Mini Sour Cherry Pies with Pistachio Crumble -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

Today's pick for Sweet Melissa Sundays comes from my blogging friend Michelle at Flourchild -- thank you, Michelle! :) This pie was one of the recipes that really caught my eye when I flipped through The Sweet Melissa Baking Book for the first time, and I was going to pick it when it was my choice, but Michelle beat me to it! That's fine though, I got to make it earlier this way, and absolutely loved this recipe!


I could not find fresh tart cherries around here but did find some frozen ones...



I bought a couple bags and these turned out perfectly in the pies! Next time I see fresh sour cherries (aka tart or montmorency cherries) I will pick up some just to make this delicious pie again. It was a last minute decision to make mini pies, I looked at my pie plates and did not have a 10 inch one, I had a 9 inch and a 9.5 inch...I was going to use the 9.5 but then thought mini pies would be easier to serve up to the kids, so I took out a standard muffin tin and got to work.




My changes were to use butter and margarine instead of butter and shortening in the pie crust --which I think turned out fine...


and to make the pistachio crumble in the food processor, since the oats and pistachios needed to be crushed up in there anyway, I figured it'd be easier just to make it all in there...perfect !


These little pies were absolutely delicious, not too sweet, not too tart, just amazing. The perfect combo of textures and flavors. I can see why this is a popular pie -- I will be making it again for sure.

Last Sunday, Katie of Katiecakes (isn't that the cutest blog name?) picked Guinness Gingerbread for us to try... I baked along but didn't get a chance to post about it last weekend...

I used this holiday ale instead of guinness since we had some on hand, and used this Nordic Ware "fairy tale cottage" pan to bake the gingerbread in...

My only change to the gingerbread was to leave out the white pepper...I am really not a black or white pepper fan, sorry! The gingerbread was delicious, I loved all of the flavors and would make this recipe again for sure. My kids were crazy about the gingerbread, the all loved it and wanted me to make another when this one was all gone, I told them they might have to wait until next Christmas for some more gingerbread, but you never know :) I have to say I don't think this recipe is the best for a shaped pan, even though the volume was correct, it just didn't turn out as cute as I expected it to -- guess I will have to try the gingerbread recipe that came with the pan and hope for better results.


Lastly, a quick photo of the Lemon Icebox Cake...when I posted about this recipe I had not served it or tried it...


and there it is. I have to say that this recipe totally surprised me, in a good way! I didn't think we would really care for this one, and if it hadn't been picked by Jennifer of Keep Passing the Open Windows as out Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe, I probably would have skipped it, but we all loved it, what an amazing cool and refreshing dessert, yum :)

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread Cake -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Just a quick post for TWD this week, I am feeling under the weather with a head cold. The recipe of the week is Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread, from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking From My Home To Yours, picked for Tuesdays with Dorie by Heather of Sherry Trifle , thanks Heather :)

I've had my eye on this recipe for a while and couldn't wait to give it a try. Everything came together easily and I decided to use a 10 inch springform pan instead of the 9 by 9 because the amount of batter was more than I am used to using in a 9 by 9 and I didn't want any over flow. The 10 inch springform was perfect! I baked for 40 minutes exactly and the cake tested done.

The taste was wonderful, it was so moist and spicy and just a wonderful flavor combination. The texture was wonderful as well and it made me remember the Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake we did for Tuesdays with Dorie last October, and what a dry disapointment that one was. I was thinking...if you adjust the spices on this chocolate gingerbread, I'm sure it would be a wonderful brownie cake base.

Changes I made to the recipe were minimal, vanilla instead of coffee in the frosting and semisweet instead of bittersweet chocolate in both the cake and frosting. In our family we prefer semisweet over bittersweet in most recipes. I can see making this again for the holidays, maybe decorating with some crushed peppermint candycanes. I would leave out the fresh ginger though, it seemed like when I got a piece in a bite of the gingerbread it was just too much and clashed with the comforting warm spice that is gingerbread -- it just kind of bit you back if you know what I mean and I just didn't care for it in this recipe, even though I really thought I would. Other than that, I loved this recipe and will more than likely be making it again :)