Homemade Cherry Pie #GardenCuizine

Cherry Pie

Homemade cherry pie tastes better than anything you can buy. Cherry pie makes a great alternative to birthday "cake" too. Cherry pie is Harry's birthday favorite. In fact, today I'm decorating a pie that I made last night for his milestone birthday celebration. Happy 70th, Harry!

Why do you think store-bought fruit pies are so inexpensive? Because the fruit is stretched with lots of sugar and cheap filling goop! More like a science project than something worth eating.

In the future we hope to harvest our own cherries. We planted two new trees this spring; one appears to have died. So who knows if we'll ever get to grow our own cherries. In the meantime, I bought some at our local farmers market.
 
Preheat oven to 400 F

Pie dough
use your favorite pie dough recipe
Filling Ingredients
6 cups sweet cherries - pitted
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons (T) instant tapioca
1 T tapioca starch
1 T key lime juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup water
egg wash: 1 egg whisked with splash water

Putting it all together

• When pitting cherries be sure to account for each and every pit so your guests don't get a pit
• Combine all ingredients except the water and egg wash and toss in large bowl. Stir and after 15 minutes if the cherries do not seem juicy add the 1/4 cup water. Let sit while you roll out the pie dough.
• Roll out pie dough in two 11-inch circles for 9-inch pie plate. Fit one for bottom crust into lightly sprayed pie plate
• Fill with cherry mixture
• Use a fluted cutter and cut strips of dough out of the remaining circle for lattice top crust. Press and crimp edges using fingers
• Egg wash
• Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake until golden brown and you see the cherry filling bubble - about 1 hour total. You may have to put foil around the edges during baking to prevent getting too dark
• Allow to fully cool before decorating if serving as birthday 'cake'!

Edible decorations shown in photo: red shiso perilla, chocolate mint, anise hyssop, pansy

GardenCuizine Nutrition data Sweet Cherries:
Good Source: dietary Fiber, Potassium and Vitamin C
1 cup pitted Sweet Cherries: 3g (13% DV) dietary Fiber, 342mg (10% DV) Potassium, 11mg (18% DV) Vitamin C
Photos and recipe Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.