Sift the plain flour (200g) into a large bowl.

Add the caster sugar (40g) and ground almonds (75g).

Cut the butter (125g) into cubes and add to the bowl.

Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Once the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs add the egg (1 egg).

Mix the egg into the mixture and then bring it together with your hands. If the mixture is a little dry and crumbly, knead it a few times until it comes together. Be careful not to over-knead the pastry as this will make it less tender to eat.

Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for about half an hour while you make the pie filling.

Remove the stones from the cherries (350g).

Put the cherries in a medium-sized saucepan along with the caster sugar (100g), cornflour (1 tbsp) and lemon juice (1 lemon).

Cook on a gentle heat for about 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced and the cherries are slightly softened. Stir regularly to ensure they don't burn.

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan.

Lightly grease the muffin tin with butter.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to your desired thickness - I prefer not to make the pastry too thin as I like a generous amount of cherry filling and keeping the pastry a little thicker gives the right balance or pastry and filling. I sometimes have trouble with pastry sticking, so I cheat and put the pastry between two sheets of cling film before rolling. The cling film is then easily peeled off. I also prefer not to roll out all of the pastry in one go. I roll out enough for a few circles, keeping the rest in the fridge until I'm ready to use it.

Cut out 6 large circles and carefully press each circle into a hole in the muffin tin. If you accidentally make a hole in the pastry, use a small piece of spare pastry to plug it.

Evenly distribute the cherry filling between the 6 pies.

Cut out 6 smaller circles and place on top of each pie. Gently press around the edges to seal the lid to the base. Alternatively you can make a lattice top using the tutorial further up the page.

If you're using the plain circular top, use a sharp knife to cut a slit in the top of each pie.

Brush the top of each pie with a little milk.

Bake the pies for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden in colour.

Once cooked, remove them from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes. You can then remove them from the tin and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.