Baked this for some guests we had yesterday. It was the first time making it and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Moist crumb with a lovely, crunchy sugar top. The late-season Chilean (I think these came from Chile) cherries are actually tasty.
We have friends visiting from DC and though I wasn’t going to be able to join them (and my wife) for dinner last night, I offered to serve dessert. I’d planned on leaving work early to because I needed the extra time to work out my top crust design (I had different lattice idea in mind), bake, and the cool the pie before folks arrived to chow down. But things went sideways and I barely would barely have time to bake and cool the pie, let alone craft the crust design. Fortunately I’d made the dough and the filling the night before (as well as Double-Vanilla Ice Cream), so I had a little breathing room.
Here’s where the craft comes in: I cleared my workspace, lit a candle in my salt black holder, and burned a little Palo Santo wood in my cauldron. This little ritual calmed me down and helped me to connect to the kitchen magic as I rolled, filled, and baked. I was even able to rely on my sense of smell to let me know when the pie was actually finished baking (two minutes before my timer). The result? A pie that was so good that my wife actually ate the crust, which she hardly ever does! I’m definitely putting this in the Win column!
Calming Kitchen Witchery = 1
Work-related stress = 0