Sorry not the best picture- but this is what happens when you cut a cherry pie before it has cooled. What happened is, well, -you know… the smell drives you crazy whilst it’s baking and you just can’t wait- so you eat it hot. If it’s made of nice juicy pie cherries like these you’ll end up with a bit of a pool under some lovely flaky pastry. All in all not so bad. Any way it’s served this is one of my favorite pies!

One of the tricks I’ve learned with cherry pie is to add a bit of lemon juice and zest. You’d think you might not want to make the tart cherries any tarter but really the lemon  just rounds out the flavor nicely- making the cherries a bit cheerier if you know what I mean 🙂

I always use all butter for my pastry. My Gran used Crisco but this is one area where I have moved on. I’m not a fan of trans-fats and I don’t like that greasy feel you get on the roof of your mouth with shortening too much. I’m a butter girl- through and through. What may be slightly sacrificed in workability is more than amply made up in taste.

All Butter Pastry- makes a double crust pie or two singles

• 2-1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
• pinch of salt
• large pinch of sugar
• 1 cup unsalted cold, cold butter cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup of iced water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together, cut the butter in. Then rub the flour/butter in one direction only between your cold hands- one time. Add the water and stir to make a shaggy dough that only holds together a bit. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and turn the dough out onto it. Press together into a disk and chill for about a half hour. It is ready to use then or can be frozen for future use.

Cherry Pie

• 6 cups pitted sugared pie cherries, (can use frozen- slightly thaw before mixing)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• the zest of one lemon, finely minced
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter chilled and cut into bits

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Stir well to distribute evenly. Pour into a deep dish pie plate lined with 2/3 recipe of the all butter crust rolled out and trimmed to a bit proud of the rim, dot the top with bits of butter. Roll the remaining 1/3 out to a rectangle and cut into strips the size you like. Weave the strips to make a lattice on top. Seal and crimp the edges. Place the pie plate on a baking tray lined with aluminum foil to catch any overflowing juice. Place into a preheated 400F oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back top to bottom and reduce the heat of the oven to 375F, bake for another 50 minutes to an hour or until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling thickly where you can see them. Ideally cool for 2 hours before cutting. Or if you can’t wait -just use a spoon to deal with the juice.  🙂

Hope you enjoy!