Cherry Tartlets

cherry tartlet

March is a busy month for birthdays! My Grandpa Gondring turned a whopping 98 years old, though just by looking at the man and carrying on a conversation with him, you'd never guess he had that many years under his belt. Because I couldn't get there on his actual birthday (I'm went wedding dress shopping with a friend and then played my first soccer game since giving birth...eek!), I decided to make him a birthday dessert and bring it over to the house early. The man isn't a cake fan (which is fine by me because that Inside Out German Chocolate Cake for my mom plum wore me out!), so I decided to try a variation of cherry pie. Instead of making my grandma's pie crust, I made a cream cheese pastry crust (using cream cheese makes pastry practically fool-proof). I also cooked the cherries on the stove top so that I could more accurately measure how much filling was needed for each tartlet. And finally, because cherries and almonds go so well together, I whipped up an easy pastry cream using almond paste to really bring it all together. I personally found it quite delicious, and Grandma's report of Grandpa's clean plate tells me he agreed!

Cherry Tartlets
Kelley Gondring

Makes 9 pastries [using 4" pastry tins]

Pastry
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons Lilly White flour
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
4.5 ounces cream cheese, chilled and cut into small pieces
pinch salt
6 tablespoons heavy cream

Combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse together for 30 seconds or until crumbly mixture forms. Drizzle heavy cream over top and pulse together for 30 seconds or until dough just comes together. Do not over pulse (aka: stop pulsing before one big ball of dough forms). Remove from food processor and use hands to form cohesive ball of dough. Cut into 9 pieces and roll into balls. Place in plastic wrap and let chill at least one hour or up to two days.

Cherry Filling
4 1/2 cups pitted sour cherries
heaping 3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until filling thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to medium bowl to cool.

Pastry Cream
6 ounces almond paste, slightly warmed in microwave
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanille extract
1 large egg
pinch of salt
Cream together all ingredients into a small bowl. Aim for a smooth of a consistency, though if the almond paste hasn't gotten warm enough there may still be some lumps. That's okay. Set aside.

Assembly
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Remove pastry dough from refrigerator. One at a time, roll out into a circle (doesn't need to be perfect), about 8" in diameter. Brush off excess flour. Place rolled dough into 4" pastry tin. Fold down dough that hangs over edges back towards the center of the pastry and lightly press together. Repeat 8 more times. Brush lightly with egg wash. Bake for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and use fork to gently poke holes where dough has poofed up.

Pour into the bottom of each tart shell 1 tablespoon of pastry cream and 1 scant cup cherry filling. Repeat 8 times more.

Bake for 30 minutes or until tart shell is golden brown and cherry filling is bubbling.

golden brown + bubbling

the finished product

Let cool for 10 minutes before removing tart tin and serving. (They can be refrigerated and eaten later but they're best right out of the oven.) Garnish as desired. Pair with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if available. If not, they're delicious all by themselves.

Eat up!

still cheeky at ninety-eight

Grapefruit + Goat Cheese Salad with Tart Cherry Balsamic Dressing

A new baby often come with an influx of casseroles and other comfort foods. Delicious dishes that can be consumed immediately or put in the freezer for a later time. Babies don't often come with salads. And rightfully so, as they aren't easy to prepare ahead of time and must be eaten immediately. So last night I put together a salad with ingredients found in my pantry, freezer, and fruit bowl to eat before we devoured the chicken pot pie our friend, Meghan, kindly brought for us when Audrey was born. It isn't exactly a seasonally compatible salad, as there are both cherries and grapefruit, but it was a tangy delight nonetheless.

Grapefruit + Goat Cheese Salad with Tart Cherry Balsamic Dressing
Kelley Gondring

Serves 4

You'll need:
4 cups spring greens, washed + dried
1 grapefruit, peeled, sectioned, with fibrous membranes removed
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 heaping cup sour cherries*
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt + pepper to taste

Tart Cherry Balsamic Dressing
Add to a small saucepan:
1 heaping cup sour cherries*
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Bring to a simmer and let cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Transfer to a cup or bowl and place in refrigerator to let cool completely.

*Feel free to substitute Bing Cherries since Sour Cherries are tough to find. I would eliminate or at least reduce the sugar and add a bit of lemon juice (or grapefruit juice, for that matter), anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon.

Assembly
On each plate, place 1 cup greens, 1 ounce goat cheese, and 1/4 of the each the grapefruit, almonds, and cherries. Sprinkle with salt + pepper. Drizzle with a spoonful or two of dressing.

Eat up!

Decadent Double Chocolate Chip + Espresso Cookies

Decadent Double Chocolate Chip + Espresso Cookies
Kelley Gondring

Preheat oven 350º

In a small bowl, melt:
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

To an electric mixing bowl, add:
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground coffee [I used decaf hazelnut]
1 tablespoon sour cherry juice*
Cream together on high about 2 minutes. Mix in melted chocolate.

Add:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix until evenly combined.

Add:
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup packed sour cherries, pitted, drained and coarsely chopped*

*I used sour cherries because I had them on-hand in my freezer. If sour cherries aren't available, substitute dried cherries and leave out the cherry juice all together.

Let the dough sit for at least five minutes, which will allow it to firm up (aka: the melted chocolate will continue to cool and harden).

Place spoonfuls of the dough on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Don't place cookies too close together, as they cookies will spread when warmed. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the centers of the cookies are set. Let cool for several minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack(s).

Eat up!

Classic Cherry Pie

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. I haven't been feeling particularly well for the last couple weeks (apparently the drawback of an amazingly mild winter is that there are still a plethora of allergens hanging out ready to attack!), so while I've still been cooking and photographing, I haven't had the energy to make it to the last step of posting. I hope to be able to post several recipes and photos from my MIA weeks soon. In the meantime, here is a classic recipe for one of my favorites: Cherry Pie

We are right in the middle of cherry season, and Jason and I have happily taken advantage of the fact that we are just a one hour drive from Levering Orchard. Levering is one of the only orchards that grows sour cherries, which are generally unavailable at the grocery store. While not so great for eating right off the tree, sour cherries are are ideal for pies and some sauces.

After an impromptu brunch at Jess + Kenneth's on Sunday morning and much coercing on my part, Jason and I hopped in my car and headed up for our first cherry picking adventure together. Fifteen minutes until we arrive at the orchard, and we're driving through the sweet little town of Mount Airy (aka - the fictional Mayberry for Andy Griffith fans) where the speed limit is a painful 25 mph. Suddenly, I hear a notification from my phone informing me I have a new text. Jason reaches over for my phone, unlocks it, and reads the message with a groan. The sender is Mom. The message? That she's just left Levering Orchard with oodles (that's right -- I said oodles) of cherries. $70.00 worth of cherries, in fact. The large quantity reflecting that she'd gotten some for us. What a good momma!

If we'd been closer to home, we probably would have just turned around. Instead, we tried calling and texting Mom back - twice on my phone and once on Jason's. Nothing. I guess the drawback of pristine countryside is the inconsistent nature of cell phone reception. Faced with this dilemma, my heart set on cherry picking, Jason and I decided we'd pick enough sour cherries for one pie and enough sweet cherries for eating all week. So we carefully headed up the mountain's dirt road, picked up our buckets, and started picking. Being the oh-so-prepared girl that I am, I wore these really cute flats with no traction and a sleeveless navy sundress for our cherry picking adventure. Let's just say that's not the ideal outfit for trudging up a steep hill and climbing up cherry picking ladders. At Jason's insistence, I begrudgingly picked from the safety of the ground while he navigated his way up the ladder where the majority of the fruit is found. In far less time than it had taken us to drive to Levering, the picking was complete.

When we got home, Jason headed to his Ultimate Frisbee game and I began the arduous process of washing and pitting cherries without a cherry pitter!. Luckily, I find that with the right music, even the most mundane tasks pass quickly. Pretty soon the pie was in the oven, and I had to resist pacing back and forth, back and forth, as I waited in anticipation for dessert of warm cherry pie with creamy vanilla ice cream.

Classic Cherry Pie
adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Tips:
1. If you're pitting cherries without a pitter, don't despair. Hold the cherry so that your forefinger and thumb push the pit out of the top of the cherry where the stem attaches. So long as the cherries are ripe and you're only making one pie, it isn't too terrible (My mom pitted all of the sour cherries she got for us so that "with every bite you think: 'Wow, my mom really loves me!' ")
2. If your cherries are extra juicy, only use a cup or so of the juice. Otherwise, it will just pour out of the pie and burn on your cookie sheet or the bottom of your oven.
3. Cutting steam vents in the top of the pie crust is essential.
4. Let the pie cool completely before cutting. Cutting it too soon won't allow the juices to jell. If you just can't take it, wait at least an hour before serving.

Preheat oven 425º

Crust
Prepare two Grandma's Pie Crust Recipes, adding 2 teaspoons confectioner's sugar to the flour mixture.

Cherry Filling
In a medium bowl, combine:
5 cups pitted sour cherries
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Let sit for 15 minutes. Pour in the bottom pie crust.

Top with:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Cover with the second pie crust. Cut off excess dough and crimp edges together. Cut several steam vents. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350º and bake an additional 30 minutes more.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Eat up!

Look at all those delicious sour cherries!

Because I didn't want to waste cherry juice, I didn't reserve for a later use some of the excess. Don't repeat my oops!