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Traditional Recipes for July:
1.  English Apple Cake
2.  Prosciutto wrapped cod with honey glaze (Part II - Cherry Day Special)
3.  Ripe Tart (cherry festival)
4.  Apple and Cherry Pies
5.  Gooseberry and Elderflower Ice
6.  Cherry and Juniper Jus

Apple & Cherry Pies

What a great opportunity to celebrate two of our local crops.  Cherries and Bramley apples.  For my Bramley bicentenary recipe this month I have found this recipe that includes cherries .

If July finds you very busy, or wanting to spend time in the garden rather than the kitchen, this is the ideal recipe for you.  Buy or pick your local cherries now, pit and freeze them and they will be perfect for use in this recipe any time of year.

Ingredients: Serves 8

375g plain flour

2 Bramley apples

90g icing sugar

1½ tablespoons cornflour

250g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

4 tablespoons caster sugar

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon mixed spice

90ml iced water

1 egg white, lightly beaten

450g cherries, pitted

 

Method:

  1. To make the pastry: put the flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor give it a quick whiz.  Of course you can always make your pastry by hand.
  2. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
  3. Add the iced water and process until the dough comes together in a ball.
  4. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
  6. Lightly grease 8 x125ml muffin tins.
  7. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it is 3mm thick and then use it to line the muffin tins. Cut out 8 pastry circles to fit the tops.
  8. To make the filling: Peel, core and roughly chop the apples.
  9. Add to the apples the cherries, cornflour, sugar and mixed spice and mix well.
  10. Spoon into the dough cases. Top with the dough circles and crimp the edges together with a fork.
  11. Brush the pastry with egg white.
  12. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden.
  13. Ease out of the muffin tin gently.

Serve hot or cold with double cream or ice cream.

Personally my favourite cherry recipe involves cherries, a good bottle of champagne, good company and a sunny day.  I have the cherries and the good company, the champagne is on ice but the sunny day is out of my hands.  See you at Cherry Day in the traditional orchard in Lynsted, long may they continue!