Sweetheart Cherry Pies

Saturday, February 8th was the reception and poetry reading for Poetry on the Wall. It was gratifying to discover that two of my three poems were finalists.

  

I did not place in the winning categories but so enjoyed being part of the event and listening to 21 poets give 'voice ' to their poems. Shelia O'Connor was the featured speaker. She has authored four books. Sparrow Road, one of her YA novels, will  be reviewed in the next blog posting. It was such an enjoyable and inspiring day.

Sweetheart Cherry Pies

Cook's notes: Just in time for Valentine's Day and Washington's birthday comes this noteworthy recipe from 

 http://tastykitchen.com/ with lots of possibilities. 

Ingredients

• pie dough
• fresh cherries, chopped
• ricotta cheese
• sprinkle of sugar
• 1 TBSP butter, melted

Directions:

• 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

Cook's Notes: Imagine these two ingredients 

can make these raspberry pies. 

Raspberry Pies

This recipe is my take on Sweetheart Cherry Pies. I did not have a heart cookie cutter so I had to modify the heart idea using the rim of a glass as a cutter. I used prepared canned Raspberry cake and pastry filling but cherry pie filling or another flavor could be substituted. 

One box ( 2 pie crusts) by Pillsbury makes 8 pies.

Ingredients:

• 1 can Solo Raspberry cake and pastry filling
• 1 box pie crusts

Directions:

• Cut out sixteen circles and place on a parchment covered rimmed baking sheet
• In the middle of each of the 8 circles put 1- 1/2 TB. of filling

• Add a top to each circle and with a fork dipped in flour crimp all the edges
• Bush lightly with melted butter and bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned
• Cool on a wire rack and dust with powdered sugar