The Morning After Black Cherry Pie

Well it's all fun and all to have tons of dinner parties - but what can get tricky sometimes is finding the inspiration to cook! What to cook is always the first stumbling block. I had this particular mental block this Friday night. Darling and I were having a very low key supper at 'ours' with close friends. My last minute idea came from seeing that cherries are already on the shelves! Suddenly I remembered a recipe my mum used to make when my brother and I were really young.It's a black cherry cheese cake/pudding type thing. We used to be so excited in the morning to eat this particular pudding's leftovers after a dinner party my mum had done. She hasn't made it in years and can't quite remember it - her instructions in her treasured recipe book can sometimes be quite cryptic. So...... a few things were mentioned like the oven - which in the end I never used at all! All I can say it was a cracker!!
The quote of the evening: "This is the best pudding I have ever had!" one of our guests.

Here it is: (my version)

Black Cherry Cheese Cakey Type Thing

Ingredients:

For Base:
Tennis biscuits(Whole pack)
Butter 100gram
Slivered almonds (Not really necessary)

For Filling:
1 x tub creme fraiche (You can also use smooth cottage cheese)
1 x tub (250ml) double cream. v. thick
1 x can condensed milk! It's making a come back!
About 50ml lemon juice (As much as you can squeeze out) Original recipe said 80ml, but I think that is quite a lot! I also ran out of lemons. 50ml was perfect.

For Topping
1 x tin of black cherries with juice
2Tbs corn flour
Small amount of water
Real cherries if pos (for presentation)

Recipe

First crumble biscuits into food processor and blend until crumbed. Then add slightly melted butter and whiz until it forms a big damp clump. Have some patience I did not whiz for long enough and kept on adding more and more butter! Until mine was too wet - hence the slivered almonds I had to add in to rectify my mistake (I had no more tennis biscuits)
Pack the base into a 20cm round spring foam tin (one of those removal bottom ugly cake tin things) try pack a bit up the sides. Put in the fridge whilst you make the filling.
Mix the tin of condensed milk and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Very satisfying. Lick the rest of the condensed milk tin and feel very happy about it.
Add your cream and creme fraiche. Mix all together. You can use smooth cottage cheese instead of creme fraiche.
Put filling into your cake dish and put it back in the fridge. Go and shower and get house ready etc. 2- 3 hours is minimum time it should be in fridge. You can even make this the night before. Bonus for not feeling too overwhelmed on the day.

For the topping:
Strain only the cherry juice from tin into a pan on the stove. Mix 2Tbs maizena (corn flour) with a tiny bit of water until smooth. Add to cherry juice and stir over medium heat until thickened. Put it aside to cool.
Place your cherries over pie and then pour over the cooled sticky thickened juice. put back in fridge until ready to serve. Before serving remove tin sides and place pudding on beautiful large plate. Stack real cherries (if obtainable) on top of pudding and around the sides. It is a show stopper and very very delicious.

As Darling and I discovered in the morning, it is even better the next day.

I am so sad as in my state of euphoria of my success, I never took a photo of my beauty!!! This is a photo taken from the web to give you an idea, but does not come close to mine which was laden with a real cherry tower like Babette's Feast!

*A note from Mrs Married

When you are having a dinner party it is always polite to consider others dietary requirements.

In today's world this can sometime be challenging.You can however go with what you are in the mood for and do an extra something for the vegetarians etc. Rather don't be put off entirely by trying to make a dish that everyone can eat. The Cherry pudding for instance is certainly not for the people who are very 'strict and strong willed' when coming to watching ones waist lines. But why ruin the fun for everyone! There is nothing more exciting than a condensed milk packed pudding. The super conscientious will just have to pick at the cherry tower.