Cherry, Cinnamon and Buckwheat Pastries

It’s the beginning of cherry season in the Southern parts of Australia and it’s time to make pie. These lovely little pastries or hand pies are a two-bite seasonal delight that heralds in the much anticipated West Australian stone fruit season. The addition of buckwheat flour and cardamom give them a ‘Christmasy’ taste-connection to Eastern European baking traditions where cherries are a beloved fruit in the dessert kitchen; and the nigella seeds, an interesting savoury note to round off the sweet cherry filling.

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Ingredients

(Makes approx. 20)

Filling

500 g cherries, pitted & halved

4 tsp arrowroot (tapioca starch)

5 tbsp caster sugar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pastry

300 g plain flour

70 g + extra buckwheat flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cardamom

250 g unsalted butter, chilled & diced

100 ml chilled water

1 egg yolk

2 tbps milk

nigella seeds

Method

1. To make the filling, stir the filling ingredients together and gently heat in a small saucepan for 5 minutes until the cherries have softened. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool before covering with plastic wrap and chilling.
2. To make the pastry, place the flours, sugar, salt, cardamom and butter in the bowl of a food processer and blend for a few seconds until the butter is in very small pieces. Add the water and blend again until the pastry just starts forming into a mass. Transfer to a work surface and press the pastry together into a flattened disc. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 200 c. Roll the pastry dough out to approximately 2 – 3 mm thick and cut out 8 cm diameter discs using a round cutter. Place half the discs on a baking paper lined baking tray.
4. Beat the egg yolk and milk together and brush around the edges of the pastry bases. Spoon a little of the filling onto the middle of each base, allowing a 1 cm border around the edge. Roll each remaining pastry circle out a little thinner before pressing on top of the bottoms. Press around the edges with the tines of a fork and then trim using the same round cutter.
5. Brush the tops of each pastry with a little egg wash before pressing 4 small holes into the tops using the fork. Sprinkle over a little nigella seeds and refrigerate for 15 minutes before baking in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown.