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.

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, an old and weird looking cherry tree, taller than our house, which carries the best cherries I have ever eaten. Large, perfect, almost black cherries, so sweet and juicy.

The only thing with this cherry tree is that it doesn't carry cherries every year. Last year, for instance, we didn't have one cherry. Nor did the cherry trees belonging to our neighbors carried anything either, it was a bad fruit year, so to say.

But this year is a good fruit/berry 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.

SWISS SWEET CHERRY PIE

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.

If you cannot really imagine what kind of a tart this is, think of a quiche, a quiche is rather better known in the world and it's quite similar to this Swiss pie or Wähe.

There are versions of a Wähe made with yeast dough or even with puff pastry, but I usually prefer to use a shortcrust pastry myself.

The first mention of a Wähe, in a lexicon from the Zurich area, dates back to the 16^th century. Usually people would make this kind of pies with leftover bread dough. They would top these tarts with whatever fruit or vegetables they happen to find in the kitchen.

HOW TO MAKE A SWISS CHERRY PIE

The crust:

Start with 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 short crust.

That makes it much easier to roll properly and although it remains very thin during baking (just like a regular short crust), the edges, which should rise very nicely, have almost the consistency and the taste of a dough yeast. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised by this tart crust, I haven't had a similar one before.

You can make the crust for the Swiss sweet cherry pie either with the 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 33 cm/ 13 inches, which will be a bit larger than the baking dish you need. The baking dish should have a diameter of about 28 cm/ 11 inches. 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 keeping 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 OF THE SWEET CHERRY PIE

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.

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

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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