Never, in all my excitement over HBO’s version of Game of Thrones, did I imagine that I would get enough detail from the show from which to make food. However, nestled in among all the intrigue, in episode 2.8, Hot Pie mutters enough details to construct one amazing cherry crumble.
“You need sour cherries to make it right. The secret is you dry the stones and break ’em with a mallet; that’s where the real flavor is. Then you crush ’em up real fine, and when you’re finished, sprinkle ’em over the pie crust… Sour cherries is all crushed up and ready. Probably in the pie crust by now. In the oven, the nice, warm oven…” -Hot Pie
Thoughts:
The flavor is rich, while not overly sweet. Slightly spiced, flavorful, and authentically old world feeling, this crumble is ideal for a simple summer dessert, or a more luxurious breakfast. I made it without any sugar added to the filling, which really allows the cherry to shine underneath that layer of delicate crunchy crumble. There is enough sugar on top of the cherry, and in the crust, to satisfy a sweet tooth , balanced, before sugar became popular, true cherry flavor.
The mahleb, crucial ingredient, has tones of vanilla, anise, green tea, and something between cinnamon and nutmeg, all of which gives the crumble a nice subtle depth.
Nicely done, Hot Pie!
Hot Pie’s Cherry Crumble Recipe
Cook’s Note: My pie plate went missing the morning I made this recipe, so I used 6″ tart pans. The recipe made about 5 mini tarts, and might be stretched to fill six. If making one large crumble, the baking time may need to be adjusted accordingly.
Ingredients:
For the Dough:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
For the filling:
- 2 lb. whole cherries
- 1/4 cup red wine
- dash of red wine vinegar
For the Topping:
- 3/4 cup flour
- 4 Tbs. brown sugar
- 2 Tbs. ground almonds
- a pinch each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
- a pinch of salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
- 1 Tbs. mahleb
Make the dough first: cream together the butter and sugar, then add flour and salt. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Combine cherries, wine, and vinegar in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for around 15 minutes, or until the pits can be easily removed by squishing the cherries through a colander. Put cherry puree in a bowl and add the honey. Allow to cool while you combine all the ingredients for the topping.
Line your tart pan with pastry dough (recipe above), and trim the edges. Pour the cooled filling into the shells, distributing evenly among them. Sprinkle the topping over each tart, concentrating on the middle of each. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F, until the crumbly top has begun to sink in, and is slightly golden and bubbly. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
I’ve never tried cooking with mahleb, and am now so intrigued. I think it’s similar with apricots – the kernels have loads of lovely almondy flavour, and you can include them when making jam to flavour the jam (though apparently they’re poisonous in larger quantities…). Love the look of this crumble – I normally make crumble with apples but cherries sound like a great alternative!
Yeah, the substance you’re thinking of is bitter almond, which has cyanide in it. it’s found in the pits of most stone fruit, but most certainly in cherries of all kinds. Mahleb is just ground cherry pits, so use it sparingly and hope that you don’t have a drug interaction that is asymptomatic. Or you can use just a pinch of mahleb plus a drop or two of real sweet almond extract (perfectly safe).
That is so cool! I didn’t even know something like mahleb existed. When I watched the episode, I didn’t think of applying Hot Pie’s tips to real-life cooking. One of my disappointments with the HBO series was that he didn’t yell “Hoooot Piiie!!” when Arya yelled “Winterfell!” like when they were attacked in the book by Amory Lorch.
Sounds yummy. In the directions you mention adding honey to the cooled cherries — how much? It’s not listed in the ingredient list.
I’m not trying to be a butt-insky here, but, after reading the intro, where the filling is not wanted too sweet, I would add no more than a tablespoon. Hope that helps and I’d love to hear how this turns out for all who try it, this sounds like a great summer dessert.
This thread nearly got away from me while I was at SDCC! I actually didn’t end up putting in any of the honey, and it was still marvelous. If you decide on a sweeter version, I would agree with Paschendale, and add very little; the tart really doesn’t need it!
@Paschendale — If you’re really using sour cherries and you didn’t pick them yourself, best use the recommended amount of sugar: the commercial varieties are more tart than if you pick fully ripe Montmorency or Northstar pie cherries yourself in Michigan or Indiana (the fully ripe ones will be sweet-tart but can still stand the sugar). This is especially true if you’re adding dry red wine plus vinegar — my mouth is puckering just at the thought!! Besides, you want that syrupy consistency, so I wouldn’t tamper much with the amount of sugar. I would add a little sprinkle of vanilla powder, however, to both the crumble and the cherry mix and use semi-dry wine instead. I’ve made something like this with pie cherries, though I’ve pitted them first and made sure I got all the juice from the bowl with the pits, then tossed the pits and added superfine sugar and a drop of sweet almond extract instead (the pits have bitter almond, which has a touch of cyanide in it). A little sprinkle of Mahleb is okay, but since that’s basically ground cherry pits (complete with the bitter almond), you might want to rethink putting in a whole tablespoonful of that. Besides, depending on which prescription drugs you may take, there could be a drug-food interaction with the bitter almond. Better safe than sorry (yeah, yeah, there are people who drank absinthe too, but they suffered for it).
What I’d really like is to try this recipe with Balaton cherries from Michigan. That’s a variety (re)discovered more than a decade ago by a female university researcher who found it near the shores of Lake Balaton in Hungary, then brought back samples to a central Michigan campus to study and grow them here. The trees in the U.S. are old enough now to produce a decent crop. Ripe Balaton cherries are sweet-tart like ripe Montmorencies but just a shade sweeter, fruitier and more fragrant. There are finally enough farmers who grow them in Michigan that you can get them fresh online, but they sell out quickly (season is a short week or so in early July, just like regular pie cherries, and you have to pre-order them way in advance, but what a treat!). Since the Balatons are a heritage or heirloom variety, they seem appropriate for this dish.
I almost bought a big bag of sweet cherries a couple of days ago but it’s boiling hot, and I had mango-ginger ice cream and stromboli on my menu for the weekend. And no mahleb unless I finally visit the middle eastern grocery store that I pass by several times a week but never stop in to.
This looks amazing though and something like it is definitely in my future. I actually like the fact that these are individual crumble size by the way.
Sweet cherries won’t work with this — they’re TOO sweet, meant to be eaten out of hand, not made into pies. The only thing you can really cook with sweet cherries is clafouti — almost everything else requires some added sugar to get the consistency and/or browning right … which is why we use sour pie cherries instead. Or don’t you trust Hot Pie’s advice? ;D
Go Hot Pie, dreamin’ bought them hot pies!
Could you elaborate on what mahleb actually is? I see you’ve described its flavor really well, but I’d be curious to know a little more about it. Also, since it’s kind of an uncommon ingredient (I assume, since I have no clue what it is) do you have a suggestion of where to buy it? Most of the more unusual things I’ve ever gotten were always Asian so I always scout out the Asian market for stuff.
Of course! I actually meant to do so in the post, but clearly forgot. Whoops.
Mahleb is a mid-east spice made from the ground up pits of a specific type of cherry. The flavor and taste is really unique, and I’m looking forward to adding it to all sorts of things in the future, although like many of the warmer spices, it strikes me as more of a winter spice. Perhaps a pinch on some hot chocolate? :)
My grandmother makes middle eastern cookies with mahleb, anis and fennel, and shapes them like crowns before rolling them in sesame. They are my favourites, perfect with mint tea.
Doris, those sound fantastic!! Thanks for sharing!
I found some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlab
Will be trying this out next weekend!
How much honey do we use? You mention it in the directions, but it’s not listed under the ingredients.
You can get mahlab from Penzey’s spices (http://penzeysspices.com/), as well as shops selling Middle Eastern ingredients – I’ve been adding it to spice cookies and fruit crumbles for a few years, and it really brings out the flavour in stone fruits without overpowering them (the way cinnamon can, for example). Works particularly well with peaches.
Yum! I have a few middle-eastern markets that I’ll have to check out to find mahleb and then I’m totally trying recipe out.
I’d like to echo the request for the amount of honey to add to the cherries. I love honey in anything, so this is an important tidbit to me. :-)
I’m with you on the honey front. Absolute addict. I usually just eat it with a spoon. :)
As for the tart, I actually didn’t end up adding any, although if you preferred a much sweeter tart, you could. I found that the cherries held their own without any extra sweetening.
What honey??? I don’t see any mention of honey in the recipe OR in the preceding description.
Just finished making a pie following this recipe as close as I could. I would like to point out your crust recipe neglects an egg. This is crucial as if you only use what is listed you get a pile of sugary flour, not a nice dough!
As for the to add honey or not debate. I did not using Bing Cherries and have a pie with cherry flavor but not very sweet (like modern pies). I probably should have used a tablespoon of honey. (But drizzling some on the crust adds a little more of the desired sweetness.) Thanks for the nice blog!
Why would you have even considered Bing cherries?? Those are too sweet! They’re meant for eating raw. The recipe calls for sour cherries — and so does Hot Pie! Meaning, traditional **pie** cherries: Montmorency, Northstar, Balaton, or Marasca/Morello. NOT Bing, dark sweet or yellow Royal Anne cherries. This is what happens when we buy so much that is premade: people forget the differences between fruits and what goes into the dishes that we eat. And almost nobody under 30 cooks anymore. Sigh …
And yes, to answer the next person’s question, anyone who’s made a lot of cherry pies before knows you have to add at least a bit of cornstarch to the cherries to make a decent filling — **especially** if you’re adding liquid like red wine! Typically, you mix in the cornstarch with the sugar in which you toss the cherries before adding them to the crust; the juice that leaks from the cherries as the pie bakes combines with the starch and sugar to make the ‘filling’ in between the fruit. Even if you boil down that red wine a lot, you still need a touch of starch to help thicken it, especially if you’re cutting back on the sugar. Otherwise: wet crust, hot mess.
@alkhemist, how many egg(s) did you use for the dough?
I also noticed the lack of a binder for the pastry dough. I added a few tablespoons of cold water as if making a basic pie crust. I also added some cornstarch to the cherry filling as it was very runny. Lastly, I melted the butter before mixing it with the other crumb topping ingredients. My husband took it to a Game of Thrones themed party.
Since the cherries here -in France- are around 30€/kg ; I decided to do it with plums. Actually, I mixed up your plum mousse recipe with this one, ending with a delicious plum/wine crumble. And allow me to say that it was a success. As to the question of honey, I think it may also depend on the quantity of mahleb you use, since it’s rather tart. If you decide to use more mahleb than stated on the recipe, you may want to add some honey. Anyway, I used honey in my plum/wine recipe.
What an awesome and delicious innovation! Sounds wonderful! :D
I’m curious if you could substitute the contents of a chai tea bag for the mahleb? Thoughts?
Loved the recipe, the taste and the sort of old fashion flavor to it, but for future preferences, would appreciated it if you could have added the egg part to the dough part, kind of took me awhile to figure out what I did wrong.
This sounds so good. i lkove cherrys, thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon