Boozy Cherry & Dark Chocolate Pudding Pie
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours, including chill time
- Yield: 8
- Category: Desserts
Description
I was swimming the other day reflecting on my recent trip to the grocery store. Thrilling, I know! But, I couldn’t get the thought of fresh, seasonal cherries out of my mind. Deep scarlet red. I love popping cherries in my mouth and working the flesh off from around the stone. Hmmm.
Anywho, while I was floating around, I got a distinct craving to pair the subtle tartness of cherries with dark, dark chocolate. And so, daydreaming about grocery store shopping birthed this boozy cherry chocolate pie.
The biggest PITA thing about making anything with cherries is dealing with the stones. There are four ways to tackle this…
1. If you have the patience of a saint, you can sit there and cut your cherries in half with a paring knife and pop out the stone out with the tip of the knife. This is a method you need to be extra careful not to cut yourself.
2. If you don’t care about your cherries looking pretty, take a large, wide knife. Place the cherry under the flat side of the blade. Then, gently bang the knife on the other side with your fist. This will smash the cherry and the stone will pop right out.
3. This method I haven’t tried, but it sounds pretty straight forward. Take a large paper clip and pry it open to create a two sided hook. Use one side to push into the cherry where the stem was and scoop the cherry out.
4. My preferred lazy method is using a cherry pitter. This is super simple. Just place the cherry into the gizmo and squeeze the handle. The stone pops out and the cherry doesn’t lose it’s shape. I use two bowls. One to pop the stones into and the other to place the prepped cherries.
The key to this pie is to have an extra deep pie dish because this pie is loaded! Tart cherries over sweet, dark chocolate. The pie is then topped off with an almond whipped cream and a sprinkling of Oreo crumbs.
Chill for several hours before serving.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Cherries
2 lbs cherries, de-stoned
1/2 cup sugar
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
Amaretto, divided into 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 TB lemon extract
3 TBs cornstarch
Chocolate Pudding
3/4 cups sugar
2 TBs cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 TB butter, melted
Crust
2 1/2 cups Oreos, crumbled
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick of butter, melted
Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 TBs granulated sugar
1/2 TB almond extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a bowl, mix the Oreos with the cinnamon before adding the melted butter. Mix until combined and has the consistency of wet sand. Press the mixture into your pie dish. Bake for 8-10 minutes to lightly toast and set the crust. Remove and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the cherries. Mix together the sugar, lemon juice and zest, 1/3 cup of Amaretto, vanilla extract, lemon extract and cornstarch in a sauce pan. Add the cherries and mix. Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir often so the sauce doesn’t burn! Remove from the heat and stir in the remain 1/4 cup Amaretto. Set aside to cool.
For the chocolate pudding sauce, mix all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts. Set aside.
Pour the chocolate pudding into the pie crust. Place in the refrigerator for one hour. The chocolate should feel slightly set.
Add the cherries on top of the chocolate.
To make the whipped cream, add the heavy whipping cream, granulated sugar and some almond extract to stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk the cream on medium high to high until stiff peaks form.
Spread the whipped cream over the cherries and sprinkle with remaining Oreo crumbs.
Place back in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Note: If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a handheld mixer on high. OR pull out the big guns, grab a whisk, and whisk by hand until you can’t feel your arms anymore… then call in the kids or your partner and have them take over, again, until stiff peaks form.
Keywords: Chocolate, Cherries, Pie, Amaretto, Cherry Pie
