Cherry Pie

Pitting cherries is hard work, especially when every second cherry ends up in your mouth instead of the bowl which takes twice the time but is also twice as much fun! Combine the Cherries with the honey, lemon zest and the vanilla pulp and beans in a pot and bring to a boil. Squeeze the lemon and mix the juice with the cornstarch, then stir it into the cooking cherries. Cook until it thickens, then remove the vanilla beans and let it cool down.
Now go on with the shortcrust pastry. A good pastry is tender and crumbly. If you knead it too much, the pastry gets sticky and hard. As you can see a shortcrust pastry is handled very little and mostly cold instead of yeast dough or batter. Cut the Alsan into small pieces und add it to the flour in a bowl. Mix the egg with the honey and also add it to the bowl. Quickly work the pastry and then refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Divide the shortcrust pastry; the bigger part forms the bottom crust and the smaller part the top crust. Thinly roll out (½ cm) in between of plastic wrap to a disc of 28 cm diameter. The most convenient way is to wrap the pastry around the rolling pin and to unroll it over the pie plate. Gently fit into the bottom and sides of the plate (do not stretch the pastry) and don’t cut off the overlapping parts. Prick the pastry with a fork and fill with the cherries. Then roll out the smaller disc to 25 cm diameter. Mix the egg with the milk and brush the edges with it in order to connect top and bottom. Cover with top pastry, seal and flute. Cut off the overlapping pastry and use it to decorate the pie. Finally coat the top with the egg mixture cut slits in it to let the steam escape and to avoid bursting. Bake it in the lower part of the oven for 35 minutes. If you like the pie warm, be prepared that the filling is still fluid and you cannot cut out pieces. For smaller servings, you can also bake little pies. If you prefer cutting the pie, let it cool down for some hours and maybe refrigerate it.

For Pie Pan Ø 24 cm

FOR THE FILLING

1 kg cherries

1/2 kg sour cherries

1 tbsp organic honey

2 vanilla beans

1 organic lemon

3 tbsp starch

FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY

250 g wholemeal flour

150 g cold vegetable margarine

2 organic eggs (size M)

1 tbsp organic honey

1 pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp almond milk