Cherry Pie with Chocolate Lining and Almond Streusel

[JayBassin]

Cherry Pie with Chocolate Lining and Almond Streusel

Serves 8 as Dessert.

Cherries and chocolate are a classic combination and a surprise in this dessert. With a nut crumb crust and streusel topping, this whole pie uses only 1 stick of butter, in contrast to a standard double-crust pie made with pate brise that uses more that double that. Cooking the filling separately allows you to ensure that the filling is not too gooey or too sweet, and you don’t have to bake the pie to cook the cherries (which would ruin the chocolate lining).

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Mise en Place

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For the Nut Crust

• 1-1/2 c almonds
  
• 3 T sugar
  
• 3 T butter (softened)
  
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  
• 4 oz good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  

For the Cherry Filling

• 2-3/4 lb bing cherries, washed and pitted
  
• 1/4 c kirschwasser (cherry brandy) or cherry marnier
  
• 1 T lemon juice (fresh–not the stuff in a jar)
  
• 6 T sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 2 T cornstarch blended into 2 Tbs water
  
• 2 T butter
  
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  

For the Streusel Topping

• 1 c all purpose flour
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 c light brown sugar
  
• 1/4 c granulated sugar
  
• 2 T demarra or turbinado sugar (or more brown sugar)
  
• 2/3 c slivered almonds
  
• 1/4 c butter, diced
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
  

For the Nut Crust

Grind the almonds, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor into fine crumbs. Use one-second pulses to avoid making almond butter. When uniformly ground, process in the butter until evenly distributed. When pinched, the dough should clump together. [Note--make the streusel topping now to avoid washing the processor twice.]

Dump dough into a 9” pie pan and spread evenly, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Wrap a glass custard cup (or something else with smooth flat bottom) with plastic wrap and press firmly to even out the crust along bottom and sides. Avoid a thick corner between bottom and side of pan. Chill at least 30 minutes.

Bake in preheated 400° oven about 12 minutes until lightly browned. If the rim gets darker before the bottom gets brown, cover the rim with aluminum foil. Cool on a rack.

For the Chocolate Lining

Do this after the crust comes out of the oven, and has time to cool.

In a glass bowl, add about half the chocolate. Microwave on high about 30-40 seconds until the chocolate melts when stirred. If it won't melt completely, microwave another 20 seconds. Stir chocolate until smooth. Add remaining chocolate and blend in (this helps retain the temper, but it's probably not necessary).

[Note: Instead of the ganache, you can substitute about 1/2 C Nutella.]

Easy method for one person to neatly line a pie crust with chocolate: (1) Wrap an 11" bottom from a removable-bottom tart pan with plastic wrap. Gather the edges on the back. Place on counter with wrapped side up. With a small offset spatula, spread the melted chocolate evenly from edge to edge. Doesn't have to be perfect, but avoid gaps. (2) Flip the coated disk UPSIDE DOWN onto the baked pie shell. The disk should be centered and pretty much match the diameter of the shell. (3) Working quickly, loosen the edges of plastic from the underside (now the top) of the disk, remove the disk, and let the chocolate-coated plastic flop into the shell. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE PLASTIC while warm. (4) Smooth out any bubbles. (5) Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes until the chocolate is hard. Only now will the plastic wrap peel off neatly, leaving a shiny, molded chocolate lining. [Note: If you don't have a removable tart-shell bottom of the right size, line the outside bottom of another pie pan of the same size with plastic, and go from there.]

For the Cherry Filling

Rinse and pit the cherries. In a large stainless steel skillet, macerate the cherries, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and kirschwasser (or cherry marnier). If not using kirschwasser or other booze, omit. Let sit 30 minutes until cherries exude juice, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring. Turn to simmer and cover, cooking about 15 minutes until cherries are soft but not mushy (stir occasionally). Uncover, add the cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil, stirring continuously until thickened and the juice is clear. Take off heat and add the extracts, lemon juice, and butter, stirring until the butter is melted. Set aside in a bowl until cool.

For the Streusel Topping

In a food processor, blend the flour, salt, sugars, and cinnamon until well mixed. Add the butter and blend until incorporated. Add the extracts and blend. Add the almonds and pulse until coarsely chopped. Don’t over process the nuts. The dough should hold together when pinched. Chill at least 30 minutes. Squeeze the dough into uneven lumps from pea size to smaller. You want uneven, granular mixture.

Final Assembly and Baking

At this point, you should have the cooked and cooled cherry filling, baked and chocolate-lined bottom crust, chilled or at least cool, and the cold streusel topping in a bowl (unbaked).

Pour cooled cherry filling into the lined crust (if you haven't already done so, peel off the plastic from the chocolate before adding the filling). Top with squeezed lumps of streusel, covering evenly. Lumps should be of different sizes, from sand-sized to pea-sized. Don’t leave any gaps. Pat very lightly--do not press the topping into place. There may be some streusel left over.

Bake in preheated 400° oven for 22-25 minutes until evenly browned on top. Cool on rack.

May be made in advance and refrigerated. Serve at room temperature.

Keywords: Dessert, Intermediate, Fruit, Chocolate, Pie, Food Processor

( RG1354 )