I’m lovin’ the abundance of fresh cherries right now. We consistently have cherries all washed and ready to eat in a big bowl in our refrigerator. Honestly I had never really been that into eating cherries before this season. Popping them into your mouth, chewing around the pit and then discreetly ’spitting’ the pit into a nearby napkin had never been all that appealing of an option for me. But my participation in the International Food Blogger’s Conference in Seattle resulted in a nifty new kitchen device gifted to us from OXO: The Cherry Pitter.
What a cool tool!! Slip the cherry into the slot, punch the metal gadget through and the pit slides right out. The cherry remains intact with a clean hole through the middle, and the plastic guard holds back the splattering cherry juice. As a result of this new tool, our lives are now happily filled with cherries. My son asked if he could help me bake something with the fresh cherries (excitedly offering to de-pit them for me). Inspired by Pinch My Salt’s twittering about some turnovers that she had made, I decided on baking Fresh Cherry Turnovers using a cream cheese crust recipe from a book that both of us had acquired from the food conference (courtesy of Sur La Table): The Art & Soul of Baking (definitely worth checking out).
The crust is pretty much the easiest crust I’ve ever worked with (this is coming from someone who is severely crust-challenged). The whole thing just goes into the food processor and then is given a short chill in the fridge before rolling. I used the top of a plastic container to cut out the rounds for the turnovers. I then used a knife to lightly mark the halfway-mark of each circle.
The cherry mixture is simple… just some sugared fresh cherries with a lemony zest & added cornstarch. I plopped a couple of Tablespoonfuls onto each turnover half. The edges of that same half are brushed with a milky egg-wash.
The tines of a fork are used to press the edges together to seal them.
The turnovers are chilled in the fridge before continuing, and then brushed with egg wash again and sprinkled with coarse sugar.
Fresh and warm out of the oven, these were fantastic little hand-pies. Slightly crunchy with a syrupy cherry filling tainted with lemon-flavor, we enjoyed these plain. They’d also be fabulous with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream.
They were also amazing though the next day. I tucked one in my son’s lunch, and he promptly showed off his little turnover to his friends at lunchtime. He told me that they were all entirely jealous of his homemade treat. My husband said that they were even better than McDonald’s cherry pies (I’m pretty sure he was just kidding around, since they aren’t really comparable at all 
)
Our obsession with fresh cherries continues… I’m thinkin’ muffins, cakes, gelato and jam! After all, I’ve got to utilize my 8-year old cherry pitter before his fascination with our new tool wears off.
This recipe can be found HERE.
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Other delicious-sounding fresh cherry recipes on the blogs:
Simply Recipes: Cherry Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips
Cook and Eat: Cherry Upside Down Cake
Cafe Johnsonia: Cherry Pie
Baking Bites: Cherry- Cornmeal Cobbler
65 Comments
Oh goodness, your husband better be kidding– this is on another planet altogether! I am sure you’re better at crust making than you think
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I have the same cherry pitter and I could not live without it! I love your turnovers, my favorite kind!
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Cherries are so good right now! What a great way to use them!
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Beautifully done! I love a good turnover and the options are endless.
This is starting to become a problem because you get all the awesome produce months before we do. So I have months to drool over creations and reminiscence on the fresh taste of the specific produce.
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I bought 2 bags of cherries at the store this week, I need to make these!! I use to have a cherry pitter yrs ago but can’t find them anymore. I bet these pies were insanely good with the cream cheese crust!! Bookmarking this to make!
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I’ve been wanting to make a fresh cherry dessert but didn’t know how to get the pits out of the cherries – this tool is very neat!
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I’ve been waiting for this post! I sooo want a pitter now!
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those look and sound amazing!
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These are gorgeous and I’m certain delicious!
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Those look beautiful! I was just reading that you can also use a paper clip to pit cherries (using one of the curved ends to scoop it out) if you’re lacking one of those great tools.
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I love cherries in crisps. The oatmeal topping really works well with the tart sweetness of cherries.
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Wonderful looking Lori! Can’t wait to try these! I really need one of those cherry pitters though…
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MMMMM..these cherry flaps as we call them also in Dutch look fabulously delicious!! What a lovely recipe: beatiful pictures too!
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I have a cherry pitter, but it doesn’t have the nice shield. My kids would be in heaven if I made these!
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B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!! I love the look of that flaky crust…..
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I have that cherry pitter as well and LOVE it! These look incredibly tasty!
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Gorgeous! Love that last picture.
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These look great! Although, when I read your tweet my brain instantly went to cherry TOMATO turnovers…. so yeah.. I may need to be making those since our cherries aren’t in season quite yet. I bet if you traded the teaspoon of sugar for salt you would have a savory crust. Yum!
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They turned out great! I fell in love with that crust, it’s foolproof and delicious! I think I might even use it for Pumpkin Pie this year for Thanksgiving. I’ll be posting my rhubarb-blueberry turnovers tomorrow. I made them twice and loved them, but I think I’ll try this cherry version next time!
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awesome! Turnovers are fabulous, I love them, and these look yummy!
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Lori, you’ve done it again, yum yum yum. Now I cannot wait for cheery season, a few more weeks to wait!
stumbled too!
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Making my belly rumble just looking at the pictures. It looks delicious!
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I can call to this: cherry-awesome empanadas, a perfect dessert!
I understand completely your obsession with cherries, I’ve the same with berries in general mmmmmm
Expecting to see more delicious treats!!
Cheers,
Gera
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Dying to try a cream cheese crusted anything. Sounds and looks great each time.
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Total and absolute drool! They look so flaky and just YUM!
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Mmm I am definitely going to try these if I can find cherries that are fresh and not crazy expensive. They look amazinggg.
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Wow, those look am-A-zing!! I need to make those. Making crust scares me a little, but those look SO worth it!!
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Look so incredibly delicious.
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Love this site…so glad I found!! Looking for cherries this weekend at farmers market..thanks for sharing!
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oh these turnovers look awesome! I just bought some fresh cherries pity I don t have that cool gadget
makes task so easier!
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I need one of those pitters! Cute little pies — reminds me I need to make more handpies. I’ll be yours were pretty delish! Great photos
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Oh my they are beautiful. Our cherries are still a bit pricey at this time of the year.
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Great photos! Your turnovers look wonderful!
~ingrid
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What gorgeous little pies – they look SO good!
I’ve been overdosing on cherries lately too! I need to get that pitter – Oxo makes the best gadgets!
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those look fantastic! time to get more cherries.
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i’m on such a hand-pie kick right now, but cherries are so expensive! frankly, i don’t care at this point because your pictures and commentary have made these impossible to resist. that crust sounds terrific too.
and wait–are you saying it’s unladylike to spit a cherry pit into the trash can from 10 feet back?
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The cherry turnovers looks perfect and I love the idea of a cream cheese crust. Cherry pitters are such cute tools…I just wish cherries are not so expensive at my side of the globe..
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Ummm WOW
Those look so good, I am a cherry fanatic! Nifty tool too!
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I want a cherry pit tool!! I have to say the turnovers look beyond delicious, delectable, and YUMMY!! I love your site! Have a great weekend.
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Ok, you’ve convinced me, I’ll be getting some cherries tomorrow! De-lish!
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Okay, now I absolutely cannot wait for cherry season in Illinois. I’ve always baked with Wisconsin tart cherries – the sweet cherries you used look awesome though,and you’d need less sugar.
For those without pitters, if you’re just baking with cherries and they don’t need to look perfect, it’s really easy (if a bit messy) to de-pit with a paring knife. Just slice along the crease of the cherry and flick out the pit with the point of the knife. Most people get the hang of it after destroying half a dozen or so cherries.
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Oh my god, I just drooled on the computer screen. I need to make these now!
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OOohhh these look soo delicious! I’m gonna have to make them NOW!
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Lori
I know you are married, but…….I LOVE you! Thanks so much for your very kind words.
This community is filled with wonderful, caring and sharing people who really connect on so many levels.
Congrats for being one of the bloggers selected to attend the conference. I would have killed for a chance to attend. I plan to make a come back shortly, but in the meantime I’ll continue to follow you and your delicious adventures.
Thanks again………Mark
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Lori, those are some rocking cherries
They are probably my favorite fruit, and I get pretty excited this time of year. Thanks for this!
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YUMMY!! Cherries are my absolute favorite fruit (and I love that pitter — couldn’t get through summer without it!), and your turnovers look fantastic! Bookmarking this one!
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How cool is that? What a coincidence. I just saw a cherry pitter (?) in a kitchen kraft catalogue that came in today. I’ll have to get one and try out your recipe. I love the cream cheese pastry. Have a great weekend.
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fantastic cherries! i have to wait another month for its season here & i can’t wait to eat them!
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I was just thinking of what to do with all the cherries I bought! This is a great idea. Looks so delicious!
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These little pies look perfect! I was attempting something *like* this recently, and failed miserably, but these are huge successes!
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Your cherry turnovers are making my mouth water! They are one of my favorite breakfast treats. I guess I better crack that cookbook and make some for myself soon. They look fabulous!
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Love your blog! Thanks for visiting mine! I really need a cherry pitter in a bad way! Your turnovers looks divine!
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You just made me fall in love with cherries all over again. I go through phases with them, and now I must make your beautiful turnovers. Great photos too!
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These look amazing! I have a go-to recipe for cherry almond upside down cake that I use when cherries are in season, but I’d love to try these turnovers next time.
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Loooooooooooooove cherries! I think I’ve eaten almost 2 lbs just today! Lovely turnovers! The crust looks just perfect!
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Fresh cherries should be hitting the stands here any day now, and I can’t wait! These look amazing!
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omg i’ve never seen that gadget before to take the seed out of a cherry! i loooove cherries and was wondering how the heck to bake with it, but here’s my answer! thanks for the recipe – awesome!!!
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These look so tasty. I’ve never attempted to work with real cherries. You’ve got me inspired.
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Totally Yummy!!
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Love your blog and love your photos! These cherry turnovers look heavenly and I can’t wait to try them. I’m definitely going to keep your site on my blogroll. Please take a moment to check out my baking blog. It’s fairly new so there is not a whole lot on there but stay tuned!
Heidi
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These were great! The crust was especially outstanding.
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My fave turnover is the one with pineapples. But this could come close to being another fave. I love how your photos turned out. They look so amazing.
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How can one not have more than one of these? This celebrates the cherry season in fine form and yes, I noticed that flaky crust.
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Looks fantastic!! I was looking for something to do wtih the plethora of cherries I’ve got from our farmers’ market. Thank you!
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These look so much easier than the pie I attempted. I am sorry I did not come across this recipe before that disaster! As to the pitting – Cooks illustrated suggested using a straw. I tried it. It was messy.
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