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"tart tarts" might be fun?

i'm reading jacques pepin's memoir & he gives a recipe for his mom's apple tart-perhaps you could replace the apple with those delicious cherries?
dough:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg, broken into small bowl & beaten w/fork
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening (i.e. crisco)
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons hot milk
filling:
(he uses about 2 pounds of glden delicious apples, so i guess sub out for about 2 pounds of cherries)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, broken into pieces
for the dough:
preheat the oven to 400 degrees. put all the dough ingredients except the hot milk into a bowl. stir well w/a wooden spoon until mixture starts to combine. add the hot milk and stir until well mixed. do not overwork. the dough will be very soft. place it in a 9 inch pie plate (jacque's mom used a fluted metal quiche pan) and, using your fingers and a little extra flour to keep them from sticking, press the dough into the pan until it covers the bottom and sides.
for the filling:
(if doing apples-peel, core, and halve the apples. cut each half into 1 1/2 inch wedges. arrange the wedges on the dough like the spokes of a wheel.) for the cherries-i'd just arrange them beautifully...
sprinkle with sugar, and top with the butter, broken into pieces.
bake the tart for approximately 1 hour, or until crust is golden. serve it lukewarm.

granita........yum.

Sandwiched with whipped cream in a Guinness stout chocolate cake or chocolate shortbread, with Irish whiskey ganache. (That is my first tart cherry dessert every year by request.)

Lemon upside down cake with the cherries on the bottom.

Strudel.

My favorite though will always be a pie with a crisp topping that has lots of almonds, oats and cinnamon. With vanilla ice cream.

My dad used to make guinda with sour cherries. We used a giant Carlo Rossi wine jug. It was the perfect dessert drink for special events. I don't know my dad's exact recipe since he just threw it together about once a year.

I found this link for a recipe.

Basically it says:
1/2 liter water
600 cc of alcohol (we always used vodka)
750 g of sugar
1/2 kilo of sour cherries
1 vanilla bean

Rinse and dry cherries, pierce or pit them. Pour cherries and alcohol in a bottle, cap tightly and macerate the fruit for 20-25 days. Make a simple syrup with the sugar, water, and vanilla. Cool the syrup and add to the alcohol/fruit. Store for another 15-20 days before using.

We always stored it in the back of the liquor cabinet during the whole process since it was a nice dark and dry spot.

black forest cake.....

or freeze them and whip 'em out in january.... what a treat.

Thank you all SO MUCH! I ended up freezing many of the cherries, but also mixed some with blueberries to make lemon-glazed mini pies; made cherry sorbet with just a touch of almond extract; will make a chocolate cherry cake for our weekly staff meeting on Wednesday; and gave in to my son and will bake a lattice-topped pie tonight. All of these suggestions are amazing, and have given me plenty of ideas and notions for the next few weeks of cherry season -- again, thank you!!!

This is a sour cherry syrup recipe from the NY Times. Our sour cherries were ripe in Ohio about 2 weeks ago and my friend let me pick all of the cherries from her backyard tree. I harvested quite a lot and made a cherry pie, cherry preserves, sour cherry lemonade, and this cherry syrup that was so easy and no pitting required. We have been making Italian Soda with it and it's just delicious. We also used it with vanilla vodka and soda water to make cherry cream soda. That was fun. My husband loves Schwarzvaleder Kirsh Torte so I'm planning to make that with the preserves.

5 cups sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 pounds washed and stemmed sour cherries, unpitted.

1. In a large pan, bring sugar, lime juice and 3 cups water to a boil, stirring occasionally. Tie cherries up in 2 layers of cheesecloth and gently lower into pan. Cook over medium heat for 25 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

2. Lift cherries in their cheesecloth and hold above pan for a minute to let syrup drain. Set cherries aside and let everything cool.

3. Pour syrup into clean jars or bottles. Keep in refrigerator until needed. If desired, place cherries in a clean jar and cover with syrup.

Yield: 2 quarts.