Eat Well, Live Happy: Sweet Cherry Pie

Today is Father's Day and I wanted to make my dad one of his favorite desserts, cherry pie. This morning I called a few local farms to see if they had any sour cherries, but was unable to get through to anyone. Knowing that they are in high demand and the cherry picking season is very short, I thought I should find an alternative. I searched online and found some recipes for sweet cherries or bing cherries, and the Giant by my house had them on sale. I decided to try one of the recipes and hoped my dad would like it as much as the sour cherry pies that my grandmother used to make for him.

I bought about 4 pounds of cherries and realized after starting to take the pits out that I had enough for two pies, so I made a pie dough recipe that makes enough dough for 3 pies. I was going to make one of the pies with a top and bottom crust and use the rest of the dough for a bottom crust and make a crumb topping in a tart dish, but it turned out I had enough to make two full pies with top and bottom crusts.

The pie was easy to make, although a little time consuming. I used a cherry pitter which was very helpful. Everything else was pretty straightforward. We ate the pie soon after it came out of the oven (instead of letting it cool) with vanilla ice cream. It was a little runny but tasted great. And most importantly, my dad enjoyed it!

Sweet Cherry Pie

Recipe courtesy SimplyRecipes.com

We've used ½ cup of sugar for the filling, which results in a pie not overly sweet. You may want to use more or less sugar, depending on how sweet you would like your pie to be, and how sweet your cherries are.

Pie dough for top and bottom (9 or 10-inch pie)

5 cups sweet cherries, pitted

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

3 Tablespoons corn starch

1 Tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Place the pitted cherries, sugar, almond extract, lemon juice and corn starch in a large bowl. Toss until the cherries are well coated with the sugar and other ingredients.

On a lightly floured clean surface, roll out the bottom crust. Form it into a 9 or 10-inch pie pan. Using kitchen scissors, trim the edges so that they extend beyond the edge of the pie pan by 1 inch. Place in the refrigerator while you roll out the top crust.

Roll out the top crust to about the same size as the bottom crust. Place the filling in the pie plate. Dot with small dabs of butter. Cover with the top crust. Trim the edges. Crimp to seal the edges together. Score the top crust with cuts so that the steam can escape while the pie is cooking (unnecessary if you are making a lattice crust). Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.

Optional egg wash: In a small bowl, whisk the egg with a tablespoon of water or milk. Use a pastry brush to brush over the top crust. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Place the pie in the middle rack, with a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any pie drippings. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temp to 350° and cook for 35 to 45 minutes longer, or until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is thick and bubbly.

Allow to cool completely before serving.

Makes 8 servings.