Can you bake a Cherry Pie?

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

One of the positives of this cool summer we're having is that tart cherries are still in season. Typically, they last only about 2 weeks. Fresh tart cherries have a very short shelf life, maybe 48 hours, which is why you never see tart cherries in the grocery stores.

I brought back tart cherries from Southern Michigan in mid July and was stunned to find them at the farmer's market on Friday. Never have we had four weeks of fresh tart cherry pies.

So here's the deal on a fresh cherry pie. In my mind, the only fresh one is one made from fresh cherries that I have pitted myself. I even have a cherry pitter that I use for these few special weeks of the year. And so for these few weeks each summer, we have fresh cherry pies.

The rest of the year, a cherry pie even if made from scratch just isn't a fresh one because the cherries aren't fresh. We are lucky to get flash frozen cherries and the pies from those are maybe 90% of a fresh one. Never have I used canned cherries or for that matter, any kind of canned pie filling. I don't have to when we have the wonderful frozen ones in our grocery stores.

For this pie, use the double crest recipe listed on the blog, Mom's recipe, so on the right side of this page scroll down to pies for the recipe.

Pit 6 c of fresh cherries
Mix with 1/4 tapioca
1 c sugar
1/2 t almond extract

Let the fruit mix stand for at least 20 min. New for me this summer in crust making is to chill the crust for at least 1 hr before I roll it out. Then I roll out the bottom crust and stick it in the freezer for 10 min. Into the bottom crust, I pour the cherry mix, top with the remaining crust, make several slits in the pie crust, brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. I cover the edges of the pie with a crust cover (or aluminum foil) and bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes and 50 minutes at 360 degrees F.

I also put a baking sheet covered in a Silpat sheet under the pie to catch the juices!

When the tart cherries are no longer in season, it's a sad day in our house. But then in just a few weeks, it's fresh cherry pie season!