Cherry Pie Recipe

For the Filling

Ø  4 cups pitted fresh sour cherries

Ø  1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

Ø  ¼ cup cornstarch

For the crust

Ø  2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Ø  1 tsp salt

Ø  2/3 cup shortening (cold)

Ø  ¾ cup butter (cold)

Ø  ¼ cup (scant) ice water

Ø  2 additional tablespoons butter

You will need about 5 ½ cups of fresh cherries to end up with 4 cups of pitted cherries. Save as much of the juice as you can during the pitting process.

Place pitted cherries in a saucepan over low heat. Add sugar. Once sugar has melted, stir in cornstarch. Heat mixture for about 10 minutes (does not need to boil), then set aside.

Be sure the butter and shortening are at least refrigerator cold before starting crust. Add flour and salt to a food processor. Cut ¾ cup of butter and all of the shortening into small chunks and scatter on top of flour. Pulse for several seconds until fats are thoroughly incorporated into flour. Add ice cold water a tablespoon at a time, pulsing between additions, until mixture begins to hold together as a dough.

(You can use a large bowl and a pastry cutter to cut in the fats by hand until the flour is coarse and granular, but a food processor is vastly easier.)

Remove dough and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Generously flour a rolling surface for the pie crusts. Divide refrigerated dough into two equal portions and form into thick discs. Roll one disc to form the bottom crust and place in a lightly greased 9 inch pie pan.

Add pie filling. Dot the top of the filling with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces.

Roll out and place top crust, pinching edges of crusts to seal. Cut 4 slits about 2 inches long in top crust to allow steam to escape.

If desired, brush top crust with egg wash and dust with about a teaspoon of granulated sugar before placing in oven.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature and bake for an additional 30 – 40 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, of course.

Sour cherry pie is my favorite pie. When friend Sean let me know there were ripe cherries needing to be picked from a tree in his front yard, I did not hesitate. And these are some SOUR cherries! I don’t know what cultivar his tree is, but Montmorency are the type most commonly available by commercial cherry growers around Traverse City.

I couldn’t find my cherry pitter. Perhaps someone reading this borrowed it, I don’t know. In this case I pitted by cutting a small slit in each cherry and squeezing the pit out. Yes, it was the most time-consuming part of the project. I just had to get into a Zen space and pit cherries for about an hour.

One could argue that it isn’t necessary to grease a pie pan, since pie crust has so much fat in it. One would be right until experiencing a bit of the filling sneaking underneath and supergluing the crust to the pan. I always lightly grease everything I bake in.

Don’t skimp on the sugar. You will need it to cut the sourness of the cherries. Besides, this is a pie! Pies were made (with rare exception) to sit on the countertop for two or three days until eaten. You don’t need to refrigerate your pies; sugar is a natural preservative. (There is nothing more disappointing than ordering a piece of cherry pie from a restaurant and getting a cold piece of crust filled with cherry goo.)

And there you go.