One of them was a baker like me and we’d talk about different pie crusts, weird gadgets that we want but don’t see any practical use for and why some people prefer tart lemon bars and others sweet. It was great conversation and I still miss it. As a parting gift, she gave me one of the I-want-it-but-what-else-can-I-do-with-it? gadgets – a cherry pitter. I’ve always wanted a cherry pitter. Thanks, D. :)
So, when I saw a giant bag of dark, sweet cherries – I bought them and decided to make fresh Cherry Pie.
I wanted to try out a whole wheat pie crust, and it was a good call because the nuttiness of the whole wheat worked really well with the dark sweet and sour of the cherries. Waxing poetic here a bit, yes I am.
Pie crust
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups butter-flavored shortening
1/4 cup ice-cold water
Salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Add pinch or two of salt to flour and mix. Add shortening and cut into the flour until the mixture resembles large crumbs. Add the cold water bit by bit until a dough ball forms. The dough shouldn’t be sticky, just soft and should hold well together. Separate into two pieces and roll out to fit into your pie dish. This should make two crusts.
Filling
Ingredients
2 lbs of fresh, pitted cherries
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, pour into rolled out pie shell. Top with remaining rolled out pie dough, crimp edges, slash vents in top and bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for an hour – this is important because you want the filling to set properly so it cuts properly.
I eat this with sweetened whipped cream. Because there’s nothing like warm cherry pie and cool whipped cream – yum!
