Dark Sweet Cherry Pie

We have a friend with connections.  She is always putting us on to plant sales, fitness equipment sales, and now, fabulous fruit from Bithell Farms in Oregon.  We tacked along our order with hers (and others) and ordered fourteen pounds of Oregon dark sweet cherries and seven pounds of blueberries.  They came in last week.  The fruit comes frozen in a huge  boxes.  We probably ate a pound of the cherries as we carefully put them in smaller freezer bags.  The cherries are “ginormous” and delicious!

I wanted to make a pie this weekend, but I was busy making large quantities gumbo and tomato sauce.  My dear husband (who really wanted a pie) was sweet enough to buy pre-made pie crust.  (I know, I know…that is cheating, but that was about the only way he was going to get me to bake a pie!)

I put a couple of recipes together for the filling.  It was delicious!

5 cups pitted sweet dark cherries, thawed, drained
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 zest from one lemon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt 

1 T. butter, cut in small pieces 

1 egg whisked with 2 T. of water

Crusts for a double-crusted pie

 

Place cherries and the next eight ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to mix.  Let stand for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  Roll out pie crusts for bottom crust.  Fill with cherry filling.  Dot with butter pieces. 

Top with upper crust and flute edges.  Cut vents in top pie crust.  Brush with egg mixture. 

 Bake pie 20 minutes. Cover crust edges with a pie shield (or foil) to prevent over-browning. Continue to bake until filling bubbles and crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to rack and cool at least 1 hour. Serve pie warm with vanilla ice cream.

Sadly, I have to confess, I kept humming Poison’s “She’s My Cherry Pie” as I was making this.  Oh, no!  I had it in my head all day long!

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