Amass the art of cherry pie making! The cherry pie filling and flaky all-butter crust in this simple recipe are rich and perfumed with almonds. Man, it tastes amazing!
For handmade sweets, this cherry pie recipe ranks high on my list of favorites. The crust is buttery and flaky, and the interior is velvety and perfumed with almonds. When cooled entirely, it slices cleanly without losing any of the filling’s juiciness, letting you enjoy the delightful texture of the cherry.
Making this cherry pie recipe couldn’t be easier. Warning though: it is time-consuming. Before you can put the pie together and bake it, the dough and filling must chill. Read on for some pointers on how to whip up the crust and filling a day or two ahead of time.
The Elements of a Cherry Pie Recipe
The ingredients for this delicious handmade cherry pie are:
Cherries, without a doubt! The recipe calls for tart cherries, often known as sour cherries. You may use sweet cherries for the tart ones; just keep in mind that they will increase the pie’s sugar content. Since frozen cherries are always in season, I usually use them as pie filling these days. However, fresh cherries would also work if you can easily get your hands on them. After you pit them, you’ll need 2 pounds, which is around 5 cups.
To thicken the cherry pie filling, use cornstarch and water to make a slurry.
The filling is made sweeter using cane sugar.
Spice things up with cinnamon and ground ginger for a savory, spicy kick.
Almond extract — the combination of almonds and cherries is irresistible. You may use vanilla extract instead of almond extract if you run out of the former.
For the pie crust, you may use store-bought dough if you don’t have any homemade, but my favorite is the flaky, buttery kind.
One egg, beaten with a splash of water to create an egg wash, will go into the crust.
Coarse sugar – Not required, but tastes great. It makes the crust’s top shine and tastes sweeter.
Also, some vanilla ice cream to top it all off.
Methods for Concocting Cherry Pie Filling
Before adding the filling to the pie, thicken the cherry juices on the stove to make a superb cherry pie filling. Reducing the quantity of fluid that soaks into the crust and makes it mushy is as simple as following this step. It will also make slicing the pie when it cools much easier. The recipe for my filling is as follows:
Begin by thawing two pounds of frozen cherries. To catch the juices, place the cherries in a sieve over a basin. Half a cup of juice. If you find that you need more juice than 1 cup, just microwave the cherries for around 15 seconds. To get 1 cup of cherry juice, repeat the process. Put any excess aside for later.
Next, turn cornstarch into a slurry. The cornstarch and water should be whisked together until completely smooth in a small bowl.
Make the juices thicker next. Bring the 1 cup of cherry juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture back to a boil after stirring in the sugar. Stir in the cornstarch slurry once the sugar has dissolved to thicken the mixture. After a while, it’ll get shiny, smooth, and transparent.
Blend the filling together lastly. Place the cherries in a large basin and add the thickened cherry juices. Add the spices, almond essence, and a dash of salt, and mix well.
After that, let the filling cool all the way. The key to successfully making homemade pie dough is to refrigerate it until it’s time to bake. We should fill it with a cold substance, not a warm one, so it stays cold for longer.
Put the Pie Together
It is time to put the pie together when the filling has cooled and the dough has refrigerated for at least two hours.
Make sure to follow the recipe’s directions for rolling out the crust first. Allow it to cool for half an hour in the refrigerator.
In the meantime, get the oven ready. Position a rack in the lower oven third and place a baking sheet on top of it. With the baking sheet inside, heat the oven to 425°F.
Later on, put the pie together! After the filling has cooled, pour it into the bottom crust.
The next step is to weave a top lattice. The top crust should be sliced into 1-inch pieces. On top of the pie, lay down four or five strips in a crosswise pattern. To create a lattice, thread four or five strips through them.
- As you weave, pull back the pieces as needed.
- Sour cherry pie in its unbaked state, topped with a lattice topping
After you’ve trimmed the lattice edges, bring the bottom crust edge up and over the trim, bringing it to meet the edge of the pie pan.
- Use a fork or your fingers to firmly press down on the dough.
- Using a pastry brush to apply egg wash on the lattice top
Apply the egg wash on the lattice using a brush. Advice: Use just the lattice! No brushing is necessary to brown the dough’s edges; they’ll accomplish it naturally.
- Prior to baking, the sour cherry pie was assembled in the pie dish.
- Gently dust the coarse sugar on top.
Bake it off last. After you have warmed the baking sheet, set the pie on top. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for another 15 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling.
This is when it gets tough! Before cutting into the pie, make sure it has cooled completely. A good four hours is required for this. Although it may be tempting to cut into the pie immediately, waiting for it to cool completely is essential for a perfectly clean slice.
Recipe Tips for Cherry Pie
Pie dough should be kept chilled. For an all-butter pie crust, the goal while baking is for the butter to melt and form beautiful flaky layers in the dough. While putting the pie together, it’s essential to keep the dough cool. Put it in the fridge for at least two hours before serving. Before putting the filling into the pie, I prefer to let the dough a half an hour to chill after rolling it out.
If the pie is browning too quickly, tent it with foil. After a few minutes of bubbling, and when the crust becomes a golden brown color, your cherry pie is done. Tent with foil to prevent the crust from browning too much before the filling bubbles.
Before cutting into the pie, make sure it has cooled completely. Serving the pie warm will cause the contents to seep out of the crust when you cut into it. After removing from the oven, let it to cool entirely for a clean slice. The recommended cooling time is four hours, although two hours would do in a pinch.
DOES A CHERRY PIE CRUST NEED TO BE PARBAKED?
Before baking, reduce the amount of liquid that could soak into the crust by thickening the cherry juices on the burner.
Another helpful tip is to bake the pie in the oven’s bottom third. By positioning the pie on a low rack, you may move the bottom crust closer to the heat source, since the heating components in most ovens run down the bottom.
In addition, I prefer to brown the bottom crust of the pie faster by placing it on a hot baking sheet. This is a technique that Melissa Clark of The New York Times taught me.
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