Homemade Cherry Pie
It’s 100% homemade from top to bottom cherry pie! Fresh tart cherries sweetened up for a luscious filling all tucked in a buttery golden crust. Every summer needs a cherry pie!
I’ve said this before, but I am a pie girl through and through. I’ll take a piece of pie over almost any other dessert (except a strawberry shortcake…my true love!). We have enough pie recipes on the blog to prove it, but seriously, pie is everything I love…flaky golden crust (hello carbs…lover!), a sweet fruit filling, the crunchy contrasted with gooey textures. Dream come true!
And don’t be intimidated by doing everything homemade. We are going to take you through each step. Your family is going to be totally wowed by this dessert!
Ingredients for a Cherry Pie
Here are the ingredients you will need to make the homemade cherry pie filling. Hop over to the post for the pie crust recipe for those details but all you’ll need is flour, butter, salt, sugar and water for that.
- Pie Crust
- Cherries
- Sugar
- Lemon
- Almond Extract
- Sure Gel (or Cornstarch)
- Egg
- Milk
- Sanding Sugar (optional)
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
How to Make a Cherry Pie
The steps for preparing this pie are simple. First you will want to prepare our all butter pie crust. If you read through that post, all our pie crust making fears will be eased. Roll out the bottom crust and place it in your pie plate then prepare the filling.
Here are the steps for making the cherry filling and constructing the pie:
- Preheat the oven.
- Place all the ingredients for the filling into a saucepan and cook until the juices just start to release from the cherries.
- Pour the filling into the prepared bottom crust.
- Construct the lattice top crust (see section below for details). Crimp the edges and brush with the whisked egg and milk on the top crust. Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired.
- Bake. Tent with foil if needed to prevent over browning.
- Allow the pie to cool and place it in the fridge for a few hours to let it set.
All the steps in full detail can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
How to Create a Lattice Top Pie Crust
Lattice the pie by placing strips of crust across the pie horizontally leaving a little gap between each strip. Fold up every other strip just a little and lay another strip vertically across the strips. Fold the horizontal pieces back and fold back the opposite horizontal strips, folding back the opposite way, place another horizontal strip and continue pattern until done.
What are the Best Cherries for Cherry Pie?
Both sweet and tart cherries work great but the tart cherries are the best. They are just hard to find most of the time. Look for morello or amarelle cherries. We used Rainier but Bing work as well.
You will want to adjust your sugar depending on how sweet or tart your cherries are.
How to Pit Cherries
You could take the next 10 years of your life and pit all the cherries by hand, oooorrrrrr you would use this cherry pitter and save yourself time and so many gray hairs! This tool is the BEST!
My little guy loves using this tool to help me too, so it’s a great way to get the kiddos involved in the kitchen!
I’ve seen other hacks online but I honestly haven’t tried them because I love the pitter, but if you don’t have one, you can try using a chopstick to poke the seed out. Just hold the cherry between two fingers and then stick the chopstick through the center of the cherry to push the pit out.
The other hack I saw was to use a piping tip to poke the seed out.
Can I Use Canned/Frozen Cherries for Cherry Pie?
Yes both can be used though fresh tastes so much better! If you use canned, drain off as much juice as you can then combine with the other filling ingredients as listed and proceed with the instructions as written.
Thaw frozen cherries and drain off as much juice as you can and then complete the filling as written in the instructions.
What is Sure Gel?
Sure Gel or E-Z Gel is a food thickener. It thickens gravy, sauces or desserts without any lumps and the liquid can be either hot or cold. I love this stuff! It has become my favorite way to thicken pie fillings like in our razzleberry pie that we love.
Can Cherry Pie Be Frozen?
This pie can be frozen either before or after baking. Either method will keep in the freezer for up to three months. Double wrap the pie in plastic wrap and then place in a ziploc bag.
Do not thaw the pie before baking or reheating. Just set the pie out on the counter while you preheat the oven. Place an unbaked pie in the oven a add 10-20 minutes to the bake time. For a baked pie, just heat it until it has warmed through.
Everybody needs a cherry pie recipe in their wheelhouse! There’s something so satisfying about making a pie completely from scratch. It’s truly a work of art!
More Mouth-watering Summer Fruit Desserts:
Print
Cherry Pie
Course 500+ Best Dessert Recipes
Keyword cherry, cherry pie, dessert recipe, fruit dessert, pie
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Resting Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 220kcal
Author Sweet Basil
- 1 Pie Crust
- 5 Cups 5 cups halved or whole (depending on preference) cherries *see note
- 1/2-3/4 Cup Sugar **see note
- 1/2 Lemon zested
- 1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 3 Tablespoons Sure Gel (or 1/4 Cup Cornstarch)
- 1 Egg large
- 1 Tablespoon Milk
- Sanding Sugar optional
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place all the filling ingredients in a pan and cook until the juices just start to release and place the filling in a prepared pie crust.
Construct the lattice top crust, crimp the edges and brush with whisked egg and milk (water is fine) and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another 35-40 minutes. Tent with foil to prevent over browning as needed.
Allow to cool and then place in the fridge for 2-4 hours or up to overnight to set.
* Sour cherries are best and are called morello or amarelle, but are hard to find. We used Rainier but Bing work as well.
** You may need to add more or less sugar and thickener depending on how tart and juicy your fruit is. Serving: 1slice | Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 90IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg
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