Sour Cherry Pie
Sour cherry pie has always meant Christmas to me. I don’t know why my family always has sour cherry pie at Christmas. It might possibly have something to do with the cherries being red. However, I’m supposing an even bigger reason is that it doesn’t use fresh fruit. Winter in the northeast is not a good time for fresh fruit. Happily, the refreshing bite of sour cherries also contrasts with all the other rich foods and desserts we usually have. After a big Christmas dinner, I always choose the sour cherry pie and leave all the other desserts for an evening snack.
I use sour cherries for this pie and add sugar to them. This is what keeps this pie from being sickly sweet and cloying. I like the jarred Morello cherries that come in juice for cherry pie. Last winter, I had trouble finding the cherries that I usually use for the pie. Trader Joe’s either discontinued them or was out of them. Luckily, I found them at Aldi. Because I am the type who worries about a shortage of sour cherries, I bought double what I actually needed. They tasted the same and made a delicious pie. I put the extra four jars in my pantry.
The only caveat with this new batch of cherries is that there is a pit hidden inside of about one cherry in each jar. Right now, while we are all in quarantine, I am concerned about someone breaking a tooth. My husband, who thinks he is the pantry patrol, keeps mentioning the cherries that I need to use up. Finally, this past week I told him that if he went through every cherry in the jars, pinched them and then removed the pits, that I would make a pie. This year I am calling it “Pinched Cherry Pie” even though it is going to be the same wonderful sour cherry pie that we have every year.
Sour Cherry Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Prepared Pie Dough for a double crust pie
- 1 1/.2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
- 4 24 oz jars Pitted Red Tart Cherries drained
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 3 Tablespoons Butter cut into roughly 12 pieces
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425°
- Unroll one piece of the pie dough into the bottom of a pie dish.
- Put the pie dish into the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
- In the meantime, stir together sugar and flour. Mix with cherries
- Add the almond extract. Mix thoroughly.
- Take the pie dish out of the refrigerator.
- Pour the cherry mixture into the pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter.
- Cover with the top crust, cut slits in it for venting; seal and flute.
- Cover edges with 2 to 3 inch strip of aluminum foil, to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking
- Bake pie 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through holes in the crust. Remove foil for last 15 minutes.
Modifications
Try Peach Pie!