Sweet Cherry Pie

I have a friend who has cherry trees in his yard.  So one day I offered to make a pie with him, if he provided the cherries.  So that is what we did.

Ingredients:

6 cups of frozen sweet cherries

3/4 - 1 cup of sugar (his sweet cherries are still pretty tart, so we went with 1 cup)

3 tablespoons of King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets

Juice from one lemon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

Thaw the cherries.  Mix all ingredients in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Pour filling into a bottom crust and then cover with a top crust (We did lattice.  If you use a full top crust, make sure you cut vents.)  Bake for 20 minutes at 425oF, then reduce the heat to 375oF and continue to bake for 35 minutes.  Allow to cool.  

I have some sad news: King Arthur Flour has discontinued Signature Secrets.  My suggestion would be to use a little more than 3 tablespoons of cornstarch or use a little less sugar and use King Arthur Flour's Pie Filling Enhancer.  Either should work.

I really liked this pie.  It had a nice tartness to it, unlike store-bought cherry pie filling's sugary sweetness.  If you wanted to make this with sour cherries, swap the lemon juice for a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and swap the vanilla extract for a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.

Piece out!

Justin