I have made this pie once a year for the last several years. On Memorial Day weekend, I visit my parents in the central valley to go cherry picking. It has become a tradition with my parents and a few close friends of the family. I love it. You will never find cherries in the store as good as the ones you pick yourself. I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance. Mr. Hotness requests cherry pie every year after this cherry picking trip. After pitting and freezing the cherries, I finally found some time to make this pie for the 4th of July! (I’ve been a little busy, thus the long gap between picking and baking)
This can be a very quick recipe with the use of a food processor. If you don’t have one, you would have to either cut the flour and butter/shortening together with 2 knives or use a pastry cutter. I have done the 2 knives method in the past….it takes quiet a bit longer to get the butter pieces to the size you would need to make a nice crust. I have yet to try the pastry cutter method. I finally have a pastry cutter, but I haven’t used it yet. 🙁 The food processor takes a few seconds to get the texture you need from the flour and the butter/shortening. It should look grainy and crumbly when done.
Then you add a little bit of ice water with the crumbly flour mixture and press it together with a firm spatula. The dough will start sticking together, but it should not get sticky. If it gets sticky, add pinch more flour. It should just come together. And remember to not over work the dough! If you over work it, you won’t get that yummy flaky crust, instead it will turn into a rock.
I let my dough refrigerate until I need it, but at least give it an hour. When you finally take it out of the fridge, give it about 15-20 minutes to get around room temperature. If you start to roll it out right out of the fridge it will just crack and fall apart. Roll it out over a floured surface and transfer the dough to a pie tin. If you are using aluminium disposable tins, be very careful after the pie has filling in it. It will be heavy and it will bend the tin. Make sure to support the tin with your hand underneath. Don’t just hold it on the sides. Disaster will happen if you only hold it on the sides!
Make sure to put in some kind of thickener into your pie filling! Otherwise you will have fruit soup in a soggy crust! Also, in this recipe, I used fresh sweet cherries not preserved sour cherries from a can. I didn’t put all the liquid into the pie crust that came from the pie filling mixture. The sweet cherries were sweet enough so I didn’t think I needed all that extra sugar. With the preserved sour cherries, you probably will. Taste the filling before putting it in! It will be about the same taste after its cooked. Top the filling with the other half of the dough, pinch the edges together with your fingers or a fork. Make some holes in the top to let out steam! I like doing a pretty pattern….at least try to make it look pretty. Sometimes I fail at this. But after you eat it, it doesn’t matter.
Lessons Learned:
- Make sure you give yourself enough time. It does get messy and takes some patience, but it is worth it.
- Don’t over mix the dough. You don’t want rock-crust.
- Use fresh fillings whenever you have the chance! SOOOOOOO much better than using the canned stuff!
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 7 Tbsp vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces and chilled
- 10 Tbsp of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
- 8-10 Tbsp of ice water
- 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 6 cups fresh cherries or sour canned cherries
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- For the crust, place all ingredients except the water into a food processor. Pulse several times until incorporated and crumbly.
- Place flour mixture into a bowl and slowly add ice water a tablespoon at a time while pressing the dough together with a firm spatula. It should come together, but not be sticky.
- Separate the dough in two and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
- While the dough is in the fridge, mix all of the filling ingredients together in a large bowl. If you are using fresh cherries, let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes to let some of the extra juices seep out of the cherries.
- Take out the chilled dough and let it sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes until a little soft.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F before starting to assemble the pie.
- Roll out the first half of the dough until about ¼" thick and transfer it to a 9" pie tin. Let the extra dough hang over the sides. Fill the tin with the cherry filling.
- Roll out the second half of the dough until about ¼" thick. Place the dough over the cherry filling. Cut excess dough from around the tin.
- Pinch together the perimeter of the pie crust with either your fingers or a fork. Cut some holes in the top crust for steam to escape. Brush a little bit of water over the top crust and sprinkle 1 Tbsp of sugar over it.
- Place the pie on a cookie sheet to catch any spills while in the oven. Place pie in oven and lower temperature to 425 degrees F.
- Bake until top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Rotate the pie and lower the temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for another 30-35 minutes until the juices are bubbling and the crust is a deeper golden brown.
- Cool pie on a rack before serving. The pie can be stored at room temperature for a few days.
(This recipe was inspired by the Lattice-Top Cherry Pie recipe from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
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