Swiss Sweet Cherry Pie – Kirschwähe

This typical Swiss cherry pie or Wähe, a thin crust covered with fresh cherries, is the perfect pie for the short, sweet cherry season.

What to do with all those fresh sweet cherries? How about a delicious sweet cherry pie, not the quite typical one, but a Swiss one?

We have a huge tree in our garden, and this year is a good fruit year. We are drowning in cherries, red currants, and gooseberries at the moment. I canned 17 very large cherry jars using this recipe for preserving cherries, I made cherry butter, I froze some bags of cherries, I roasted cherries, and I made cherry cakes, quite a few of them.

This Swiss Kirschwähe, or sweet cherry pie, is one of them, one of our favorite cherry cakes this season.

What is a Swiss Wähe or a Swiss Pie?

A Wähe, or a Swiss pie or tart, is a flat kind of cake, usually made with shortcrust pastry, covered with fruit or vegetables, and with a filling of mixed cream and eggs, which becomes quite custardy during the baking time.

There are versions of a Wähe made with yeast dough or even with puff pastry.

How to make Swiss cherry pie?

The crust:

• You can use your favorite shortcrust recipe if you like; however, the crust I am posting today is delicious and rather special. It is similar to a shortcrust, but the dough is softer and more pliable than a regular shortcrust.
• That makes it much easier to roll properly, and although it remains very thin during baking (just like a regular shortcrust), the edges, which should rise very nicely, have almost the consistency and the taste of a dough yeast.

You can make the crust for the Swiss sweet cherry pie either by hand or in the food processor.

• In the food processor, process the flour, salt, and cold butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix shortly until the dough is smooth.
• Making the crust for the Swiss pie without the food processor works also very well. Cut the butter into the flour and salt mixture. Slowly add the water and knead shortly until the dough is smooth.
• The dough will be very soft at this point, but don't worry about it. Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate it for about one hour. At this point, it will be a bit sturdier and actually very easy to roll.
• Lightly flour the working surface and the rolling pin and roll the dough to a circle of about 13 inches/ 33 cm, which will be a bit larger than the baking dish you need. The baking dish should have a diameter of about 11 inches/ 28 cm.
• I use a ceramic quiche dish.

• Carefully wrap the dough around the rolling pin; this will make it easier to transfer it to the baking dish. If it sticks to the working surface, take a long knife and gently run it under the dough to help it unstick.
• Lightly press the dough into the prepared dish, making sure that the edges are regular all around the dish and don't come over the edges of the dish.
• Use a fork to poke the dough all over; this will stop it from bulging out.

Filling for the sweet cherry pie

• Sprinkle the dough with the ground almonds. This will stop the fruit juices from soaking the dough too much and keep it wet.
• Arrange the prepared fruit on top. Pour the egg, cream, and milk mixture on top and bake the Swiss sweet cherry pie Wähe in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the cream mixture is set and the dough edges are golden brown.

Variations

This recipe for Swiss Kirschwähe, or sweet cherry pie, is quite versatile. You can use fresh or preserved sweet or sour cherries, apricots, peaches, apples, plums, and so on.

Recipe

Swiss Sweet Cherry Pie – Kirschwähe

A typical Swiss Wähe or sweet cherry pie, a thin crust covered with fresh cherries, the perfect pie for the short sweet cherry season.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Pies and Cheesecakes

Cuisine: Swiss

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 slices

Calories: 256kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 200 g all-purpose flour 7 oz/ 1 ⅔ cup
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 75 g unsalted butter 2.6 oz/ ⅓ cup
• ▢ 100 ml ml/ 3.3 fl.oz/ ⅓ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons water
• ▢ 3 tablespoons ground almonds
• ▢ 750 g fresh sweet cherries 1.7 lbs
• ▢ 4 tablespoons granulated sugar divided
• ▢ 100 ml full-fat milk 3.5 fl.oz/ ⅓ cup
• ▢ 100 ml single cream 3.5 fl.oz/ ⅓ cup
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Instructions

Crust:

• Mix the flour and salt in the food processor. Add the cubed butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water and knead shortly to obtain a soft, smooth dough.

  To make the crust with the hand, cut the butter cubes into the flour mixture. Slowly add the water and knead shortly to obtain a soft and smooth dough.
• Refrigerate: Wrap the dough in cling film/plastic foil and refrigerate for one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius/ 430 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly butter a pie or quiche form (ceramic) with a diameter of about 28 cm/ 11 inches and line it with baking paper. Leave a bit of the baking paper hanging over the baking dish's edges; this will help you to easily lift the baked sweet cherry pie out of the dish.
• Roll the dough: Lightly flour the working surface and the rolling pin and roll the dough to a circle of about 33 cm/ 13 inches, which will be slightly larger than the baking dish.
• Transfer: Carefully wrap the dough around the rolling pin, this will make it easier to transfer it to the baking dish. If it sticks to the working surface, take a long knife and gently run it under the dough to help it unstick.
• Lightly press the dough into the prepared dish, making sure that the edges are regular all around and don't hang over the edge of the dish. Next, use a fork to poke the dough all over, stopping it from bulging out.

Filling:

• Sprinkle the dough with the ground almonds. This will stop the fruit juices from soaking the dough too much and keeping it wet.
• Stone the cherries, mix them with 2 tablespoons of sugar, and arrange them on top of the crust.
• Topping: Whisk together the milk, cream, egg, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and cornstarch. Slowly pour the mixture over the fruit in the dish.
• Bake the sweet cherry pie in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the filling is set and the edges are golden brown. Let cool and set well before slicing.

Notes

Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it ensures the best results (Amazon affiliate link).

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 256kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 135mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g

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