In preparation for the pie, I bought the Oxo Good Grips Cherry Pitter to which Deb refers in her blog. After pitting my first bowl of cherries ever, I’d have to agree with Deb’s questioning of Oxo’s “splash guard.” If that was pitting with a splash guard, I don’t wanna know how messy it’d be without one!

As excited as I was to make this pie, I was even more excited to eat it! Dustin suggested I make my Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream to go with it. LOVE him! After having them together, I really can’t imagine having the pie without the ice cream, nor would I ever want to! Through a mouth full of pie and ice cream, Dustin muttered, “I think this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” Talk about a statement, right?

We demolished the pie within two days. Each glorious day, we enjoyed a late afternoon snack as well as a delicious dessert. I’m having withdrawals now.  Seriously.

I chose to use my favorite pie crust recipe which turned out to complement the pie wonderfully. The crust was golden, flaky, light and had the perfect amount of subtle saltiness to offset the sweet cherry filling. I prefer pie crusts to use butter instead of shortening, so this recipe is always a winner for me. Incidentally, it goes great with chicken pot pie, too. I’m just sayin’.

The pie was extremely good, folks. Extremely good. I truly recommend you try it out. And…soon! Cherry season is almost over. (Boo!).

Check another one off my Summer List! Woohoo!

Sweet Cherry Pie

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

dough for double-crust pie (click here for My Favorite Pie Crust Recipe)
4 cups pitted fresh cherries (about 2 pounds unpitted)
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (adjust this according to the sweetness of your cherries)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Stir together the cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon and vanilla extract gently together in a large bowl.

Roll out half of chilled dough (use larger piece, if you’ve divided them unevenly) on a floured work surface to 13-inch round. Gently place it in 9-inch pie pan, either by rolling it around the rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan or by folding it into quarters and unfolding it in the pan. Trim edges to a half-inch overhang.

Spoon filling into pie crust, discarding the majority of the liquid that has pooled in the bowl.

Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface, drape it over the filling, and trim it, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under the bottom crust, pressing the edge to seal it, and crimp the edge decoratively. Brush the egg wash over over pie crust.

Cut slits in the crust with a sharp knife, forming steam vents, and bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F. and bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden. Let the pie cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

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As always, I want to thank you for reading. I welcome your comments, questions, recipe suggestions and food stories. Here’s to doing what you love!