The Best Homemade Cherry Pie – Nut Free and Delicious
Okay friends . . . summer isn’t over yet. Even if my kids have gone back to school (sob, sob). And the days are already getting noticeably shorter. And high school football is already in full swing. We’ve still got 22 more days of my favorite season.
And while I love fall–I’m not one of those pumpkin spice haters–summer is WAY. TOO. SHORT. as it is, to give up too quickly. Come February, you all are going to be wishing you squeezed in a little bit more summer time while you could.
Oh, and if by some chance you are reading this post in February, this recipe for the Best Homemade Cherry Pie would be delicious then too.
But for now, I’m holding tight to summer. And there is no better summer dessert than homemade cherry pie.
Why You’ll Love It:
Let’s see. There are a lot of reasons to love this cherry pie. It’s sweet. But not too sweet. Tart. But not too tart. And pretty darn easy to make.
I know the steps can look daunting. There are a lot of steps to making homemade pie. But they aren’t hard. I promise.
The only “tricky” part is the crust. And notice how I put “tricky” in quotes. That’s because even the crust really isn’t that hard.
For years, I resisted making homemade pie crust. My Mom always said it was too much work. And too finicky. Pillsbury was good enough for her, and she was THE BAKER in the family. So it was good enough for me.
Then I got adventurous in the kitchen. I started making homemade bread and pizza crust and crescent rolls and pierogis, and, even, empanada dough. But I still had this idea I couldn’t make pie crust.
WRONG!
Finally, my daughter just did it. She found a recipe. She tried it. And voilà–we are now a family who makes homemade pie crust. (At least she does. If I’m not baking for the blog I’ve still been known to cheat on occasion. Although, can I tell you a secret? I prefer the frozen pie crust to the refrigerated one).
Speaking of my daughter . . . she actually made the cherry pie you are seeing in this post. Over the years, she’s the ripe old age of 16, she’s tweaked her pie crust recipe, and has baked up countless pies for us. This homemade cherry pie is one of our faves. She recently made this one at her older brother. He lives in Florida now. But before his last trip home he specifically requested this pie. Lucky us!
And lucky you . . . because I can share this delicious homemade cherry pie recipe with you today!
How to Make the Best Homemade Cherry Pie
Make the Cherry Pie Crust:
My secret weapon for making pie crust in the food processor. Sure, you can use a pastry cutter or the two forks method. But the food processor is much faster and a lot less work. Some people say that it makes the dough a little tougher, but I’ve never noticed.
Start by pulsing together the flour and the salt. Then add your cold butter and shortening. I cut them into bite size pieces and put them back in the fridge. You want the fat to be nice and cold when you add it to the flour. Combine in short bursts until the mixture resembles coarse meal. The pieces should be roughly the size of a pea. A figure bigger chunks of fat are okay at this point.
Add one-half cup of cold water to a measuring cup. Add ice cubes and stir it around. Remeasure 1/2 cup (remember you added the ice which has melted so you’ll have more than 1/2 cup now) and slowly drizzle it into the food processor, with the food processor running. You want to add about a tablespoon at a time.
You might not need all the water. In between additions, use a rubber scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop adding water when the dough begins to form clumps. During the summer months I typically use the 1/2 cup. If it’s really humid I might need a little bit less. In the winter, the drier months, sometimes I use as much as 3/4 of a cup. You just want the dough to start to come together.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and bring it together in your hands. Using floured hands, fold the dough in half repeatedly until all of the flour is fully absorbed into the fats. Form it into a ball, divide in half and then flatten each half into a 1-inch thick disc. Trust me, it’s easier to do this now, before the dough gets too hard.
Wrap each half tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can store it in the fridge for up to five days.
It’s really not as hard as it sounds. But if it feels like too much work, go ahead and buy a pie crust. I won’t tell.
Prepare Your Crust:
Remove the dough from the oven about 10 minutes before you begin rolling, to prevent cracking.
Roll out one piece of dough into a circle just bigger than your pie pan. This is how I roll out pie crust. I start with my dough in the center of the work surface. Beginning in the center of the disc, I roll the dough away from me in one firm, even stoke. Then I rotate the disc a quarter turn. Clockwise, counterclockwise, it doesn’t matter. Just pick a direction and stick with it.
Roll again. Rotate. Roll again. Rotate.
Repeat the process until you have a circle of dough about 3 inches larger than your pie plate and the dough is about 1/4 inch thick.
You can lightly sprinkle more flour on the work surface, on the dough, and on the rolling pin as needed to prevent sticking. But try not to use too much flour as it can make your crust gummy.
Carefully transfer the dough to your pie pan. I find it often helps to fold the dough in half, place the crease in the center of the pan and gently open up and push the crust down into the pan and up the sides. Be careful not to tear the dough.
Return the pie crust (in the pan) to the fridge while you make the pie filling. If I’m making lattice crust, I’ll cut my strips now and put those in the fridge on a parchment lined baking sheet too.
Make the Cherry Pie Filling:
Want to the know the secret to this homemade cherry pie? Frozen cherries!
Why? Well, I’m allergic to fresh cherries. So is my son. We could “probably” eat them once they baked in the pie. But why take the chance?
IMPORTANT! I’m talking about oral allergy syndrome. Not a food allergy. Cooking and baking foods NEVER make them safe for people with food allergies. But in Oral Allergy Syndrome (or OAS) the proteins in the fruit mimic pollens that I am allergic too. So when I eat the fruit, my body thinks I’m eating trees and pollen and goes into a full blown allergic fit.
Most of the time it isn’t dangerous. Time and Benadryl calm everything down. But there’s always the off chance that the reaction could turn more serious. Plus, it’s downright uncomfortable. So it’s not worth eating cherries.
Check out this post to learn more about cherry allergies.
Anyway . . . we get around that by using frozen cherries. It’s so much easier too. You don’t have to pit all the cherries. But if you want to use fresh cherries, by all means go right ahead. The measurements will be the same.
Put the frozen cherries in a pan and cook over medium heat. You want them to thaw and most of the liquid to evaporate. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes. While the cherries are heating up, mix the sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Add the lemon juice. Continue cooking over medium heat until thickened, stirring frequently. This will take between 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for about two more minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Let the cherries cool to room temperature. If the filling is too thick, add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time. If it’s too thin, add a little more cornstarch 1 teaspoon at a time.
Assemble the Cherry Pie:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Don’t use the liquid on the bottom. You don’t wan a soggy cherry piel
Dot the filling with butter. Add another layer of pie crust to the top or make a lattice top. See directions below.
Brush the crust lightly with an egg wash. This helps keep the crust together and makes the crust a glossy, golden brown. If using a solid pie crust on top, cut a small slit in the center to allow heat to escape.
Bake:
Place pie on a baking pan and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. You want to bake this pie in the middle to lower part of your oven. (If you bake it too close to the heat it may bubble up and make a mess. the baking pan will help prevent a huge mess.)
Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 50-60 minutes until the crust is light golden brown and the cherries are bubbling.
Make a Lattice Crust:
Ready to up your pie making game? Try a lattice crust.
Start with refrigerated dough that has been sitting out for 10 minutes. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough into a circle the size of your pie pan. Use a pizza cutter or pastry wheel to cut the dough into strips. I like to make my strips on the thicker side. It’s easier to work with the dough that way.
Refrigerate strips on a parchment-line baking sheet for about 30 minutes while you make the filling. This will make the strips easier to work with.
Take the largest strip and place it across the center of your pie vertically. Working from the center out, place two additional strips on either side. Peel back every other strip, and place another strip of pie crust across the existing strips.
Enjoy!
This homemade cherry pie is the perfect dessert for any occasion. It’s just as fitting for a casual backyard get together as it is for a formal event. And it looks just as pretty on plain old paper plates (the compostable kind, of course), as it does on Grandma’s china.
Want to make it even better? Serve with some natural vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream.
I do recommend letting the pie cool for a couple of hours before serving. This will let the filling thicken up a bit.
I know, I know . . . it’s hard. Warm pie with melty ice-cream is soooo good. But your pie is more likely to stay together if you wait a bit. If you want to serve it warm you can either let it cool to room temperatrue and then reheat individual slices at 325 degree for about 5 minutes. Or, you can pop it in the microwave.
And if you just can’t wait? No worries! Serve it in a bowl!
I find cherry pie tastes best within 2-3 days. But you can keep in in the fridge for up to a week.
Happy Eating!
P.S. Love pie? Looking for more great recipes? Check out my Key Lime Pie recipe. It tastes like a tropical vacation.
Best Homemade Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spooned & leveled, plus more as needed for shaping and rolling
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter chilled and cubed
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening chilled
- 1/2 cup ice water
Cherry filling:
- 5 cups frozen cherries I use a combination fo sweet and tart; you can substitute fresh cherries, just be sure to pit them
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp bourbon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 Tablespoons sparkling sugar for decoration, if desired
Instructions
Prepare the Crust:
- Pulse the flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and shortening.
- Pulse until the the mixture resembles coarse meal. You are looking for a pea-sized bits. A few larger bits of fat is OK.
- Measure 1/2 cup of water in a cup. Add ice. Stir it around.
- From the ice water, measure 1/2 cup water. You won’t need it all because the ice will have melted a bit.
- Drizzle the cold water into the food processor, while running, about a tablespoon at a time. Use a rubber scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Stop adding water when the dough begins to form large clumps. I use about 1/2 cup of water and sometimes add a little more in dry winter months (up to 3/4 cup). Do not add too much water.
- Transfer the pie dough to a floured work surface. The dough should come together easily in your hands and should not feel overly sticky. Using floured hands, fold the dough into itself until the flour is fully incorporated into the fats.
- Form it into a ball. Cut dough in half. Flatten each half into 1-inch thick discs using your hands.
- Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 5 days.
- When rolling out the chilled pie dough discs to use in your pie, always use gentle force with your rolling pin. Start from the center of the disc and work your way out in all directions, turning the dough with your hands as you go. Visible specks of butter and fat in the dough are perfectly normal and expected!
Prepare the Cherry Pie Filling:
- Place the frozen cherries in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until berries are thawed and most the water has evaporated, about 10-15 minutes. Add cornstarch, sugar, salt, vanilla, and lemon juice and continue cooking over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, and continue stirring until the mixture starts to thicken – about 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool to room temperature.
- Remove the dough from the fridge 10 minutes before you begin rolling to prevent cracking.
- Lightly flour a rolling pin and your work surface.
- Place the dough in the middle of your work surface. Beginning from the center of the disc, roll the dough away from you in one firm and even stoke. After each stroke, rotate the disc a quarter turn and roll again. Lightly sprinkle more flour on the work surface, on the dough, and on the rolling pin as needed, but don’t overdo it. You want to use just enough to prevent the dough from sticking. As your dough of dough becomes larger, be careful not to overstretch the center of the dough.
- Continue rolling until the dough is about 3 inches larger than the pan you are using, and about a 1/4″ thick.
- Gently fold the dough in half and lay it across one side of a buttered pie pan. Carefully unfold the crust, then fit the dough down into the pan, making sure there are no gaps between the dough and the pan. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to burst any air bubbles.
- Trim the excess dough, leaving about 1 1/2 inches overhang.
- Refrigerate pie while preparing the lattice strips.
Prepare the lattice strips:
- On a lightly floured surface, roll your second ball of pie crust dough into a 12 inch circle.
- Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 10 strips. I like tomato my strips 1 inch thick because I find they are easier to work with. You can have wider ore narrower strips.
- Lay the strips on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Assembly and Baking:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F).
- Remove the crust and lattice strips from the refrigerator.
- Add cherry pie filing to the crust. Discard most of the remaining liquid at the bottom. Dot the top of the pie with little pieces of butter.
- Starting with the longest strip, lay it horizontally across the center of the pie. Evenly place two additional strips below and above the center strip.
- Fold back every other strip, then place another strip of dough vertically across the pie. Unfold the folded strips so they lay over the perpendicular strip. Continue this layering process, weaving the strips over and under each other until all the strips have been used and the pie is covered in lattice.
- Trim the edges of the strips, leaving about 1/2 inch overhang. Crimp the edges to secure the strips to the bottom pie crust.
- Make an egg wash by beating one egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Lightly brush the edges of the crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
- Place the pie on a baking sheet in the lower half of the oven and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 50 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.
- Place pie plate on a wire rack and cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.
