Ground Cherry Hand Pies
These elegant-looking (but deceptively simple) pastries are a fantastic way to showcase fresh ground cherries. Honey, cardamom, and sumac help bring out the warm, sweet flavors of these unique fall fruits, while a little bit of pistachio adds substance. Hearty enough to serve as a light breakfast, or save them for dessert.
Servings: 3 pastries
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cup ground cherries husks removed
- 3 Tbs finely chopped pistachios
- 2 Tbs honey
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp ground sumac
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 1 egg white
- decorative large-crystal sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Add honey, pistachios, cardamom, sumac, and 1 cup ground cherries to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring for 10 minutes, mashing the ground cherries with the spoon as they soften.
- Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ⅓ cup of whole ground cherries and set aside.
- Cut puff pastry into 6 equal pies (these will become the tops and bottoms of the pastries).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and lay three piece of the puff pastry on it. Spoon equal amounts of the ground cherry mixture on to the center of each pastry piece. Distribute the mixture even across the pastry, leaving enough room around the edges to connect the pastry top (about ¼ to ½ inch).
- Brush the edges of the pastry with egg white, then lay the remaining three pastry pieces over the tops. Press down the edges to close your hand pies, then gently press down again using the tines of a fork to seal them. Brush tops with egg white, then sprinkle each pie with decorative large-crystal sugar (if desired).
- Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until pastry tops are lightly golden.
- Remove from oven to a wire rack and allow to cool before serving.
Notes
- Ground cherries, also called husk cherries, are in season from late summer through fall. If you aren't growing your own or lucky enough to find them growing wild, try looking for them at farmers' markets during this time of year. You may also find them at gourmet food markets, but expect to pay an unnecessary premium for them.
- For best results, choose fully ripe ground cherries when reserving the 1/3 cup to leave whole (these will be a rich orange color, and slightly translucent). If you end up with any that are still a little green or otherwise imperfect, those would be fine to cook down in the "sauce".
- Nightshade-sensitivity notice: Ground cherries are a member of the nightshade family. If you are sensitive to nightshades, especially tomatoes and/or tomatillos, you should avoid eating these. Unfortunately, we don't know of a good non-nightshade alternative for these.
- Can this be made gluten-free? We have not looked into if pre-made gluten-free puff pastry is on the market, or if there are recipes for it. If such a thing exists, that would be the way to go. Alternately, you could use a non-puff gluten-free pastry dough for these. You won't get the same presentation or flaky texture, but we imagine they should still be pretty good.