Sour Cherry Pie

          Nothing compares to fresh baked cherry pie. Well maybe strawberry rhubarb, or lemon, or butterscotch, or pumpkin, maybe Dutch apple  Are you noticing a trend? I love my pie. Double crust, crumb topping, with ice cream or whipped, I love them all. (And am getting the waistline to prove it LOL)

     The hardest part of this recipe is finding and/or pitting the cherries. The season is over, it is only about ten days to two weeks long for sour sherries, but you can sometimes find the canned/frozen ones in a store. If you do, definitely try this pie, it is a real treat.

Sour Cherry Pie

Ingredients

pie crust pastry for a 9" double crust- recipe here

4-6 cups pitted sour cherries

1 cup sugar

1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Roll out pie dough and prepare for filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch until well mixed.

Pour over pitted cherries and mix until cherries are well coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell and top with plain or lattice top.

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes and reduce heat to 350 degrees.

Continue baking for about 30-35 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Serve warm with whipped or ice cream.

     Sour cherries are really juicy so the amount of cornstarch depends on how runny you want your pie. I like mine runny, so usually use no more than 1-1 1/2 tablespoons.

    I use 4 1/2 to 5 cups of fruit. I like a heavy pie. You can use sweet Bing or Ranier cherries or mix sweet and sour but it will change the sweetness of the final product. I like mine tart.

    I always do a double crust. Not co-ordinated enough to get the lattice top looking nice. If I want to fancy the top up, I cut out inserts with cookie cutters and offset them. Can be a little tricky but if company is coming...

     Almonds are a nice compliment to cherries. You can add a bit of extract to the filling, add slivers to the top or grind them into meal and incorporate into the pie pastry. The last is what I do, but not often. Lots of extra work and fuss.

     I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.