrup or gelatin. The fresh berries are simply mixed with sugar and herbs (I added some flour to thicken the juice as it baked instead of letting the berries macerate & then straining the juice out before filling the pie).

This is the first strawberry pie I've ever made AND the first time I've attempted a lattice top. The crust is way easier than I expected...and so pretty.

photo by Corey Woodruff

Strawberry Pie with Basil & Mint

adapted from Yummy Books

For the crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter (cut into tablespoons)
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup ice water

For the filling:
2 pounds ripe strawberries, hulled & quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
zest of a small orange
5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 fresh mint leaves, chopped

1 egg, separated

• Preheat oven to 350.
• To make the crust: Mix the flour & sugar in a large bowl. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut the butter & shortening into the flour until you have pea-sized pieces. Mix in the water, one tablespoon at a time, just until the dough holds together. Cut the dough into two equal pieces & form each into a disk. Wrap one in plastic wrap & chill. Roll the other disk out & fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Brush bottom crust with beaten egg white. Chill while you make the filling.
• To make the filling: Mix everything together. Pour into chilled pie plate, then return it to the refrigerator.
• To assemble the pie: Roll out the chilled disk of dough bigger than your pie plate. Cut into 12 strips. Place 6 strips, evenly spaced apart, on top of your pie. Fold every other strip in half over itself. Add another strip of dough across the top, folding the strips back into place. Repeat, alternating strips of dough, to form a lattice weave (see pictures below). Trim the strips & press the edges into the rim of the bottom crust. Brush top dough with beaten egg yolk.
• Bake for about 1 hour, until the crust is golden brown.

More fruity desserts:

Blackberry Sorbet

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Red Berries

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler 

Clementine Bars

Ginger Peach Galette

Lemon & Raspberry Cup Custards

No-bake Cherry Mascarpone Tart

Strawberry Fool

Rhubarb Pie

I started a post Monday night with these words:

I just...

I mean...

I don't even...

Boston.

I have no words. 

Then, instead of writing, I made pie. Chopping jewel-hued stalks of rhubarb and rolling out butter-dotted dough took my mind off the heavy things. It didn't cure our society's evils. But it helped to cure my mounting blues. A little. Once again.

And then...I got to hear author David Sedaris speak last night at a local university. As always, he was hilarious--witty and raw. I laugh so hard; it was such a release.

On the way home from the reading, I thought about laughter...about how good it felt to chuckle and guffaw. I need to do that more often. Laughter is just as healing--even more so--than my favorite comfort foods.

When I got home, I settled down with one of David's books (I own nearly all of them)...and a piece of pie. And in that moment, life was pretty good.

Rhubarb Pie

For the filling:

4-5 cups sliced rhubarb

1 cup sugar

4-5 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract

For the crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoons salt

1 cup cold butter, sliced

ice water

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• To make the filling: Mix all the ingredients & set aside.
• To make the crust: Mix the flour, sugar, & salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or rub it through your fingertips until you have pea-sized pieces. Add the water, 2 tablespoons at a time, "fluffing" the dough with your fingers after each addition, just until the dough comes together. Gather into a ball & cut in half. 
• Roll out half of the dough & place into the bottom of a pie plate. Add the filling. Roll out the other half of the dough & place on top of the pie, folding & crimping the edges. 
• Brush the pie evenly with the egg/water mixture. 
• Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 degrees and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crust is deep, golden brown.
• Remove from the oven & let cool before slicing.

More pies:
Coconut Key Lime Pie
Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
Cherry Streusel Pie
Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Crumb Crust
French Silk Pie
American Apple Pie

Clementine Bars

What do you do when you have a bowl full of sad-looking clementines going mushy on the counter? 

Make dessert. Duh.

Clementine Bars

recipe from Felt & Honey 

For the crust:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
pinch of kosher salt


For the filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons clementine juice
zest of 2 clementines
2 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
Powdered sugar, for dusting

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• To make the crust: cream the butter & sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the bottom & slightly up the sides of a 13x4-inch rectangular removable bottom tart pan (or an 8-inch square baking dish). Chill.
• Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack while you mix the filling.
• In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder, & flour. Whisk in the clementine juice, zest, & eggs and blend well. Pour the mixture over the baked crust & bake again until set, about 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes clean. Let cool on a wire rack.
• When cool, lightly dust with powdered sugar & cut into bars.

Cranberry & Apple Salad

I really miss family holidays. I fondly remember going to my grandma & grandpa's house in Mt. Olive, Illinois, the night before Thanksgiving. We get up really early in the morning to put the turkey in the oven, then Grandpa would make eggs-in-a-cup (coddled eggs in coffee cups) for breakfast. They'd let me drink coffee, before I was even ten years old.

Grandma Martin, circa 1940s in Florida (?)

Grandpa Martin, United States Marine

I'd watch my grandma make dressing with lots of torn-up white bread, celery, onions, sage, and turkey broth. I'd help pop cranberries in the old metal grinder for her infamous cranberry salad. These two dishes were my favorites, and I usually still make them each year.

This year is no exception. I've been invited to The Mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner (first time meeting her...eeeeek!). I'm bringing a Bailey's caramel chocolate pie and Grandma Martin's cranberry salad.

Cranberry & Apple Salad 

 Grandma's recipe looks just like this one from The Food Channel, even though they have different ingredients.

 It simply doesn't seem like Thanksgiving without this side dish. 

More like a relish than a salad, this is what my family always served instead of cranberry sauce.

1 bag fresh cranberries
2 red-skinned apples (like Jonathans), cored & cut into wedges
1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste)
1 cup pecans, chopped

• Pop the cranberries & mush the apples by running them through a meat grinder. Grandma always used the old fashioned metal kind that attached to the counter (in fact, I don't remember her using it for anything else!). If you don't have a meat grinder, pulse the cranberries in a food processor just to pop them. You want this to be fairly chunky.
• Mix in the sugar & pecans. Taste. Add more sugar until it's sweet enough for you.
• Serve as a side dish with Thanksgiving dinner.

This also makes a great relish for turkey sandwiches...and you can make some tasty cranberry muffins with the leftovers!

Honey Plum Clafoutis

I recently read Susan Loomis's memoir On Rue Tatin, her story of "living and cooking in a French town." It is a quaint tale, one filled with walks to the local pâtisserie & boulangerie, shopping at the farmers market, trips to Paris, and eating meals outside in the courtyard...all while renovating a historic country home. Her chapters are, like most food memoirs, punctuated with recipes inspired by the local fare & contributed by neighbors and friends.

Near the end of my reading, I was motivated to buy a little metal table and chairs for my front porch so that I could take my meals outside. I picked up some small, deep purple plums at my local farmers market (which I'm lucky enough to have just a few blocks from my house) and decided to make the clafoutis recipe Loomis included in her book. She writes:

I was standing in line to buy pears at the market in Louviers from a handsome young pear grower. The elderly woman next to me was being very choosy about the state of her pears and their variety, and I asked her what she was going to do with them. "I'm going to make a clafoutis," she said with a mischievous look. "Oh, no. Everyone who tastes it says it is the best they've ever eaten."

The addition of honey is what Loomis says makes this recipe unique. The technique is also different that the traditional clafoutis I've seen; instead of mixing the batter in a blender, it is folded with whisked egg whites. The result is a kind of double-layered dessert...custard & fruit on the bottom with cake on the top.

Honey Plum Clafouti

Pickled Watermelon Rind with Hibiscus

This recipe comes from a new canning book by Laena McCarthy (owner of Anarchy in a Jar) called Jam On: The Craft of Canning Fruit.

The book includes classic recipes along with some pretty interesting sounding ones..including spiced beer jelly, raspberry rye whiskey jam, pear jam with chipotle, garlic & tarragon jelly, green tomato chutney, pickled strawberries, sour cherry liqueur, and grapefruit & smoked salt marmalade (which I will be trying next).

The last chapter "Pairings" features recipes to make with the fruits you've jammed, jellied, pickled & canned. 

I chose to try the pickled watermelon rind with hibiscus & spices for a couple reasons: (1) I've never eaten pickled watermelon rind, and (2) I had half of a watermelon sitting in my fridge.

The recipe calls for hibiscus flowers, which I assume were meant to be the kind of dried flowers you find in hibiscus teas. I used wild hibiscus flowers in syrup, but the final product wasn't as pinkly-tinted as I imagine you'd get if you used hibiscus tea.

Still, these pickles were quite good...sweet, slightly tart, with a firm texture. I ate them as McCarthy suggests with buttery, oozing Brillat-Savarin cheese on a hot baguette.

She also recommends pairing these with barbecued baby back ribs, adding them to a prosciutto/melon/argula salad, and sandwiching them in a grilled cheese.

Pickled Watermelon Rind with Hibiscus

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Red Berries in Hibiscus Syrup

This afternoon, I met pastry chef Gale Gand at a cooking demonstration & book signing. She is shorter than I imagined. She talks a lot and is very funny & down-to-earth.

She told stories of cooking in her Chicago restaurant Tru, being on the Food Network, working with other famous chefs, feeding her family, teaching cooking classes at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, IL, writing cookbooks, making root beer, sharing family recipes like her mother-in-law's ricotta doughnuts & her grandmother's pear streusel coffee cake, and preparing dinners for celebrities & dignitaries like the president of China. She showed off her madeleine pan that once belonged to Julia Child and her two James Beard awards.

I ate at Tru about 10 years ago. It was the first really fancy meal I'd eaten. I ordered an 8-course tasting menu; it was the first time I'd tried foie gras, caviar, venison, French cheese, saffron. It was the best, and most expensive, dining experience I've ever had. And, it was worth every penny. Looking back, I think it was that one meal that turned me on to good food & wanting to learn more cooking.

At today's class, Gale shared her stories and cooking tips (like fold whipped cream into risotto to lighten it) while she demonstrated a simple brunch menu (to promote her brunch cookbook) that consisted of a sparkling mango & lime cocktail, eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, chocolate madeleines, and buttermilk panna cotta with red berries in hibiscus syrup. 

I loved the eggs (which I plan to make for breakfast tomorrow with some duck eggs that I bought at the farmers market this morning), but my favorite dish was the panna cotta...tart from the buttermilk and sweet from the berries. Cold. Creamy. Perfect.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Red Berries in Hibiscus Syrup

Recipe by Gale Gand

Strawberry Fool

I have an unnatural craving for strawberry desserts. I bookmark and save all kinds of strawberry recipes...cakes, pies, ice creams, cookies...with the plan to try them all during the summer. The thing is, every dessert I make with strawberries doesn't satisfy my craving.

I'm always looking for a light, slightly sweet dessert that captures the essence of ripe summer berries. Recently, I made roasted balsamic strawberry ice cream. Sounds great, right? However, I didn't follow the recipe closely enough and it didn't have that WOW! BERRIES! taste I was hoping for.

My go-to strawberrilicous dessert is strawberry shortcake, but sometimes that's a little too heavy...particularly on these hot-as-balls summer days. No way am I turning on my oven to make shortcakes these days.

I finally made a "fool" tonight, an old-fashioned English dessert (I think I've bookmarked, saved, or pinned every fool recipe I've ever come across), and it was the PERFECT strawberry dessert. Exactly what I've been craving...light, fluffy, just a tad sweet, full of ripe berry flavor. And super easy to make.

This is so good that I ate the entire batch myself. And I'm not at all ashamed.

Strawberry Fool

recipe slighted adapted from Mark Bittman

1 pint strawberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste (depending on how sweet your berries are)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Hull the strawberries, then wash them and chop into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with the granulated sugar & wait 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices. 
• Place half the strawberries & the juice in a blender & purée. Pour purée back into the bowl with chopped strawberries. 
• Whip the cream with the powdered sugar & vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily.
• Fold berries and cream together & serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two hours. 

No-Bake Cherry Mascarpone Tart

In case you haven't heard, it's damn hot in St. Louis. Lots of people are posting pics like this on Facebook & Twitter:

 

For past few days temperatures have reached over 100, with a high of 108 one day. It's REAL DAMN HOT, y'all. And there's no end in sight right now. While some people are tired of others complaining, you have to realize that this kind of heat is just NOT NORMAL for St. Louis in late June/early July. Apparently, though, it's hot everywhere these days:

pic from The Weather Channel

While it's sweltering outside, most of us don't want to spend any amount of time over a hot stove or turn on the oven. So, here is an easy no-bake dessert that is quite impressive-looking, perfect for July 4th parties this week.

I used some sour cherries leftover from the pie I made a couple weeks ago, but you could make this same recipe with any kind of fruit....strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, sliced peaches. You can also use a different cookie for the crust to go with the fruit you choose...a crunchy oatmeal cookie with berries or gingersnaps with peaches.

Cherry Mascarpone Tart

 recipe adapted from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries

 

Cherry Streusel Pie

It's almost cherry season. Well, I hope it's almost cherry season...I read recently that Michigan's cherry crops suffered through some strange spring weather this year & farmers may lose 90% of their fruit. This makes me very sad.

Awaiting the arrival of Montmorency tart cherries is something I look forward to every year. Sour cherry pie is probably my favorite dessert of all time. 

Luckily, I still had a few pounds of last year's cherries in the freezer. So, last week I tried a new pie recipe that I found on Bon Appetit's website. 

It's made with a traditional pie crust on the bottom (I used my favorite crust recipe), a sour cherry filling (no gooey canned stuff, please!), and a crispy, cinnamony struesel topping...perfect for those of use who can't seem to get that top pie crust to look pretty!

Cherry Streusel Pie

 recipe from Bon Appetit

For the streusel:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

For the filling:

1 cup (scant) sugar *
3 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 pounds sour cherries, pitted **

* I like a tarter (more tart?) pie, so I cut back to 1/2 cup of sugar.

** Look for fresh sour cherries at farmers' markets or use Bing cherries instead and add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice to the filling.  

1. Roll out pie crust disk on floured surface to 13 1/2-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Fold edges under. Crimp, forming high rim (about 1/2 inch above sides of dish). Chill at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.  
2. For the streusel: Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl. Add melted butter and vanilla; rub in with fingertips until small clumps form. Cover & let stand at room temperature. (Can be made 4 hours ahead.)
3. For the filling:  Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375°F. Place foil-lined baking sheet in bottom of oven to catch spills. Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Add cherries; toss to coat. Let stand until cherries begin to release juice, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer filling to chilled crust, mounding in center. Sprinkle streusel over, covering completely and pressing to adhere.
4. Bake pie 20 minutes. Tent loosely with foil. Bake until filling bubbles thickly and streusel is golden, about 1 hour 10 minutes longer. Cool on rack.

Roasted Grapes

I've made roasted grapes before. In fact, it's one of my favorite things to serve along side a cheese platter. I also use them in a wine-based sauce to go with grilled or oven-roasted meats.

My method is simple: wash some red seedless grapes, throw them naked onto a silicone mat-lined baking sheet, and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, just until they soften & start to split. That's it.

I recently came across a slightly fancier version on Pinterest and decided to try it. This recipe called for tossing the grapes with olive oil, fresh thyme sprigs, salt & pepper before roasting at a high temperature. While this results in a much more flavorful condiment, I thought the grapes got a little too juicy.

This would be GREAT as a base for sauce, though, and I'll use this method for sauce-making next time. However, if I were eating the grapes with cheese & crackers again, I'd go with my "naked" method.

Thyme-Roasted Grapes

recipe slightly adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

1 package of red seedless grapes, destemmed & washed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
several fresh thyme sprigs

• Preheat oven to 450ºF. 
• Spread grapes onto a sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat. 
• Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Lay thyme leaves over top. Toss all together gently with your hands. 
• Place pan in the oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until grapes just begin to burst.