Warm Cherry Pie
Have you ever tried packing in a hurry? I’m a planner and I’m not that good at last minute packing, as evidenced by last weekend when I packed in-between running our errands and getting our car fixed. Which would explain why I forgot the pie pan, flour, and the rolling pin. 75% of the things I needed to make a warm cherry pie, one that I had promised my friends I’d make during our getaway to Maine.
Thankfully for me, the cabin had a pie pan and flour. Actually now that I think of it, how can a house that has a pie pan and flour not have a rolling pin. Either way, I decided to improvise and used a vodka bottle instead.
Nothing was going to get between me and the cherry pie. I love summer only because all the fresh fruits and berries that we get in this season; mangoes, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, the list just keeps going on. In fact, on our way back to Hanover, we stopped to get a view of Mount Washington when I stumbled upon bushes of wild raspberries and blueberries. I would have stayed there picking and eating all day if it wasn’t getting dark and the snakes Nihal scared me about.
This pie is one of the easiest to make. Not many ingredients and except for pitting the cherries, not much work. You could get a cherry pitter for about $10 or if you are like me and my friends, you can cut it with your bare hands and pretend that the cherry stain on your hand is blood from a fresh, gruesome murder. I’d advise laying down paper because those stains lasts forever. I owe the owner of the cabin a huge apology for staining his beautiful table.
Recently, I learned this really cool trick to pit a cherry. Keep the cherry over an empty beer/similarly close mouthed bottle and with the help of a steel straw, push the pit down into the bottle.
I’d recommend making the pie crust on your own as it is not as intimidating as one might perceive it to be. It literally takes 5 minutes.
Start with the crust as it needs some time to rest in the fridge. 2 things to remember when it comes to pie crusts:
#1 Use super cold butter
#2 Don’t over work the flour. You want the crust to be light and flaky and not glutenous.
Rest the dough in the freezer for about half an hour and then roll it out into a circle, making sure you keep the surface smooth and even. Poke a few holes on the crust with a fork to prevent it from puffing when you bake it.
When I made this pie recently, I took the excess dough that I had cut out to form the crust and molded it onto the edge to provide the support when attaching the lattice.
There is still about a couple of weeks of cherry season, so bring out your rolling pins and enjoy a warm cherry pie with a large scoop of ice cream.
Warm, sour cherries in a crumbly, flaky crust. Pies don't get easier than this.
Combine flour, salt and sugar. Add the pieces of butter and use your hands to squish them with the flour. The trick is to still have lumps of butter. This will melt while baking forming flakes in the crust.
Add ice water teaspoon by teaspoon, until all the flour comes together. DON’T KNEAD. Once it all comes together, form a ball, split that into two.
Flatten them into disks and cling wrap each ball and keep it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. You want to keep those butter pieces intact as much as possible before baking.
Prepare the filling in the meantime.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
In a bowl mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cherries, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Take the pie dough out of the fridge one disk at a time and roll it out to a 12 inch circle. Transfer it to the pie pan and make sure the dough lines the pan. Crimp and cut off the edges.
To prevent it from over inflating during baking, poke some holes in there with a fork.
Roll out the other pie dough. This is for the cover. Now you can try different styles- full cover, lattice, starts. The world is your oyster. Just remember to cut a hole in the middle for the steam to escape in case you decide to go for a full cover.
Fill the pie with the cherry mix and drop in the pieces of butter. Cover it the design of your choice.
In a small cup beat the egg and brush the pie.
Bake for 40 minutes, till the crust gets golden brown.
Serve hot with a scoop of ice cream.
Ingredients
Directions
Combine flour, salt and sugar. Add the pieces of butter and use your hands to squish them with the flour. The trick is to still have lumps of butter. This will melt while baking forming flakes in the crust.
Add ice water teaspoon by teaspoon, until all the flour comes together. DON’T KNEAD. Once it all comes together, form a ball, split that into two.
Flatten them into disks and cling wrap each ball and keep it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. You want to keep those butter pieces intact as much as possible before baking.
Prepare the filling in the meantime.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
In a bowl mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cherries, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Take the pie dough out of the fridge one disk at a time and roll it out to a 12 inch circle. Transfer it to the pie pan and make sure the dough lines the pan. Crimp and cut off the edges.
To prevent it from over inflating during baking, poke some holes in there with a fork.
Roll out the other pie dough. This is for the cover. Now you can try different styles- full cover, lattice, starts. The world is your oyster. Just remember to cut a hole in the middle for the steam to escape in case you decide to go for a full cover.
Fill the pie with the cherry mix and drop in the pieces of butter. Cover it the design of your choice.
In a small cup beat the egg and brush the pie.
Bake for 40 minutes, till the crust gets golden brown.
Serve hot with a scoop of ice cream.