Until our videos last fall (2013) I had never baked a real pie before. Sure, I had used a premade pie crust, and premade filling, and called it a pie, but looking back, it really wasn’t. My adventures last year with Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie had given me the courage to knead more dough and attempt a cherry pie! You can find the pie crust recipe in the Apple Pie video.
The thing about cherry pie is that I don’t (well, didn’t) even like it! I don’t know what came over me when I decided that cherry would be the flavour I would go with this fall. What I soon learned though, is that I had never had good cherry pie. Oh, man, when I had my first bite of this pie, I was in love. I find that artificial cherry flavour is one of the worst flavours there are- it brings be back to cough syrup as a kid (and that is not a good thing). Using real cherries for this recipe is a must in my opinion. If you’re stuck you can use canned cherries in a pinch. but I take no blame for pies made with canned cherries!
The sweetness and tartness of cherries can very greatly, so with this recipe, you can adjust the amounts of lemon juice and sugar accordingly. If your cherries are really ripe and sweet, lessen the amount of sugar. If your cherries are sour, lessen the amount of lemon juice, or add additional sugar. The recipe is pretty flexible that way.
Homemade Cherry Pie
Ingredients:
- 4 cups pitted, whole cherries
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- prepared pie dough (enough for a top and bottom)
- melted butter
- Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 9″ pie plate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, cornstarch, water, lemon juice together. Pour over cherries, and stir to coat the cherries.
- Prepare pie dough, divide dough into two equal amounts and roll out the amount for the bottom layer. Place into prepared pie plate.
- Fill pie plate with cherry filling.
- Roll out pastry for the top of the pie. If desired, use a cherry cutter to cut out shapes from the pastry.
- Brush on melted butter along the rim of the pie, to ensure the top layer of pastry will adhere to the bottom layer.
- Transfer pastry to cover the pie evenly ad press top layer onto the bottom layer where the butter was brushed. You can use a fork to seal the edges as well.
- Brush the top of the pie with melted butter to help with browning of the crust.
- Bake until filling is firm, approximately 70-90 minutes.
- Allow to cool before slicing and serving.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Hello Jenn! I was wondering where the link or description to make your homemade pie crust is(: I love all of the tutorials you did, so I’ve decided to make a blueberry pie for my dad’s birthday! I was also wondering if I just swap out the blueberries for the cherries.. will the recipe still work? (even with the lemon juice) Thank you!
The recipe is linked in the ingredient list (you just have to click on it to get to it). I haven’t made it with blueberries, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
What kind of cherries do you use? Sweet bings? Sour?
I used Bing cherries…they were the only ones my store had.