my-speck

Also in the spirit of Christmas and the festive season, I’ve been busy cook, cook, cooking.

Mostly for fun (i.e. not so inspired on the family dinners)…

I’ve been putting together my version of a cherry pie.

Inspired by a sour cherry pie (a tart really) made by the welsh lady here in Brisbane. I’m not even sure she still makes them: I haven’t been into the store in years (it’s on the other side of town and really only totally loved the sour cherry pies). This particular pie was something I hankered after when I returned to Brisbane after living overseas for years: an individually-sized open-faced sour cherry tart with a custard base… mmmm.

When Chris and I first started going out, I talked about these pies and promised to get him one (food has always been a common love). But it took us about two years to actually get our hands on one. She didn’t make them all the time, they sell quickly and we didn’t get to the shop that often. One morning we turned up early, asking for the pies, and recognising that I’d been in a few times over the space of a year looking for them, she promised to cook some right away and for us to come back in a few hours. We did. The pies didn’t make it out of the carpark….

Anyway. I’ve been wanting to make my own version. But with fresh rather than bottled sour cherries. I got myself a wonderful cherry pitter for Christmas (a bit early) from my mother-in-law, and have been pitting cherries like mad ever since. The pie has been practiced so it will be ready for Christmas day (of course, just because you need to practice, we wouldn’t eat a cherry pie for no reason other than liking it!..).

cooked cherry filling

mmm.

open-faced cherry tart

One big fat fresh-cherry pie made with a custard filling from our lovely garden-fresh eggs… Yum…

open-faced cherry tart: fresh cherries

P.S. And thanks to my wonderful husband for cooking the fresh cherries. It was a joint effort… 🙂