Cherry Pie

A homemade pie is always a worthwhile project, but taking the time to make your own cherry pie filling is something you truly won't regret. In this recipe, I use a mix of tart and sweet cherries for the best balance and ultimate cherry flavor. By cooking the filling first, you'll be sure to get a jammy filling with perfectly cooked cherries. Paired with our perfectly flaky pie crust, this is the ultimate summer dessert. Here's everything you need to know:

What People Are Saying:
“I made this pie to take to a friend's house for dessert after dinner. It was a huge hit. I'll be making this again. Thanks for such a great recipe.” – lunderko13

How To Make Homemade Cherry Pie

INGREDIENTS

• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar is a baking staple, and for good reason. It's going to add a touch of sweetness to both the pie crust and filling without overpowering or changing the texture of either.
• Kosher Salt: Salt is crucial in baking. While it won’t make the pie taste salty—and we wouldn’t want it to—it will enhance the flavor notes in all the other ingredients.
• Cherries: Cherries are the star of this dish, and as such, picking the right kind, or combination, is crucial. I love a cherry that has a good balance of tartness and sweetness, especially for cherry pie. Bing and Rainier are perfect. You could even do a mix!
• Cornstarch: I want to avoid a too-runny filling. Adding cornstarch avoids this by acting as a thickener, which helps to create that iconic jammy pie filling texture.
• Lemon Juice: I’m not using a ton of lemon juice here, so there is no need to worry about any overpowering sourness. Instead, the lemon will act to highlight both the sweet and tart flavors of the cherries, taking your cherry pie flavor to the next level.
• Ground Ginger & Cinnamon: Both of these spices are found in many pies, and for great reason. They are strong spices that when used in moderation act not to overpower a dish, but instead add depth of flavor. Without these spices, I find that any fruit based pie can hit a little bit one-note. I’m looking for a balance of flavors here, and these spices certainly aid the effort.
• Almond Extract: While it isn't totally necessary to use almond extract for a great cherry pie (you can sub in vanilla or nix it all together if you're in a pinch), I love adding it not just because the nutty flavor pairs well with the fruity-tartness of cherries, but also because the pits of cherries have many flavor compounds that can be found in almonds. Cherries have a very faint almond-y flavor and the extract helps to highlight this unique and delicious aspect of the fruit.
• Egg: Adding an egg is going to help achieve that perfect jammy consistency you are looking for in your pie filling. I find that the addition of an egg to my cherry pie filling helps to thicken the sauce while also creating a pseudo-crust on top that helps to hold it together.
• Turbinado Sugar: You will see many recipes calling for a sprinkling of turbinado sugar and this is because its relatively large crystal size gives a slight crunch of sweetness that helps add texture that may otherwise not be found in a dish. You aren’t going to achieve this with a smaller-grained sugar.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

First, make the filling by adding cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, almond extract, and a large pinch of salt to a large pot over medium heat. I allow the mixture to come to a boil, and then reduce the heat and set it to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the cherries have softened and our liquid has started thickening. When achieved, I take the pot off the heat and let it cool completely.

At this point, I take the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit out at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. While it's sitting, I lightly flour my rolling surface so that the dough won’t stick. Using a floured rolling pin, I roll both pie crusts out to 12” rounds before transferring one of the rounds to a 9” pie plate and gently pressing the sides down to ensure there are no gaps and the crust adheres to the shape of the pie plate.

Then, I cut the second crust into 1” thick strips—so that I can create the lattice top—placing them on a large cutting board and refrigerating both crusts for 15 minutes. This is important to make sure the crust doesn’t get too warm before baking. We want it cool.

After placing a large baking sheet inside, I preheat the oven to 425° and let come to temp. While I wait, I remove both pie crusts from the fridge and pour the cooled cherry filling over the crust in the pie plate.

To make the lattice top, I lay strips of pie dough running vertically over the filling, leaving a 1” gap between each strip. Then I lift up every other vertical strip and place one horizontal strip across the filling, then lay the vertical strips back down on top. Next, I lift the vertical strips that we left untouched the first go through, and add a new horizontal strip, before laying the vertical strips back down on top. Repeat this alternating process until the top is covered. If any of this seems intimidating, don't worry! Check out our video at the top of the page to see the process from start to finish.

After finishing the lattice, I trim the overhanging edges to an equal length of about a ½” overhang. Then, I pinch the top and bottom crusts together and tuck the overhang back in under itself and into the pie plate, so that the edge of the pie crust is flush with the edge of the pie plate. Here we can have some fun. I like to crimp the edges to form a sort of wave pattern, but you can chose whatever edge shape you like.

Almost done! I brush the tucked and crimped crust with beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar so that the crust will have a nice golden finish when baked. We want to make sure to pop the uncooked pie back into the fridge one last time for about 30 minutes (or until firm) to once again ensure that the crust is cold before baking.

Once chilled, I carefully place the pie onto the preheated baking sheet in the oven, and bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375° to finish baking for another 45 to 60 minutes until the crust is a deep golden brown and the cherry filling is bubbling. Finally, I remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool completely before slicing and serving.

The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• Can I use frozen cherries? Absolutely! You may have to let them thaw or increase the cook time slightly so that they can come up to room temp before cooking into the filling.
• How do I keep the filling from becoming runny? We accomplish this by both allowing the filling to pre-cook before adding to the pie dough, so that the cherries release their juices and evaporate, and by adding cornstarch to the filling.
• Serving cherry pie. This pie is beautiful on its own, but if you haven’t tried it, I can’t recommend the combination of cherry pie and vanilla ice cream enough. Not a vanilla ice cream fan? A dollop of whipped cream is also a match made in heaven.

Storage

You can make the pie dough ahead of time. Wrapped, uncooked dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days and for up to 1 month in the freezer. Similarly, you can make your cherry pie filling up to 3 days before use, when properly store in an airtight container in the fridge.