This is one of my Mom's favorite pies and it's a 2 crust pie, so if you like flakey crust then this pie is for you.
Mom makes her pie crust from scratch, but if you like, you can use premade flour dough crust from your local grocery store -- if they stock any.
As for the cherry pie filling, it's from a can that you can get from Dollar Tree of 99c only Stores. Dang, this recipe is cheap! Mom uses one 20 ounce can of cherry pie filling, but it's easy and cheap enough to add another can for an extra juicy pie filling. I've also seen 15-ounce cans, so then you will need 2 cans of cherry pie filling.
Click on any photo to see larger.
You will learn how Mom creates a lattice-style top crust, and it's easy to do really. You will have a bit of dusty flour to clean up, but the extra pie crust work is worth it.
Nothing beats Mom's Homemade Cherry Pie. And it's so good even a bunch of my Cajun family show up. Just hang out to the end of the video to see how quick a Cherry Pie vanishes!
Mom's Homemade Cherry Pie Recipe - Video
Play it here, the video runs 9 minutes 50 seconds.
Ingredients
- 1 can Cherry Pie Filling - 20-ounce can. Okay to add more filling with another can - hey, why not, it's cheap enough.
- 9-inch Pie Pan - glass or metal pan.
- 2 cups Flour - for 2 pie crusts. Mom uses all-purpose flour.
- 1 teaspoon of Salt
- 1 cup Shortening - okay to substitute shortening with real butter, or even margarine.
- 6 tablespoons Ice Water - just regular water with ice cubes to keep it cold.
- Extra Flour - have it on hand as you will sprinkle flour on a rolling pin and rolling surface, so the dough doesn't stick to everything. Adding extra flour is fine as it will absorb into the pie crust as you work with it.
- 2-4 tablespoons Milk - brush on top of assembled pie crust.
- 1 tablespoon Sugar - sprinkle on top of the pie after it is assembled. Mix and sugar will make a light glaze on the pie as it bakes.
Directions
For the cherry pie filling, all you do is open the can!
The pie crust starts with 2 cups of flour in a large bowl.
Scoop in the shortening, butter or margarine -- or a combination of. Mom uses shortening only.
If you use margarine or butter make sure they are cold. Mom doesn't refrigerate her shortening, because room temperature shortening is still semi-solid. Butter or margarine will be too mushy at room temperature.
Mix shortening into flour and break apart large clumps. You want small pea-size flour balls or crumbs. This will take a few minutes of mixing and chopping to get there. Mom used a pasty cutter, but you can use a large fork to mix flour and shortening.
Now you will press and form a pie crust dough ball by adding 6 tablespoons of icy water. Mix in a couple tablespoons at a time then press dough together. Okay to sprinkle on a little dusty flour to make handling easy.
Once the water is added and the dough is mixed well you should have enough dough to form 2 balls. Divide the dough in half and form the 2 balls to use as a bottom and top crust.
Now dust your flat working surface with flour and add one dough ball. Also, add flour to your rolling pin, so the pie crust doesn't stick and split apart as you work with the dough.
Make a 9-inch round of pie crust to fit a 9-inch pie pan. Once you start rolling out the dough it warms up and becomes softer to handle - after a couple of minutes, you can even press out the dough with your fingers, to cover the pie pan.
To make the pie crust round, you roll out the dough ball in all directions. That is, start top to bottom for a couple of rolls, then switch left to right and roll out a couple more times. Keep repeating this, adjusting the direction of rolling a little at a time to form a circle of dough.
The end result will be a thin layer of dough about 1/8 of an inch thick. Don't worry about it being too thin, as the dough will thicken during baking. It just needs to be thick enough to be able to handle it without breaking apart. Sometimes you will have a thin crust and sometimes a thick crust...it's all good, and tasty.
It doesn't have to be a perfect circle. You work the dough until it becomes soft like play dough, and when to cover the pie pan you can still reshape and push the dough around to fit the pan. Mom used a knife (spatula) to lift the pie dough from the work surface.
You can also fix any tears or holes with extra dough strips that you will be making in the next step.
Once the bottom pie pan is fitted with the pie crust move on the second ball of pie dough.
Add flour if needed to the rolling surface and roll out the dough ball. This time the pie crust does not have to be round, as you will be slicing it up for the pie crust topping.
Roll out the dough, square, or semi-round. You just need the dough to be 9 inches long in one direction. Again sprinkle on flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to the rolling surface.
Now slice the dough with a knife into strips, about a 1/2 inch wide, or so. It doesn't have to be exact every time.
Now time to bring it all together. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Add a 20-ounce can of cherry pie filling. Okay to add another half or full can for a thicker cherry pie.
Now add lattice top crust. Lay down one crust strip at a time. Start in the middle and work to the outer edges of the pie pan, shortening or pinching off extra pie crust strip ends, to fit the top of the pie.
Now repeat, but this time lay pie topping strips in the opposite direction until the top of the pie looks like a grid. You can space out the strips as wide or close as you like.
If you have leftover dough strips it's okay to add them to the outer crust edge so the crust is extra thick and crunchy, yum!
You can make the pie perfect or keep it rustic. Don't worry how it looks really, hey it will taste just fine.
Of course, if you like a solid top crust then just lay the whole rolled-out dough over the filling and press the top edges to seal the pie. But do make sure to make a few air hole slits into the top crust or the cherry filling may overflow too easily.
You can google "pie crust designs" and pick out the one you like. Click here for some designs that are complex, but with a couple of simple ones, too.
When the pie crust is assembled it's time to bake it at 425 degrees for half an hour. Check on the baking pie during the last 10 minutes. Once the pie crust edges are brown the pie is ready. Baking time will vary by five minutes or so, according to how hot your oven operates.
Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Allow the pie to cool down and the cherry filling will return to a pudding-like texture. Of course, you can serve the pie hot or cold, and with ice cream or whipped cream topping - Mom's Homemade Cherry Pie is so good the Swamp Chef eats it all by itself ! No pie topping for the Swamp Chef is needed.
