How to Make Cherry Macapuno Pie

All you need to make this Cherry Macapuno pie is some ready made puff pastry, a jar of Macapuno and a bag of frozen cherries. It's a very low lift dessert, with high impact. Serve it with a drizzle of Pandan Ganache and scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Hello out there!

I feel like every time I post I'm always starting out with an apology. It's like the thing I do now... Well, it's been a bit overwhelming. The world is imploding and we have an unvaccinated 6 year old kid who just started in person school and they already have a covid case in her regular class as well as in her weekend Japanese class. I'm just a ball full of worry. So why share recipes at this time? Who is even cooking right now? I only find myself cooking when I have a photography job and the rest of the time my Mom who is here (thank goodness) does most of the cooking and the rest well.. it's been take out food.

But this pie though. It's needs to be shared. It's so easy and when it's baked the macapuno strings become like candy. Let's make it and try to make it to the end of the year in one piece.

What is Macapuno?

First of all what is Macapuno? Well, it's a coconut that has developed abnormally. Usually when you crack open a coconut there is white flesh with water in the middle. Macapuno, on the other hand has no coconut water and all white flesh when opened. It's also very thick and more jelly like. Through science (yay science!) trees have been modified to grow these kinds of coconuts.

In the Philippines these Macapuno are scooped out as strings and preserved in a sugar syrup. It can be bought in jars in stores like Seafood City, Island Pacific and mom and pop stores. Or online at Sarap Now.

Ingredients for Cherry Macapuno Pie

This is what you will need to make the Cherry Macapuno Pie.

• Small Bag of Frozen Cherries
• Jar of Macapuno Strings
• Vanilla Extract
• Frozen Puff Pastry - When using puff pastry, make sure you defrost it correctly. It's best done in the refrigerator for 2 hours before baking time. Not on the counter top. This will melt the butter and you won't get that puffy texture.
• Egg (for egg wash)
• Granulated Sugar
• Sweet Rice Flour (Mochiko) - This will be used as a thickening agent for the filling.

Make the Cherry Macapuno Filling

First you are going to make the cherry macapuno filling, as you need it to cool down before putting it on puff pastry.

Place the whole bag of frozen cherries, the whole jar of macapuno strings and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a small sauce pan.

Turn the heat up to medium and stir for about 5 minutes until the cherries start softening.

Once the cherries are soft, we are going to do a very technical thing and turn down the heat while you get kitchen scissors and start cutting the cherries into smaller pieces. Basically cutting the cherries into quarters.

The third step is to let it cook for a further 5 minutes to release even more juice, so it looks a bit soupy.

For the fourth step, add in 2 tablespoons of the sweet rice flour to thicken up the sauce. It should now look like this.

It should now look jammy and thick. Set aside and leave to cool fully. While it's cooling down, make the Pandan Ganache drizzle.

Pandan Ganache Drizzle

To make the drizzle you will need the following ingredients.

• White Chocolate
• Pandan Powder
• Milk
• Pinch of Salt

First put the pandan powder and milk in a sauce pan. Mix until the pandan powder is fully incorporated into the milk.

Next add in the white chocolate. Stir until it's fully melted. It should be nice and thick. If it looks a bit thin, add a bit more white chocolate a little at a time.

Leave to cool and set aside while the pies bake.

Make the Cherry Macapuno Pies

Now it's time to make the pies. Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Make sure you follow the directions on defrosting instructions of your puff pastry. Roll it out into a rectangle and cut into 16 equal pieces.

Dock the pie pieces by poking each receptacle with a fork 3 times. Poking the raw dough helps keep it less puffy under the pie filling. Or else it will just get big and puffy and the filling will spill out. Docking keeps it all in the middle.

Equally divide the Cherry Macapuno filling between each puff pastry staying in the middle.

Brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle some sugar all around.

Put the uncooked pies in the freezer for 15 minutes to harden again.

Bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes until the pastry is nice and golden brown and crisp to the touch.

They should look like jewels when they come out of the oven. Leave to cool fully. You can see below that the filling gets even more jammy and the macapuno turns into a cherry covered candy. I mean. It. Is. So. Good!!

How to Serve Cherry Macapuno Pies

Once the pies have cooled down, dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream (coconut is really great with it!) And then drizzle with the pandan ganache.

As what the kids would say now a days. It slaps.

Frequently Asked Questions

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