Sweet Cherry Pie

Oh my. Cherry Pie.

I was never a huge fan of cherry pie as a kid because of the yucky canned filling. My life changed on Saturday, however, when I went to the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake and bought four pounds of the most delectable looking cherries you've ever seen. I thought, hmm, maybe I should give a fresh cherry pie a chance. And boy am I glad I did!!! This was so tasty. Thanks to Martha Stewart, everything turned out delicious. If you were like me and wrote off cherry pie because of a can, give it another shot this summer with fresh cherries! You won't regret it.

Also, I usually make pie crusts with shortening, even though shortening is gross, because they always turn out the best. However, Martha convinced me to give butter another shot, and mmm-mmm, it turned out delicious. Make SURE the butter is cold and follow the recipe to a "T" and you will not fail - I hope. :)

Sweet Cherry Pie

Pie Crust

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. (2 cubes) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 - 1/2 c. ice water

Filling
2 lbs. Bing cherries, pitted* and halved (mine were Lambert)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. fresh lemon juice

1 egg, beaten + 1 T. water, for egg wash

Begin with the crust. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse briefly. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. (At this point I take mine out because I have a mini-food processor, and I can't add the water in it; either way will work). Sprinkle with 1/4 cup ice water. Pulse (or gently combine with hands) until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If necessary, add more water 1 T. at a time). Do not over mix. Divide dough in half, flatten into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.

Remove from refrigerator, and roll out one of the discs into a large circle. Using your rolling pin, roll the crust up, wrapping it around the rolling pin and then unroll it into the pie plate. Press and shape into the pan.

Filling: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and move the rack to the lowest position. Pit the cherries*. Martha says to cut them in half, but I didn't. Do what you will. In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Pour into the prepared bottom crust.

Roll out the other half of the pie dough. Place over the filling (or you could do a lattice top), trim the edges, and then crimp with a fork or your fingers. Brush with egg wash and cut slits if not doing a lattice. Place on top of a rimmed cookie sheet (in case you bubble over) and place on the bottom rack of the oven.

Bake until filling is bubbling rapidly all over, 50 - 60 minutes (tent with aluminum foil after about 40, or when crust starts to brown). Transfer pie to a wire rack, and let cool until room temperature, at least 3 hours.

Serve with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm....
*If you don't have a cherry pitter (who does?), I found the best method to be the paper clip method. Thanks to YouTube, I discovered this little trick. Take a small clean paper clip and unfold it so it's the shape of an "s". Stick the curved end into the top of the cherry and pop out the pit. Some might require a little scooping around the pit, but on average it probably only took me 3-4 seconds per cherry. Not bad.

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart