16 Pounds of Cherries

It didn't sound like that much when I placed the order them from my co-op.  16 pounds of cherries, that is.  I actually had big plans for them.  Was going to make and can (yes, can) some cherry pie filling.  Doesn't that sound like a great plan for 16 pounds of cherries?  Well here's the rub...the only place you can buy clear jel (which is a modified cornstarch that is used in canning pie filling) is online.  It would have taken at least a week for that to arrive and my overabundance of cherries don't have that kind of time.  So I froze some, made a family size cherry pie and 12 cupcake size cherry pies for the freezer.  Here's how I made the pie filling:



8 cups pitted and stemmed bing cherries
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional- I might leave this out next time)

I combined the cherries, sugar and cornstarch in a large pot and stirred well to coat the cherries with the sugar and cornstarch.  Turned the heat to about medium and let it all cook for a minute (stirring constantly) while the sugar and cornstarch dissolved.  Once the pie filling started bubbling I stirred in the lemon juice and cinnamon and reduced the heat so it was just simmering.  I continued to stir the pie filling until it thickened to the right consistency and then I removed it from heat.  (This happened really quickly, so watch it close!). 

For the crust I used this recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.  It was easy to work with (after being refrigerated) although I did roll it out on a well-floured surface and kept my rolling pin doused with flour and that helped.  The texture was pretty darn near perfect...light and flaky.  I would probably make this again but will use butter flavored Crisco next time.  This time I just used some off brand shortening that someone had given me.  It left a bit of a weird aftertaste, but it wasn't off-putting enough to keep us from finishing it :)  I haven't cooked the frozen mini pies yet, but will try to remember to post when I cook these. 

And here's what my mini-pies looked like.  I froze them in muffin tins, thinking that was a great idea.  However, it was only when I tried to remove the frozen mini-pies from the muffin pan that I realized that they weren't going anywhere.  I wrapped the pan back up with a layer of parchment paper and heavy duty aluminum foil and stuck it back in the deep freeze.  I mean, what are the chances that I'll need that pan before I bake my mini-pies?