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Ingredients
- Chilled pie dough for top and bottom 9-inch pie (see our pie crust recipe)
- 4 1/2 cups pitted fresh cherries (2 1/2 pounds, unpitted)
- 1/4 cup (30 grams) corn starch
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup (134 to 150 grams) sugar, adjusted accordingly to sweetness of cherries
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small squares
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy or whipping cream
- Additional sugar for topping crust (coarse sugar is a nice option)
Preparation
Step 1
Heat Oven:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Prepare Pie:
2. Place the pitted cherries, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon juice and the salt in a large bowl. Stir until combined.
3. Remove half of chilled dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
4. Lightly flour work surface, top of dough and rolling pin. Then use rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick circle. Be sure to check if the dough is sticking to the surface below — add a small amount of flour when necessary.
5. Check for size by inverting pie dish over dough round. Look for a 1-inch edge around the pie dish. Transfer dough to pie dish by gently rolling dough around rolling pin then unrolling over dish.
6. Gently press dough down into dish so that it lines the bottom and sides of the dish. (Be careful not to pull or stretch the dough). Then, use a knife or pair of kitchen scissors to trim dough to within 1/2-inch of the edge of the dish.
7. Spoon cherry pie filling into pie crust. Discard most of the liquid pooled at the bottom of the bowl. Dot filling with little squares of cold butter.
8. Roll out second half of dough then top pie. Use a knife or pair of kitchen scissors to trim dough to within 1/2-inch of the edge of the dish.
9. Fold edges of top crust underneath edges of bottom crust, pressing the edge to seal it so that it creates a thicker, 1/4-inch border that rests on the lip of the dish. Then, crimp edges by pressing the pointer finger of one hand against the edge of the dough from the inside of the dish while gently pressing with two knuckles of the other hand from the outside (see photo, we know that was wordy — you can see us do it in our pie crust recipe video, too).
10. Refrigerate dough at least 20 minutes or freeze for 5 minutes before baking.
Bake Pie:
11. Just before baking, make egg wash by whisking egg yolk and cream together in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush over the top crust. Then, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
12. Bake 20 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes longer, or until the crust is golden and the filling is thick and bubbling.
Note – It might be helpful to bake the pie on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil so any juices that drip over the pie dish are caught.
13. Cool pie at least 2 hours, preferably 3, before cutting to allow filling to set.