A Late Night with Cherry Stained Hands

Oh Friday. The day before Saturday. Most weeks Fridays really have no meaning to me. Since I was thirteen and working, Saturdays were a required work day...People would say "Oh! It's Friday! Aren't you excited for the weekend?" I'd roll my eyes (I'm good at that) and smile. "Eh. Saturdays don't mean a ton to me. I work in Retail." Having a different day off during the week is GOOD, but not as nice as the ability to sleep in on a Weekend with the rest of the world.
THIS weekend, however, is different. I SOMEHOW managed to have a rare Saturday to myself. No work...no solid plans...I can't remember the last time I've been able to say that. I might just stay in comfy clothes all day...do a little cleaning...walk the Pooch...who knows?
Last night I decided would be my baking night. Both roommates gone until late...whole place to myself sounded so nice. I had found a recipe that I wanted to try earlier in the week...super simple as far as ingredients go...a nice sour cream based pastry...filled with fresh summer fruit. The original recipe had the pastries as individual fruit "handkerchiefs", but I decided to make the dough into one good sized Fruit Crostata. Yum.
On the way home, I stopped at my local Trader Joe's. GOD I love that place. Great new things to try all the time, plus nice, high quality stuff. I had to find a good fruit for the crostata filling. The plums looked amazing...so I got those and a bag of ripe red cherries. Perfection!
Now normally when I bake, as we've seen, I throw on some music to set the mood. Last night however, I needed silence. Lots of spacious room with no sound to keep my focused on my pastry and my own thoughts about life lately. Nothing better than baking out problems.
I started out by cutting the fruit and mixing it with a bit of lemon juice. Nothing better than fresh summer fruit.

I was a little nervous about the dough. The original recipe called for it to be mixed in the food processor. Now I own one. I love it, BUT it really wasn't up to this job. Not the smallest size but not the biggest either. Putting 2 cups of flour and 2 sticks of butter PLUS sour cream and other things would NOT have fit. I would have ended up with flour and butter all over cherry cabinet doors. Perhaps the Dog as well. Haha. Instead...I went the old fashioned way. Hands. Someday when I'm rich and famous I will own a giant food processor AND a dough cutter, but I'm sure still want to cut butter with my fingers. Last night...it was primitive. And I loved every minute.
There is nothing like cutting butter into flour with bare hands. Not going to deny it. Definitely a frustration releaser. A relaxer of sorts.

Before

After

Dough Ball!!

While the dough firmed up in the fridge (very sticky and soft) I relaxed on the couch with the Dog, all while eyeing my growing pile of laundry that I had been ignoring all week. I'll get to it when I get to it. Can't we invent something that does laundry automatically? Jeesh!
Dough came out of the fridge and was rolled out on a VERY well floured parchment. This stuff, even chilled was stickier than any dough I'd seen...massive amounts of flour were used and spread on the floor. Sugar added to the fruit and a little egg wash and more sugar on the dough....GOOD TO BAKE.

Before

After about 25 minutes in the Oven.

I so wanted to cut into this right when it came out of the oven. It was 11pm and my bed was calling, yet I just wanted a little taste. I DID, however wait, and brought it into work today. (The ladies loved it) The crust was very flaky and buttery. Yum yum yum. This is, to me, one of my best projects yet. I might have to start bringing this to family functions. My step-mom LOVES cherries. I know this would be good with whatever other fruit is in season at the time. Its definitely a cool alternative to a regular pie. Maybe someday I'll make the individual "handkerchiefs" like the recipe called for. I like my addition of the cherries.