Sour Cherry Pie

This recipe for Sour Cherry Pie is adapted from two separate recipes that appear in the Pennsylvania State Grange Cookbook, 1972: One recipe for the pie filling, and another recipe for the pie crust. None of the recipes included the full how-to on all the steps one must take in order to create a sour cherry pie, so I’m putting it together here for you.

If you do this right, you’ll end up with one 9” pie. That’s a “regular”-sized pie plate – mine is 8” round on the bottom and 10” rim-to-rim at the diameter.

But first, I have thoughts to share.

CHERRY PIE FILLING: I made mine with fresh sour cherries, picked in season. I drove over two hours, to Pennsylvania, to buy them. This is a totally normal thing that normal people do all the time, and I would do it again. The quart container of cherries I purchased yielded around 4 cups. It was enough, but I would have had room for a few more in my pie.

Please note that sour cherries are totally different from sweet cherries, and result in a completely different pie.

I pitted every last one of those cherries myself. If you don’t already have one, I urge you to get a cherry pitting device; it makes this chore easier. Here’s but one example– there are a few types.)

If you don’t have reasonable access to fresh sour cherries right this minute, perhaps you are lucky enough to have frozen or home-canned sour cherries, like a real homesteader. If you do, you can (and should) use those. The grocery-store cherry pie filling in a can doesn’t come close. It has its place, but this is not it.

PASTRY CRUST: The cookbook I used has exactly ten different recipes for pie crust. We can accept this as confirmation that pies were a Very Important Thing in the early 1970s in Pennsylvania. Three of the recipes describe themselves as “never fail” in the title. That seems brash to me, and potentially risky. What if it *does* fail? Is there some sort of Granger Guarantee? And what, exactly, constitutes “failure?”

All but two of the recipes called for an egg. I have never made pastry with an egg, and I am pretty sure my mom didn’t. So, I chose a recipe that did not call for an egg. Perhaps I’ll try that another time.

Let’s discuss fat. The recipes from the Farm Ladies of the Grange mostly call for lard. That’s what my Grandma Losch used too, and her pastry crusts could bring tears to one’s eyes, so perfectly flaky were they. I have used butter, and I have used Crisco. Butter tastes better. Crisco is way flakier. Yes, I’m aware that Crisco is a heart attack in a can. If you’re making and eating pie, heart-health is probably not your primary concern, at least not today, so don’t @ me. I use Crisco and I have no regrets.

Lastly, I am told by the internet that a bit of apple cider vinegar added to the mixture promotes flakiness, and far be it from me to argue with things I am told, so I included some, and I was not disappointed.

BAKING: The funny thing about old-timey cookbooks is that the recipes basically say, “Now, bake your pie.” Because any self-respecting Farm Wife already knows what temperature oven and for how long. I shouldn’t have to tell you, Margaret. In my experience, recipes that do specify temperatures and baking times, vary greatly in their recommendations. I baked this pie at 400 degrees F for about 50 minutes. Actually, I increased it to 415 in the last 10 minutes, and that turned out to be a mistake. The crimped edge got too brown. Also, I used a pie shield to cover the outer edge for the first 20 minutes. I am convinced those things don’t actually work. Next time I won’t spend 5 minutes looking for it. They say you can use aluminum foil, but I find that’s tedious.

CONCLUSION: You can buy the pastry already made and rolled into tidy circles, and it’s fine. You can buy a can of pie filling, and it’s fine. Put them together, and you will have something that passes for Cherry Pie. But when you make your own pastry, and your own filling from fresh sour cherries, it’s truly next-level. It’s like calling those shrink-wrapped frozen discs with cheese and pepperoni on them, “pizza.” It’s a completely different thing from what you’d get from a pizzeria where the chef is trained in the Neapolitan tradition.

Here’s the recipe.

CHERRY FILLING:
1 lb (a 1 qt box) of sour cherries (not sweet cherries – the sour ones! If you aren’t sure, ask.)
3 Tablespoons corn starch
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon butter

Step 1: Pit the Cherries! (Do not skip this step!)
Step 2: In a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, combine cornstarch, sugar and water and stir. Heat to boiling. Add the lemon juice and the cherries. Stir to combine. Turn the heat down and gently cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the liquid thickens and turns red. It will smell like… cherries, and it will resemble canned pie filling, but it will taste 1,000 times better. Remove pan from heat, stir in the butter, and allow the mixture to cool.

If you are using home-canned sour cherries, skip the water and use the juice from the jar, adding a little more water, if needed.

PIE CRUST:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup cold shortening (I used regular Crisco, straight from the fridge)
½ cup ice-cold water – add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to it

Place flour and salt in a bowl and mix. Add the shortening to the bowl and use a pastry blender to cut the shortening into the flour until it is well-incorporated. I added another ¼ cup of flour here because it almost looked like there was too much shortening. In hindsight, I would use slightly less than ¾ cup Crisco to start.

With a fork, start incorporating the water into the flour mixture, a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough starts coming together.

Note: You can mix pie dough in a food processor. I have, and it usually turns out fine. It saves a few minutes. Just don’t overmix… only pulse it till the mixture is just coming together.

Dump the dough onto a lightly-floured surface and quickly form it into a mass. Don’t handle it too much with your warm hands, to keep the shortening from melting. Then divide it into two equal pieces, and shape these into discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and place them both in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Remove from fridge about 15 minutes before rolling. It should be pliable and won’t “crack” because of all that Crisco.

Flour your surface and your rolling pin. Roll the first piece of dough out so that it’s a little larger than the diameter of your pie plate. Be careful that the dough doesn’t stick to the surface (don’t be shy with the flour). Carefully transfer the dough to the pie plate, gently press it down to fit, and trim any excess dough off the sides.

Now, roll out the second piece of dough, a little bit larger than the first if you can. Here, you can either use it intact, which is lovely, or cut it into strips and assemble a lattice-top, which is pretty and impressive.

If you aren’t feeling up for the lattice-top thing today, just place the pie filling in the pan then place the top dough atop, trim excess, then crimp the edges with your fingers. Poke a few holes in the top with a knife. Go rest.

To do a lattice-top, use a pizza or pastry cutter to cut the dough into 1” strips. Place the cherry filling in the pie plate, then lay the strips atop, starting at one side and alternate placing strips at 90 degree angles. If you imagine your pie plate as a clock, the first strip goes at 12:00 (stretched horizontally between 11 and 1) and the second one goes at 9:00 (placed vertically between 10 and 8). Alternate directions and lift strips alternately to form a woven pattern across the top of the pie. Leave a little space between the strips. Once all the strips cover the top, use your fingers to crimp an edge, sealing the strips to the bottom pastry. Sprinkle some granulated sugar atop the crust (optional, but worth it).

I demonstrate the technique in a video on our YouTube channel, More Must Be Better. Link will be here once the video is posted (mid-July).

Place the pie on a baking sheet lined with foil because you do not want to clean burned cherry pie juice off the bottom of your oven. Bake in a preheated, 400 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, until you can see the filling bubbling and the crust is golden. Allow to cool for a while before slicing into it. Seriously. The filling is as hot as molten lava. Ignore this advice at your peril.

Cherry pie totally passes for a breakfast food.