Cherry Pie
I’m a sucker for a fresh made pie. I can live without cake or ice cream, but a fresh made, still warm pie, that is sweet yet tart, is my achilles heel. Needless to say after our cherry picking excursion, we had several pounds of fresh cherries. I would recommend a hand cherry pitter which I found at Sur La Table for under ten dollars. After pitting the cherries
I put a good amount in a plastic bag and in the freezer. Kids love frozen cherries on hot summer days. The rest of the cherries went into a couple of pies. Cherry pie is one of the easiest since you really don’t need to add much to the filling. Many recipes use tapioca in the filling but I just improvised with out it, and it came out just fine. The crust is a an old recipe I first discovered in a LA Times article, but over the years I have made it my own by adding the touch of yogurt.
Cherry Pie Filling Ingredients:
couple of cups of fresh pitted cherries
1 tbs flour
2 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Crust Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter cut in small cubes
1/4 cup ice water
1tsp yogurt
1) In a bowl sift flour and salt. Place that in a large plastic sealable bag. Add butter cubes to the bag and mix with your hands.
2) Use a rolling pin and roll over the bag flattening the butter into flakes. Chill for 30 minutes, then sprinkle the water over the mixture. Quickly stir the mixture in a bowl with the yogurt, until it holds together. If it’s too dry add some more water.
3) Form the dough into 2 disks and wrap in plastic and chill again. (if anyone has a better alternative to the plastic wrap let me know. I am trying to eliminate all plastic in the house.)
4) On a floured board roll out each crust for a 9 inch pie.
5) Mix all the filling ingredients and place in the pie pan after the first dough piece is in. Then lay the second one on top. Mine never looks pristine but sort of clumped from pinching parts of it to help it stay together. It may be a bit rough but it sure tastes good!
Ditto. I am such a sucker for fresh fruit pies in the summer! Definitely ditch the plastic wrap and use unbleached parchment paper.