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["Make the pastry dough:
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In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the dry ingredients together, then add the cold butter and lard. Give 7-9 quick pulses, or until the fats are just bigger than peas.
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Turn on the processor and add the water in a stream down the feed tube while the machine runs, just until the dough has started to collect together in a mass around the blade.
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Turn the dough out onto your work surface, and use the heels of your hand to smear the dough out all over (about five or six strokes are perfect); the goal is to create flaky little layers of butter in the dough, while keeping it as cold as possible- this is called a fraisage.
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Gather the dough and form into a disk.
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Chill for at least one hour.
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(This can also be done by hand, rustic style: cutting the fats into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry blender, then adding the ice water and proceeding as usual).", "Make the filling:
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Mix the dried cherries with the juice, zest, sugar and salt in a saucepan.
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Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium/ medium-low, and continue to simmer until the cherries have plumped beautifully, and the mixture is reduced by about half.
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Add the drained cherries. Using an immersion blender, or taking about 1/3 of the mixture out and putting in the food processor, lightly puree some of the cherry mixture. The idea is to get some of the cherries broken down to thicken and hold the filling together, while leaving a nice textural element to the filling. Just eye it and call it a day.
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Continue to cook the filling until it has reduced down to a lovely thick jammy compote.
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Cool the mixture completely (if it is only very slightly warm, you can get away with it, but you just don't want to melt the crust).", "Assemble the pies!
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Divide the chilled dough in two, and roll out each half. This is a matter of preference, we like a thinner crust, about 1/8"" thick. Cut out rectangles (or other simple shapes) by hand, or with a toaster pastry stamper (ours measures approximately 3 1/2"" x 4 1/2"". Be sure to cut out an even number of shapes, so they can be paired together.
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If you have leftover dough scraps, you can cut out little shapes (stars, hearts etc.) to decorate the pies with, or to brush with melted butter or an egg wash, and then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar and nibble on with a cup of tea.
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Lay the pastry shapes onto parchment lined baking sheets. Brush the edges of the rectangles with an egg wash (whisk an egg with a spot of cream or milk) and spoon on the filling; keep the filling within the border of the egg wash (about 1/2'' from the sides), mounding it some in the center.
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Lay a pastry piece atop a piece with filling, pressing lightly around the edges to seal. Use a table fork to gently tamp down the edges all around the pastries. This will help seal them, and also leave cute crimp marks.
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Brush the sealed pastries with egg wash. Decorate with dough shapes if you're feeling artsy. *Note, if you are skipping the cream cheese glaze, I would give the pies a nice sparkly sprinkle of sugar (turbinado or regular).", "Refrigerate the pies for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.", "Bake the pies for five minutes. Then turn down the oven to 375 degrees and continue baking for about another 20 minutes, or until the pies are golden brown all over. Some cherry filling may have seeped out in a couple of places, which should luxuriously bubble about around the edges and contribute beautifully to the appeal.", "Cool the pies some before adding the glaze. They are sublime warm with the glaze, which will start to melt into a translucent creaminess (if you were- or still are- a Toaster Strudel lover, you will be in dreamland). They are also fabulous served tepid (picnic style!!!) with the glaze. The decision is yours, though you'll probably want to sample one in each way just to make sure. . .", "Make the cream cheese glaze:
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Stir together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and cream until well incorporated. The mixture should have the texture of a soft icing.
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Adorn the pastries with the glaze at your pleasure: you may wish to spread it all over, drizzle it with the tines of a fork, or use a pastry bag (or a plastic bag with the corner snipped), and go for it.
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The glaze will set up, which allows for perfect packing into picnic baskets or lunch boxes. I have found that the glaze holds fine at room temperature.
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The pies, glazed or not, will keep for 2-4 days well-wrapped at room temperature, but they freeze beautifully. Just wrap the pies, put them in a sealed plastic bag before setting them in the freezer. Bring them back to life in a 375 degree oven until warm and crisp again.", "Enjoy!!!!!"]
