From Sugar & Charm
A classic cherry pie recipe with the most adorable heart shaped pie crust on top!
Servings 8
Servings 8
Ingredients
Cherry Pie Filling
- 3 pounds pitted fresh cherries you'll need a cherry pitter for this.
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Buttery Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 pound cold unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 1/4 cup Crisco
- 1/3 cup ice water
Instructions
Cherry Pie Filling
- Remove pits from 3 pounds cherries. The easiest way is to use a cherry pitter for this.
- Cut the cherries in half. You don't have to cut all of them, but the majority.
- In a medium sauce pan, cook the cherries, sugar and the extract for five minutes while stirring.
- Mix the cornstarch and the lemon in a small bowl, then add to the cherry multure while still cooking over medium heat. Continue to stir.
- Cook for anther four minutes until thick.
- Let the mixture cool to room temp while you make the crust.
Buttery Pie Crust
- In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt.
- Cut 2 sticks butter into small chunks and add to the flour mixture. With your hands or a pastry cutter, blend until butter chunks are the size of peas.
- Add ice water and mix dough with hands until combined. The dough should hold a loose ball and be more on the dry side. It should look rough.
- Roll the dough out and fit it into the pie dish. You can refrigerate freeze it for 30 minutes in the pie dish, which I recommend doing.
Assembling the Pie and Hearts
- Remove a little less than half the pie crust and set aside.
- Roll the remaining dough out on parchment paper to about 12" circle to fit in a 9" pie dish (it doesn't need to be perfect!) then flip it over into a pie dish.
- Press it down in the center and up to the sides. Create a crust around the edge of the pie, using your hands to mold it.
- If you need a little extra dough to create more crust or an area that needs more, just take it from the preserved dough.
- Once the dough is pressed nicely in the pan with a pretty crust, place it in the freezer and let it sit there while you make the hearts.
- Roll out the remaining dough (about 1/4" thick) on parchment paper and using a 1" heart cookie cutter, cut out about 75 little hearts... or as many as you can with the dough.
- Keep rolling the dough out and cutting again. Then once you have all the hearts you can start assembling the pie!
- Pour the cherry mixture into the cold pie crust.
- Start around the outer edge and add the hearts. Continue until you get to the center of the pie. Leave a little room in the center to see the cherry pie filling.
- Whisk an egg with a fork and give the crust and hearts and egg wash. Really get all of the top and cracks good so it turns golden brown. You can sprinkle a little sugar on top too!
- Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 -25 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Let it cool about 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
