The Perfect Cherry Pie

There are a lot of cherry pie haters out there. And to be fair most cherry pies are not that good. The cherry pie filling they sell at the grocery store is cloyingly sweet and slimy. But when you use tart cherries a cherry pie can be about the most perfect food in the world.

Cherry Pie

The Crust

1 one recipe of the ultimate pie crust. (Or you can be an animal and use a store-bought crust,)

Roll out one disk and place in the pie tin. Save the second for the top.

The Filling

4 cups TART* red cherries drained (That about 3 cans) 

1 cup sugar

1/4 cornstarch

pinch salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix ingredients together and pour in the prepared shell.

Dot with 2 Tablespoons butter cut in pea size pieces

Put crust on top. You can do a lattice crust or simply place a regular crust over the filling. If you are not doing a lattice top, be sure to cut out a heart or an x or your initial to vent the steam.

Place pie on a cookie sheet lined with foil and bake at 350 degrees till crust is golden brown and it's bubbling in the middle. Usually a little more than an hour.

*This is the most important ingredient and why so many cherry pies are bleh. I like to buy frozen cherries at Rowley's Red Barn. So if you are in Santaquin or St. George anytime soon you should buy them. One bucket has enough cherries for 3 pies. They are amazing and much more affordable than canned cherries. But Oregon Fruit's tart cherries (available at most grocery stores and Amazon) are a decent substitute--except for the price.

Pro tip: If you want to minimize the pie juice running out and making a big mess when baking, you can mix the filling in a sauce pan and then cook 5-10 minutes until just thickened. The tricky thing about this method is that it takes a little longer because you need to allow the cooked filling to cool or you will melt the top pie crust.When using this method, I make the filling first and then prepare the crust.