There's never been a cherry pie, let alone a deep dish cherry pie, this good! Fresh cherries with just the right amount of sweetness, are nestled in the most flaky, buttery pie crust imaginable. One bite & you're in pie heaven!
Deep Dish Cherry Pie
Did you know that cherry pie has its own national holiday? Yep, it sure does, and it's today! So I couldn't think of a better, more delicious recipe to bring you than this lightly sweetened deep dish cherry pie.
I think I learned everything there is to know about pie baking from my mom. She loved to bake and was an expert pie maker. Her fillings were always made with fresh fruit of the season and kept on the less sweet side. No overly sugared fruit that covers up the natural tastes of the fruit for her. And it was always the best tasting pie around.
And the crust! Oh, my the crust! She seemed to make it with such ease and it was always the lightest, flakiest, deliciously buttery tasting crust. Everything you could ever want in a crust was there.
Mom's pies were famous with her family and friends and were always requested as her contribution to potlucks and parties.
My Dad's favorite was her apple pie, mine her blueberry pie, and my husband's fave, this awesome cherry pie.
Now, you are probably wondering what was so special about her cherry pie. She always started with fresh cherries and flavored them with almond extract and a little amaretto or triple sec. These additions complimented the cherries and gave the pie a delicious added dimension of taste.
No fresh cherries - no problem
Don't despair if you can't find fresh cherries. I found, when I wanted pie and they weren't in season, that using Oregon Fruit Pitted Red Tart Cherries made the pie about as close to fresh as you could get.
So today I bring you the deep rich taste you deserve in a cherry pie. Hope you enjoy!
DEEP DISH CHERRY PIE
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
- 6 cups about 2 lbs fresh cherries, pitted (I like to use tart cherries)
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup white sugar (can increase to ¾ cup if you like a sweeter pie)
- ½ cup brown sugar (can increase to ¾ cup if you like a sweeter pie)
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1-2 Tablespoons triple sec or amaretto (optional)
Double Pie Crust
- 3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 8 Tablespoons ice water
- 9” deep dish pie plate
- 2 Tablespoons butter (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cherry Pie Filling
- In a medium saucepan, combine ingredients up to almond extract. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and add extract and triple sec. Stir and let cool slightly.
Double Pie Crust
- Sift flour and salt together into large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, or two knives, cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water a tablespoon at a time, stirring lightly with fork, and continue until the dough holds together when pinched between your fingers.
- Divide the dough in half. Sprinkle your surface with flour, as well as the top of one ball of dough, and roll into a circle that is slightly larger than the pie plate.
Assemble
- Fold dough over rolling pin and lift over pie plate. Let settle into pie plate, gently patting into place. Trim overhanging sides of dough to within 1-½-inches.
- Sprinkle flour on second ball of dough then roll out about the same sized circle as the first. Cut into narrow strips for a lattice work top or, if want a full crust, just leave in circle. Set aside.
- Fill pastry-lined pie plate with cherry filling. Dot top of filling with butter (optional).
- To make lattice work, lay a series of strips across pie. Take the remaining strips and weave under and over the strips in the opposite direction letting them hang over the edge about 1-½”. (If using full crust, lay over filling allowing to hang over edges.) Fold top crust over bottom crust to form a standing rim, pinching dough together.
- Using your index or pinkie finger, press from outside-in to form a depression, skip ½" and make another depression with finger. Continue all the way around. (If using a full crust, cut several slits in top for steam to escape.)
- Bake 40-50 minutes. Watch crust carefully as it can brown quickly. If it gets too brown, tent of foil.
Nutrition
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