Healthy Cardamom Cherry Pie (Recipe)

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Juicy, tart, tangy Cardamom Cherry Pie brightens your holiday table with its enthusiastic vibrancy. It’s as bright as can be! Piled high with sweetly spiced cherries over a crispy crust, this sumptuous pie happily accepts rave reviews.

SERVINGS: 8

COOK TIME: 120 MINUTES

Directions

Crust

1. Add the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.

2. Cube chilled butter. Add it to the dry ingredients, rubbing it in with your fingertips. Work until nearly smooth.

3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of very cold water, teaspoon by teaspoon. Gently work the water into the dough with a spatula or wooden spoon until all flour is incorporated into the dough. Knead the dough just a few times, and press into a rough ball shape.

4. Flatten dough into a circle. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at minimum one hour.

5. Remove from refrigerator, and roll out into a pie crust shape. This recipe calls for only the bottom crust, but feel free to be creative and add a top if you like.

Filling & Finish:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. If preparing with dried cherries, use 1 1/2 cups dried cherries and 4 cups water to rehydrate them. If fresh, use 3 cups cherries and and 2 1/2 cups water. In a medium saucepan, add ginger, sugar and cherries and water. Simmer the mixture for one hour. Now, add cardamom and cornstarch. Simmer ten minutes or until mixture thickens.

3. Meanwhile, place crust into a pie pan, pressing the dough into the corners. Bake the crust for fifteen minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Pour the cherry mixture into the crust. Mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.

4. Serve hot!

Even after a heavy meal (say, on Christmas?) there’s room for Cardamom Cherry Pie. Why? It’s full of juicy fiber, deliciously warming digestive spices, and is even gluten free... not that you'd know it! Treat the tummies of your friends and family this holiday season to the growing fame of Cardamom Cherry Pie. Enjoy!

How Can This Ayurvedic Recipe Make You Feel Great?

Nourish Your Blood

Cherries are an excellent way to nourish your blood (rakta). High in iron, cherries rebuild deficient anemic blood. Cherries’ warming, blood building nature is perfect for December. Decembers cold temperature creates blood stagnation. However, their warming nature can aggravate pitta. In winter, the skin turns pale with the cold. Cherries are a skin tonic whose sweetness and sourness moisturizes your skin while restoring a healthy red glow.

Fabulous Fruity Fiber

Juicy Cardamom Cherry Pie is excellent for dry type constipation. Cherries cooked in sugar create a mucilage that keeps the intestines moist and moving, while the high fiber content of cherries results in bulky, easy stools. Sour cherries themselves are a gentle laxative. What does this mean for your and your digestion this holiday season? The dessert after dinner is a simple cure for constipation.

Soothes Firey Emotions

Cherries calm down the fiery emotions of Pitta constitutions. When under stress, hot Pitta constitutions tend to become impatient, frustrated, critical, and outright angry. The sweet perfection of cherries help bring these passionate friends back to a state of serene calm. The liver, an organ related to heat and Pitta, is also associated with anger. Their beta-carotene and sour taste immediately bring heat out of blood.

The holidays tend to be stressful in many ways- emotionally, physically, and digestively. Berries are lymphatic movers and cleanse your liver, allowing you to remain mellow and calm amidst the hustle and bustle.

Light, Healthy Dessert for Heavy Constitutions

Cardamom Cherry Pie is a safe choice for Kapha’s sweet tooth thanks to natural sugars and high fiber content. Cherries are warming to the digestive tract and stimulate metabolism while their sourness aids in fat metabolism. Pungent cardamom and ginger aid digestion as well by keeping your digestive fire nice and strong.