Summer Cherries

I've never cooked with fresh cherries, but Evil Shenanigans' Cherry Cheese Tart recipe motivated me to give it a try. I searched around on the internet for ways to pit cherries without a cherry pitter and found this video from Gourmet.com.



A paperclip? Sure I've got one of those.

Pitting bing cherries wasn't as effortless as the video shows, but after the first half a dozen cherries or so it got easier. It wasn't as messy as I expected, but I still pitted them in the sink for easy clean-up. The most difficult part was not to eat every cherry I handled. lol

Substituting a graham cracker crust made things even easier:

1-1/2 c graham cracker crumbs (9-10 crackers)
1/4 c sugar
5 T melted butter

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix well. Press the mixture firmly into a tart/pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes until set.

Other minor changes--I used a total of 3 c cherries and added more water to the topping to get the consistency I wanted. Also, I wouldn't suggest refrigerating the topping in a separate container--it will thicken too much. Spread it on the tart when the tart is cool enough.


Cherry topping

It's very tasty with a cup of coffee--I'm definitely going to make this again.


Cherry cheese tart