My daughter used to have a cherry tree in her back yard and the cherry crop was always enormous! We were in cherry heaven for a few years and then, suddenly and most unfortunately, the tree died. It was a very old tree, and I think it was just tired out. I must take a moment of silence here for that much loved cherry tree, sniff.

After the loss of that tree, we had to go to a U-pick Cherry Orchard to get enough cherries to make our three seasonal favorites, Fresh Cherry Salsa, Cherry Limeade, and this Cherry Pie—all 3 recipes are posted on this website now 🙂

This pie is a labor of love. Before embarking on it, do yourself a big favor, and buy a cherry pitter! Without one, you could go crazy pitting 2 lbs. of cherries, and your fingers will be stained for days from the cherry juice—it is not a pretty sight.

This is the cherry pitter I have. There are some newer models out there, ranging anywhere from $6 to about $25, I think.

Fresh Cherry Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 2 red plums
• 2 pounds (6 cups) sweet cherries, pitted and halved
• ½ -1 cup sugar, to taste—½ cup usually results in a slightly tart pie
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes
• 1 large egg + 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
• Approximately 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 double pie crust—either homemade or that stuff in the red box. Do not buy a store brand or Trader Joe’s brand. They are yucky. The only brand I use is Pillsbury in the bright red box 🙂

DIRECTIONS

1. Roll out a generous ½ of pie crust dough and place in bottom of 9″ pie pan. Wrap pie pan containing bottom pastry with plastic wrap in place in refrigerator.
2. Roll out remaining pastry for top crust. Place flat onto a baking sheet, cover with plastic, and place in refrigerator. Meanwhile, prepare cherry filling.
3. Pit the cherries, and cut them in half.
4. Cut plums in half and remove the pit.
5. Place plum halves and 1 cup of cherries to food processor and process for 1 minute or until smooth.
6. Strain the plum-cherry mixture through a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Press down and extract as much liquid as possible, discard the solids and retain the juice in the bowl.
7. Add the remaining 5 cups of pitted and halved cherries, sugar, salt, lemon juice, bourbon cinnamon and corn starch into bowl containing the puree. Stir to combine. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes to meld flavors.
8. Remove bottom crust from refrigerator. Pour cherry mixture into to dough-lined pie plate. Scatter ¼ butter cubes evenly over filling.
9. Remove the top pie crust from the refrigerator and place on top of pie.  Using thumb and forefinger, flute edges or use the tines of a fork to seal the two pie crusts together.
10. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg and 1 teaspoon water together. Using a pastry brush, brush egg all over the top pie crust.  Sprinkle a small amount of sugar over the egg wash. Use a sharp knife to make 4-8 evenly spaced vents in top of pie.
11. Freeze prepared pie for 20 minutes.
12. Preheat oven to 400° after placing a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven to preheat.
13. Remove pie from freezer and transfer to pre-heated baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes at 400°. Then reduce temperature to 350° and continue to bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the juices bubble around the edges and crust is deeply golden brown.
14. Allow pie to cool on wire rack for 4 hours before serving. Serve with a side of ice cream or sweetened whipped cream, if desired.

Enjoy!