This post on making a Classic Cherry Pie was supposed to publish on June 2nd. I had a whole post written up ready to publish. Then came the death of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. It didn’t feel right to post about cherry pie during this time.
The past few weeks have been so difficult. I’m exhausted from seeing the amount of black people in this country killed by police. I’m exhausted by seeing blatant racist posts on social media from family and “friends”. I’m exhausted from people using religion as an excuse to be hateful towards other human beings. I’m exhausted that the LGBTQ community has to continue to fight for basic human rights in 2020.
It’s been hard to know what to say and do as a cis white female. I’ve been focusing on listening. Listening to my black friends. Listening to my trans friends. Attending BLM rallies to listen. To hear their pain. To learn what I can do better as a white person to fight for a more equal future.
I’ll continue to speak out on racism when I see and hear it. I believe God loves ALL his children regardless of their race, gender or sexuality and I will fight for the human rights of every person. We all deserve a fair and equal chance in this world. Below is my Classic Cherry Pie post. I still feel weird posting it but I hope that it will bring a slight sliver of brightness to the darkness we are currently experiencing today.
I made this Classic Cherry Pie for Memorial Day weekend. I was so excited to see fresh cherries back at the store! This pie served with some vanilla ice cream is the best way to break the heat all summer long. I used Tillamook ice cream with it. I’m currently obsessed with all of their products right now.
I used fresh and frozen cherries in the pie because I already had some frozen cherries at home. The best part about buying them frozen is that they are already pitted and you will save a ton of time. If you decide to use all frozen just make sure you rinse off the extra juice after you dethaw them. You’ll have a sticky and soggy mess from all the extra juice if you don’t. If you use fresh, you will need to pit them all, which can be pretty time consuming, but also really calming. Just put on your favorite tunes, day dream about a pre-corona world and pop those babes out.
After the cherries are pitted they are stirred with lemon juice (for brightness) sugar (for a little extra sweetness) corn starch (to thicken the juice) and a little cinnamon. Although pitting the cherries is work, the rest of the filling is really simple. Just pour it evenly into the pie pan and its good to go.
For the crust I decided to make it a little less sweet this time around since the cherries themselves are. I added slightly less sugar than I usually do and the crust turned out perfectly buttery and flaky. To braid the crust and lattice the top I made a double batch of pie dough. You’ll split the dough in half. One half goes into the pie dish and the other half is for the laticed top.
If you have never latticed before its really easy. You’ll want to roll your crust out into a circle so that its about 1/8 inch thick and slightly larger than the pie. Then you will cut the pie crust using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter into 3/4 inch strips (or bigger/ smaller depending on the look you’re going for). I used a pastry cutter to zig zag my edges.
Next you’ll lay down the strips vertically only, 3/4 of an inch apart. Then take a strip and weave it at the end going horizontally into a basket weave. Continue to weave horizontally down the pie until the whole pie is covered and a lattice forms. Take the remaining dough, ball it up and roll it back out, this time so the dough is long and skinny. Cut the dough into long 3/4 inch strips. Take the 3 strips and braid them together. When done braiding form the crust around the pie. If your braid is not long enough, mine was not, make some more strips and repeat until you have a full braided crust.
When the crust is done you will brush it with a simple egg wash and sprinkle on the coarse sugar. You’ll start by baking it at 425 degrees. Make sure that you watch the crust during this phase. If it starts to burn you can take it out and tent the edges with aluminum foil. Make sure to wear oven mits when doing this it will be very hot! Then after 30 minutes reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook for an additional 35 minutes. The cherry filling will be bubbling and smell delicious. Serve after it sets for 15 minutes with vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
- 2½ cups flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch slices
- 6 tablespoons ice water
Classic Cherry Pie
- 6 cups fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and rinsed of access juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons corn starch
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Crust
- Grease a medium bowl. Add the flour, sugar and salt to a food processor. Pulse a few times until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the butter becomes small balls. Add the ice water and pulse until the mixture starts to form into a dough. Remove from the food processor and form into a ball. Place in the grease bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Place in the fridge for at least an hour.
Classic Cherry Pie
- Preheat the oven to 425°. Grease a deep pie pan and set aside.
- Cut the dough in half. Flour a flat surface and place one ball of dough down. Roll it out until it is around 13 inches wide. Place into the pan and lightly press down into the corners. There will be extra dough along the edges. Using a butter knife, cut off the excess dough
- In a large bowl add the cherries and stir in the lemon juice. In a small bowl add the sugar, corn starch, and cinnamon. Stir until combined. Pour over the cherries. Stir together until all the dry ingredients have melted into the cherry juice. Add the cherry mixture to the pie dish. Spread the cherries evenly. Set aside.
- Using the same floured surface roll out the second ball of dough until it's around 13" wide. Using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter cut the dough into ¾ inch strips. Lay strips vertically ¾ apart. Take a strip and weave it horizontally lifting the vertical strips to create a basket weave. Repeat this until the entire pie is covered and a lattice is formed. Cut off the extra length on the strips.
- Take the remaining dough and roll it into a ball. Roll it back out and cut into ¾ inch strips. Using 3 strips, braid the dough to form the braided crust. You may have to do a couple of braids if your strips aren't long enough. Place the braided crust along the edge of the pie pan. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake the pie for 30 minutes at 425°. Watch the edges. If they begin to get too dark remove the pie and tent aluminium foil around the edges. Reduce the oven heat to 350° and bake for an additional 35 minutes until the crust is a golden brown and the cherry juice is bubbling up. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
For more summer desserts like this Classic Cherry Pie, try making the Peach Cake with Bourbon Whipped Cream Frosting or Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Bourbon Whipped Cream Frosting