Amy Clipston’s Amish Cherry Triangles

Sometimes my day job as a managing editor at a major Christian publishing house brings lovely opportunities my way, like the chance to try a recipe or two from fiction writer Amy Clipston, author of the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series.

I had several recipes to choose from, but since it’s cherry season in Michigan and since I’m a seasonal fruit dessert junkie, I went for the Amish Cherry Triangles. These pastries are the kind you imagine being served at teatime – a luscious cherry filling (I could have eaten it straight from the pan with a spoon) is sandwiched between two layers of yeasty pastry dough, and topped with a layer of icing.

I confess that (of course) I tinkered just a little bit with Amy’s recipe, omitting the food coloring and adding just a bit of sugar to the pastry dough to sweeten it, and altering the cooking process slightly to suit my own tastes (I added the cherries earlier so that they would be extra tender). The cherries were so red already that the food coloring seemed like a moot ingredient, and I try to avoid artificial flavorings and colorings in my kitchen.

If making cherry filling from scratch (and therefore hand-pitting a pile of cherries, unless you are the lucky owner of one of those handy cherry-pitting devices) seems daunting, let me assure you it’s easy. It’s time-consuming, but making your own filling from luscious, tree-ripened cherries in season is worth every minute – and worth the pink stains that will remain on your hands and under your fingernails unless you wear gloves.

To pit a cherry, simply run the blade of a sharp paring knife around the cherry, splitting it in half down to the pit. Use your fingers to separate the cherry in half, and throw away the pit. Do this about 50 times, and you have a quart or so of pitted cherries.

Of course, the price for getting to savor these delicious treats was that most of them had to be sacrificed to my colleagues, but I did reserve a few for myself and Eli (who gave them a rave review).

Amish Cherry Triangles

For the filling:
3/4 cup pure cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, or honey
5 level tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 quart sweet cherries, washed and pitted
1 cup cherry juice (if you can’t find this in the grocery store, and you have really ripe, flavorful cherries, just substitute water)
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar (unless you’re using honey), cornstarch, and salt. Stir in the cherry juice (add the honey here, too), lemon juice, and cherries. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until cherries are tender and mixture is thickened and bubbly. Set aside to cool.

For the pastry:
2/3 cup scalded milk (to scald milk, heat over a high flame just until it starts to foam)
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup chilled salted butter (or 1 cup unsalted butter plus one teaspoon salt)
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Scald milk, and allow to cool until lukewarm. Add yeast, and allow to “bloom” (mixture will begin to bubble and – if it does not, this is a warning sign that your yeast is not active, and you need to start over with new yeast). Using a pastry blender or a pair of sharp knives, cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk/yeast mixture and the egg yolks. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 10 times. Divide in half. Roll out half of the dough into a rectangle large enough to fit on an 11-1/2 by 17-1/2 inch pan. Place in pan and spread the cooled cherry filling on top. Roll out the other half of the dough the same way, and place on top of the cherry filling. Bake 45-55 minutes. Cool and spread with icing.

For the icing:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional; I didn’t use them)

Using a mixer, cream together the butter, vanilla, and cream. Add the confectioners’ sugar, a half cupful at a time, beating well after each, until icing reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread over cooled pastry and sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired, pressing them down slightly into the icing. Cut into three-inch squares, then cut again into triangles.

Makes about 48 pastries.