I look forward to tart cherry season every summer. Because tart cherries are so expensive around here, I generally don't make cherry pies since they require so much fruit and I try to stretch my supply. But I decided to try Jessie Sheehan's recipe for "Cherry-Almond Slab Pie with Marzipan Crumble" from The Vintage Baker because I love almond paste and there is a generous amount of it in the pie's crumble topping.
This recipe is written to be baked in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and it calls for 1.3 kg of cherries. I didn't have enough cherries, so I decided to make a half recipe and bake it in a 9-inch round pan with a removable bottom. You make the crust in the food processor by blending flour, almond flour, sugar, salt, chilled butter, almond extract, and an egg yolk. I pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan and put it in the freezer. Then I made the marzipan crumble in the same food processor by blending flour, almond paste, sugar, and chilled butter.
Once the crust and crumble are prepared, it's easy to assemble the pie. The filling is a mixture of cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and almond extract. You just pour the cherry filling into the frozen, raw crust, sprinkle the almond crumble on top, and garnish the pie with some sliced almonds (which I forgot to add). You bake the pie until the filling is bubbling and I tented it with foil halfway through to keep it from browning too much.
I also skipped the almond glaze that you're supposed to drizzle on after the pie is cool -- a mixture of powdered sugar, heavy cream, and almond extract. I was able to release the whole pie easily from the pan and cut it into tidy slices. The filling was a bit cloudy and I noticed that there were some clumps of cornstarch in it as well. The recipe instructions tell you to just mix all of the filling ingredients together, which is what I did. In retrospect, I should have carefully mixed the cornstarch with the sugar and salt to ensure that the cornstarch was evenly dispersed before combining it with the fruit, to avoid clumps. While the clumps were unsightly, they didn't affect the flavor, was which fantastic.
The crust was firm and cooked through and the topping was amazing, with the generous amount of almond paste making it rich and almond-y. The filling was perfectly set and the cherries were juicy and bursting with flavor. I loved the almond flavor in this pie, was such a good combination with cherries. This dessert read more like a tart than a pie to me, because the crust was cookie-like and not flaky. But I'm not complaining. I love traditional cherry pie, but this version is just as good, and a lot easier to make.
Recipe: "Cherry-Almond Slab Pie with Marzipan Crumble" from The Vintage Baker by Jessie Sheehan.
Previous Post: "A Slab is Fab: Sour Cherry Slab Pie," August 5, 2017.
This recipe is written to be baked in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and it calls for 1.3 kg of cherries. I didn't have enough cherries, so I decided to make a half recipe and bake it in a 9-inch round pan with a removable bottom. You make the crust in the food processor by blending flour, almond flour, sugar, salt, chilled butter, almond extract, and an egg yolk. I pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan and put it in the freezer. Then I made the marzipan crumble in the same food processor by blending flour, almond paste, sugar, and chilled butter.
Once the crust and crumble are prepared, it's easy to assemble the pie. The filling is a mixture of cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and almond extract. You just pour the cherry filling into the frozen, raw crust, sprinkle the almond crumble on top, and garnish the pie with some sliced almonds (which I forgot to add). You bake the pie until the filling is bubbling and I tented it with foil halfway through to keep it from browning too much.
The crust was firm and cooked through and the topping was amazing, with the generous amount of almond paste making it rich and almond-y. The filling was perfectly set and the cherries were juicy and bursting with flavor. I loved the almond flavor in this pie, was such a good combination with cherries. This dessert read more like a tart than a pie to me, because the crust was cookie-like and not flaky. But I'm not complaining. I love traditional cherry pie, but this version is just as good, and a lot easier to make.
Recipe: "Cherry-Almond Slab Pie with Marzipan Crumble" from The Vintage Baker by Jessie Sheehan.
Previous Post: "A Slab is Fab: Sour Cherry Slab Pie," August 5, 2017.
Comments
Thanks!