Foodie Review: Cherry Pie Cups

Last month was my husband's 35th birthday, and even though I was making the cake, I decided to also make all the appetizers and hors d'oeuvres. Browsing through the internet for foodie blogs, I came upon these Cherry Pie Cups from Recipe Girl, which not only looked delicious, but was very convenient because I happened to have canned cherry filling in my house.



There are 2 changes that I made to the original post:

• This recipe uses homemade cherry filling, and I vow to someday make it, but I used canned cherry filling and it still worked great!


• The instructions call for regular cupcake tins, but since I wanted finger food, I made it in mini-cupcake tins, and they looked super cute! 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="This is my version, don't they look cute?"][/caption]

 

 



Here’s the recipe so you can try it out for yourself. You can also find the original blog post and pic here.

Cherry Pie Cups

1 package of ready-made pie crusts (or make homemade)

FILLING: (I used canned, but this filling looks delicious!)
2½ cups pitted & halved fresh cherries (about ¾ lb.)
2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt

EGG WASH:
1 large egg yolk
2 Tbs milk or cream

TOP:
coarse grain sugar (I used red sprinkling sugar cause they matched!)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
2. Roll out ready made pie crust until it’s a bit thinner. Use a plastic tupperware-type bowl as your “cutter” to cut out 5-inch rounds. You should be able to cut out 8 rounds from a package of pie crust (re-roll scraps, if needed). Line 8 muffin cups with the rounds, pressing in lightly.
3. Place filling ingredients in a medium bowl and toss. Scoop into crust-lined cups.
4. With leftover pie crust scraps, cut out decor for the tops of the pie cups- stars, stripes, whatever you’d like… be creative! Then crimp the edges of the pie cups.
5. Brush them lightly with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar- the chunky, sparkly kind of sugar if you have it.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes (watch closely since baking time will depend upon how thinly you’ve rolled your crust). Cover lightly with foil during baking if they’re browning too quickly. They should be lightly browned (like the photo above) with the filling slightly bubbly.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely (or serve warm). Serve with whipped cream and blueberries, if desired.

Many thanks to Recipe Girl for the great recipe!

Foodie Review: Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars

As most of you know, I make custom cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and other sweet goodies as my part-time home business. It all started at home with hubby and lil man as my only clients and grew from there. I still like to bake new stuff for them whenever I don't have any orders. Lately, I've been browsing foodie blogs for new and interesting recipes, and thought it would be nice to blog about my experiences.

I will begin with the one that started it all: Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars with Dark Chocolate Ganache from Mini-Baker. When I first saw this recipe and noticed that it was made with boxed cake mix, I decided it was simple enough for a weeknight dessert, but would never ever tell anyone about it - after all, I make chocolate cake from scratch, so why should I brag about this one?

Turns out I was being extremely prejudiced. When I first tasted it, I almost passed out from the cherry-chocolatey goodness! And to think I didn't have to measure sugar or flour! It was awesomeness at its best.

The true test came when my hubby tasted it. I didn't tell him how I made it (I was still a bit embarrased about having made a cake from a box). He was all over it! When he started asking me where I had gotten the recipe from, I was tempted to lie, but eventually caved in and told him the truth. He mumbled something while chewing, and the cake was gone by the end of the day.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I used a 8x8 pan, so they look more like cubes!"][/caption]

Here's the recipe so you can try it out for yourself. You can also find the original blog post and pic here.

Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars with Dark Chocolate Ganache

CAKE:

Ingredients
1 box of your favorite Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can cherry pie filling (the one I found at the grocery store was 21 oz, so you can imagine how moister and goo-ier it was!)
2 eggs (make sure to use large eggs)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (eye-ball it, that's the best part!)

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease and flour 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, gently mix dry cake mix, pie filling, eggs and chocolate chips with rubber scraper; break up any undissolved cake mix by pressing with scraper. Carefully spread in pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Prepare the ganache while the cake is cooling

GANACHE:

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate chips (if using from a bar, make sure to chop it into small pieces for best results)

Directions
1. Melt butter in a medium-sized pot over low heat.
2. Stir in cream and vanilla into the butter and bring to a boil.
3. Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
4. Remove the pot from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted.
5. Pour the warm ganache over the top of the slightly-cooled bars. Let the bars set for 1 1/2 hours until the ganache is firm. Use a non-serrated knife to cut the bars and EAT UP!

Many thanks to Christa at Mini-Baker for the great recipe!