It has been years since I’ve made a homemade pie, maybe since pastry school. These days all of my effort is put into savory food and it’s a treat (pun intended đ ) to make a dessert every so often. Fresh cherries are in season and this is what I’m bringing to a friend’s July 4th party.
I took a little bit of a shortcut and bought pie dough. Now, I’m all about homemade food but sometimes it’s ok to make an exception when you’re in a pinch. I didn’t have pie weights so I used a nine inch cake pan to help weigh the dough down while cooking. There’s nothing worse than hard dough bubble that cannot be popped only to ruin your entire pie. When I pulled the pan out of the springform pan, I noticed some cracks in the dough. I quickly remembered that my reserved small piece of raw dough could be filled in, *thank you pastry school.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 50 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
6 people
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- pie dough (store bought or homemade) rolled out flat and chilled on a floured sheet pan
- 2 pounds sweet cherries pitted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- Coarse or granulated sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)
Ingredients
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- For the egg wash : whisk together egg and salt.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place the pitted cherries in a bowl. Stir in the vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch, and sprinkle the mixture over the cherries.
- Toss the sugar and cornstarch mixture with the cherries until they are evenly coated then set aside
- Roll the dough out so that it fits in a 9â spring form pan. Reserve the second pie dough for the lattice top. Work fast as the dough is hard to work with when it warms up. If the dough doesnât fit perfectly, you can piece it together by pressing the edges to meet. Make sure there arenât any thin spots since the dough is very delicate. Once itâs in the pan, prick all around with a fork. This helps the steam exit causing fewer bubbles. I placed an 8â cake pan inside to weigh it down but if you have pie weights, please use them! Cook for about 5-7 minutes until cooked.
- Pour the cherry mixture into the cooked crust. Cover the top of the pie with the chilled, rolled top crust, or cut into strips and make a lattice crust over the top. Crimp the edges and chill for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. After pie has chilled, brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar (optional). Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes at 425°. Reduce the heat to 350° and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
- *This recipe is more on the crumble side to please serve with ice cream đ
Hint â I had a few cracks in my dough so I filled them in with raw dough, works like a charm đ
