Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that have become a bit too commercialized I think. I like to keep this holiday simple… help my son make and mail valentines & bake something special.
When I checked out the Kitchen Play February menu, I knew exactly which recipe I would tackle. This month’s sponser is Cherry Marketing Institute, and Julie from The Little Kitchen had a wonderful idea with her cherry mini pockets. I wanted to take her idea and change it up a bit to make a sweet heart shaped pocket for the sweethearts in my life.
Use your favorite pie dough. This is the perfect time to defrost the extra you have in your freezer from the holidays! Or, buy some pre-made. I tried out the Trader Joes pie dough and found it to be light, flaky, nicely packaged between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.
**Update** I was asked where I got my heart shaped cookie cutter… its actually an egg mold. I have used it for so many things, its a nice size. You can buy it from amazon…
Pit and chop about a handful of fresh sweet cherries. I bought a package of 16oz, used less than half of that to fill 4 heart pies (1 sheet of pie dough). Sprinkle and toss the cherries with about 1 TBSP of sugar.
Fill with Ricotta Cheese, and the chopped cherries.
Serve for breakfast, dessert, or anytime in between. This would be cute for a little girl’s tea party, or for a special brunch as well!
Recipe: Sweetheart Cherry Pies
Summary: Mini Pastries for Valentines Day
Ingredients
- pie dough
- fresh cherries, chopped
- ricotta cheese
- sprinkle of sugar
- 1 TBSP butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll out your pie dough (I like to do this between 2 sheets of plastic wrap). Cut out shapes with cookie cutter.
- Sprinkle and stir the sugar with the chopped cherries in a bowl.
- Lay out your heart cut outs on the baking sheet. Spoon on some fresh ricotta cheese, then spoon on the cherries. Lay down the top dough, seal to press with a fork.
- Brush the top with melted butter.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until mini hearts are golden brown. The baking time will largely depend on the thickness of your pastry dough and your oven. Just keep close watch.
- Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Post by: Sarah
Reflecting on 1 year of CakeStudent, I noticed how much my photography has changed. I thought it would be cool to put my skills to the test and redo one of my old posts. After reading fishy puff pastry feast, I knew it had to be this one.
Sooooo… which one is the winner?
Todays:
or Last years:
C’mon, Read some more…
Post by: Sarah
As a way of welcoming in the fall and saying farewell to summer, our family goes apple picking. It’s so refreshing to be outdoors in an apple orchard, with beautiful views of the California hills, endless rows of colorful apples ripe for the picking. Wheeling the wagon around and filling up our bucket, eating apples straight from the tree. Its a complete recharge for mind, body, and spirit. So you can imagine how easy it is to over pick. We brought home 35 lbs of apples!
What to do with all these apples? Apple pie, apple cake, apple sauce, apple chips, apple juice, threw some in salad. Gave a bunch to friends and the little guy gave some to his teachers. This weekend will be… muffins? If you have any suggestions… please leave a comment!
C’mon, Read some more…
Post by: Sarah
Peach Pie fit for a president… seriously… I’m not kidding… why? I’ll tell you why. This pie dough recipe is from Roland Mesnier’s book Dessert University. Roland Mesnier was the former White House executive pastry chef for almost 25 years. He made cookies and pies and everything sweet for Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Laura Bush’s tea parties, their family dinners, and state dinners.
My mother met him in person at a cake convention and gave me his autographed cookbook a few years back for Christmas. I will admit, that although his book has some pretty fancy schmancy things in there, the instructions are fairly easy to understand. I have only tackled the simpler recipes like pie dough, fruit salad, and cookies. One day when I’m braver, I might try pulled and spun sugar techniques.
Roland Mesnier’s “All-American Pie Dough” recipe has never let me down, and it is what I use in this peach pie. It has a very nice flaky texture and it is very easy to make. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months, simply defrost in the fridge overnight.
Peaches are in season now, so this pie is perfect for your next summer potluck picnic. I used my leftover blueberries as well, it gave the pie a nice tartiness to balance the sweet peaches, as well as a beautiful color combination. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Bowl of Peaches
Peaches and Blueberries
Fresh Baked Peach Pie
Peach Blueberry Pie
adapted from Tyler Florence
- Double crust pie dough (see below for recipe)
- 10 peaches
- Roughly 1/3 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 1/2 TBSP flour
- 2 TBSP butter
- 1 egg beaten with a splash of water for egg wash
- Preheat oven to 400
- Slice peaches (you can peel them if you like but I didn’t. My husband would have preferred the skin off though.)
- Toss fruit with the sugar, lemon and flour.
- Roll out on of the divided pastry dough. The technique I like to use: sprinkle dough with flour on both sides. Sandwich the dough inside 2 sheets of plastic wrap, then using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a circle. Lift off the top plastic wrap, then gently flip onto the 9″ pie pan. Pull off the remaining plastic wrap.
- Spoon the fruit mixture into the pan. Dot with the butter.
- Roll out the remaining pie dough and place on top of pie. You can keep it solid, or do strips, whichever you prefer. Make sure there are slits on the top.
- Brush top with egg wash.
- Bake for about 50-60 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream!
Tip: I usually put foil around the crust about mid way through to prevent the crust from burning.
All -American Pie Dough
from Roland Mesnier’s Dessert University
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups solid vegetable shortening
- pinch of salt
- Combine all ingredients in bowl of electric mixer, mix on low with paddle attachment until dough is smooth.
- Divide dough into two equal pieces, wrap them in plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Makes enough for 1 double crust 9″ pie.
Post by: Sarah
