Fresh Cherry Pie

The first time I every made pie, it went horribly wrong.

I read some instructions on how to make a pie crust and it ended up turning into a sticky wet mess, so I used store bought dough and as a 16 year old, I thought it was the same dough you make at home. (Don't worry, now I know other wise, but will not judge if you want to use store bought pie crust. I just highly recommend you make your own).

No matter, I wanted to make sure I made my own filling.

So I went out, picked a ton of blackberries. (Don't worry, this is a cherry pie recipe, just talking about my very first pie).

And I mean a ton.

I washed them.

Prepped them.

Placed them into the pie shell.

And then baked them.

40 minutes later, it was a disaster. The berry juice was everywhere, the middle of my pie was a puddle, like soup.

I had no idea what I did wrong.

So, I gave up pies that year. Said I would never bake them again.

However, I had lied to myself. 8 years later, I made an apple pie with fresh pastry and a fresh filling and it was beautiful. Now, I make at least 1 pie a month. Or more! Which makes me so happy because now I can show you what I have learned, so you don't have a puddle of juice.

I mean, could you resist a slice of this?

Makes 1 Pie

Takes About: 3 Hours (Including the crust and pitting the cherries)

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

Prep:

Make your crust, you can find my recipe here, and place it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Once your crust is made and you start your pie, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

4 cups fresh cherries (pitted and stemmed

1/4 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you want your pie)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

a splash of milk

Instructions:

Step 1 - If You Have Not Already

Stare at these beautiful cherries first.

I just love the look of cherries, don't you?

And then pit them and take off all their stems. If you don't have a tool to pit your cherries (like me), you can go ahead and cut them in half and pop the seed out instead and place them in a large pot. This took me an hour.

Step 2 - Cook the Cherries

Once you have pitted and stemmed your cherries, you can add the 1/4 cup sugar (if you want the pie sweeter), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, and 3/4 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Place this on low medium heat for about 10 minutes of until the cherries become soft and the mixture thickens slightly.

Step 3 - Prepare Pie Crust

As the cherries cook, go ahead and prepare your pie shell.

If you have a complicated topping, prepare it now before adding the cherries to the shell.

Step 4 - Add Cherries to Pie Shell

Once your cherries are done, they will look slightly like this.

Once at this point, spoon the cherries into your pie crust and spread them out evenly.

Step 5 - Add Your Pie Topping

I cut out hexagons to place them all around the top of my pie, but you can do a lattice topping or just lay a piece of dough over top the cherries, but if you do that, make sure you poke holes into the top of the crust to allow steam to exit.

Step 6 - Egg Wash and Bake

In a small bowl, mix the 1 egg and small splash of milk. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of your pie with this mixture. If you notice that your crust is not sticking to the bottom crust, you can either pinch it together or add a little egg wash as glue. Once the top is completely covered in egg wash, sprinkle it with a little pit of course sugar and pop it into the oven for about 40-45 minutes or until the top is brown.

Step 7 - And Enjoy!

Yup, that simple. You are probably wondering why you have never made a fresh cherry pie. I can't answer that for you, but I can encourage you to go do that now.

Go do it!