Fancy summer time? Then try the sour cherry pie, a delicious fresh and strong flavoured pie to offer and taste whenever you want. Ingredients are genuine because it is you who choose them: eggs for shortbread pastry and custard, and sour cherries.
Sour cherries are a particular fruit, you love them or you hate them, but when in syrup many people may like them, and it is an handy way to preserve genuine ingredients that will be ready to use when "you feel like...".
Sour cherries strong flavour create a very pleasant contrast with the sweetness of shortbread pastry and custard and what about the three different consistencies of this tart that make it a real delicacy?! :-P
Why is it a pie and it isn't a cake or a tart? Because there is a covering made of shortbread pastry that hides the surprise we want to show to whom will share this moment of delight with us...
Can you remember in old cartoons where a cake is always on the windowsill to get cold waiting for a cat that wants to steal it? I've always asked myself how to prepare it.
Well, here is the recipe Otella Capozza sent me. Her mother liked it so much and that's why she called it "Cake to my mum".
If you want to prepare other shortbread pastry cakes I suggest the Sweet Ricotta Cheese and Custard Tart with Chocolate and the Neapolitan Pastiera.
During summer, if you have lots of cherries at your disposal, you can also try making the Cherry Jam.
Ingredients
For the shortbread pastry
- 300 g Pastry Flour
- 130 g Sugar
- 150 g Softened Butter
- 1 Egg
- 1 Baking Powder Vanilla Flavoured Sachet (about 15 g)
For the Custard
- 1 Lemon Peel
- 500 g Milk
- 100 g Sugar
- 50 g Plain Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Vanillin Sachet (0.5 g) (or 1 Tsp of Vanilla Sugar)
- Sour Cherries in Syrup
To Garnish
- Icing Sugar
- Milk
- Pine Nuts
How to prepare the Sour Cherry Pie with Thermomix
Put the shortbread pastry ingredients into the bowl. 20 Sec. Speed 5.
If necessary, use the spatula to clean the bowl edges and mix again. 10 Sec. Speed 5.
Shape the dough in a ball, wrap with plastic and keep refrigerated. about 30 Min.
In the meantime prepare the custard.
Grind the lemon peel. 10 Sec. Speed 8.
Gather grated lemon with the spatula and add the other ingredients. 7 Min. 90°C Speed 4.
Let it get cold.
Turn on the oven. 200°C/400°F
Use 2/3 of the shortbread to form the base of the pie. Roll it out on greaseproof paper.
Put it in a mould and pour in the custard.
Place sour cherries on the custard.
Then roll out the remaining 1/3 shortbread pastry to create the covering of the cake.
Moisten the edge of the bottom layer of pastry and place the second piece on top. Press down on the pastry edges, making sure that they are properly sealed.
Spread with milk and pine nuts.
Bake decreasing temperature. Cook 30 Min. 180°C/365°F.
Remove from the oven and let it get cold.
Then dust with icing sugar.
Otella's advice
To let the custard get cold remove it from the thermomix bowl and put it into another bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap (plastic wrap must be in contact with custard). This way there won't be that annoying harder layer on the custard.
My advice
If you want to prepare this pie for someone who loves stronger flavours you can replace sour cherries in syrup with fresh ones (stoned of course!). For the opposite purpose I suggest replacing sour cherries with ripe cherries.
Translated from the Italian recipe
Torta con Amarene col Bimby
Photocredit: motumboe