“You don’t want no pie in the sky when you die, you want something here on the ground while you’re still around.”~Muhammed Ali

I had guests over on the weekend and an urge to make baked goods. I keep seeing on PInterest pictures of beautiful pies that have lovely pastry cutouts on the top. That was the basis for my need to make pie. That and I had some how accidently bought frozen cherries instead of blueberries.

So, combining ingredients found in my fridge (light ricotta, zero fat yoghurt, eggs) and a few pantry staples, I made a pie. Oh, yeah, I had to go buy shortcrust pastry. One day I will make that from scratch. One day.

The result was surprisingly good. My only criticism is that I used vanilla essence instead of vanilla pods or even vanilla extract. I could really taste that weird essence taste.

What you need:

• 1 cup ricotta
• 1 cup yoghurt
• 4-5 eggs (i used five, but I think it might only need four)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 a pod
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 sheets shortcrust pastry
• 300g Frozen cherries
• 1 tbsp sugar (for sprinkling on top)

What to do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC. Line the bottom and side of a spring-form cake tin with paper.
2. Defrost the pastry and use the cake to make in imprint of the circle size. Cut it out with a knife. Cut the other piece of pastry into 4 strips. Use 3 of them to line the edges of the cake tin. The leftover can be used to decorate the top. I actually used a cookie cutter to make a star for the centre of the pie. I think cut fine strips and made a spiral pattern on top.
3. Mix the eggs, ricotta, yoghurt, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Pour into the tin. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the pie from the over and place the cherries on top. Decorate with the left over pastry and then sprinkle with sugar.
5. Return to over for another 20-30 minutes. Be careful not to let the pastry burn!!
6. Serve at room temperature.