Cherry Pie!

One of my favorite recipe blogs, Simply Recipes, posted a recipe for Sweet Cherry Pie a few weeks ago and I could resist the temptation to try it.  I have never made a real cherry pie and, no offense mom to your can cherry pies, but no one in my family has to my knowledge.  After pitting three pounds of cherries, I can see why.  I think I spent most of Center Stage pitting cherries and my fingers were stained for days.  

I couldn't wait for it to cool, so it was a bit liquidy in the pictures but was still amazing!

Despite all of that, it was totally worth it. Delicious!  I didn't use the Simple Recipes crust, I used my own quick pat in the pan recipe from good old Betty Crocker.  I think I am going to have to make this again soon...  

Ingredients

Crust:

• 3 cups flour
• 4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoon milk

Filling:

•  5 cups sweet cherries, pitted (I used Bing and it was about 3lbs unpitted)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 Tbsp of butter, cut into small pieces

Egg wash:

• 1 egg
• 1 table spoon milk
• Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Method

1. For the crust, combine the flour, sugar and salt together.  Mix in Oil and water. Set the rest aside. 
2. 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.
3. Press 2/3 of crust into a 9 -inch pie pan to make the bottom. The edges should extend beyond the edge of the pie pan a bit. Place in the refrigerator while you roll out the top crust.
4. Roll out the top crust to be a few inches bigger than your pan on a lightly flour surface.  I like to roll it between wax or parchment paper since this crust is flaky, it like to break. 
5. Place the filling in the pie plate. Dot with small dabs of butter. 
6. Cover with the top crust, use the wax paper to keep it together while you move it over the filling and flip it over.  Trim the edges. Crimp to seal the edges of the top and bottom together. Score the top crust with cuts so that the steam can escape while the pie is cooking.
7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.
8. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
9. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with a tablespoon of milk. Use a pastry brush to brush over the top crust (I do not have a brush so I just use a paper towel and it seems to work fine). Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar.
10.  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°F and cook for 35 to 45 minutes longer, or until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is thick and bubbly.
11. Allow to cool completely before serving. ( failed at this step, but it was so worth it!) 

Enjoy!