The Best Cherry Pie Recipe is the thing in our house! It’s actually a very simple one as long as you know how to make a pastry which I have covered in the apple pie recipe elsewhere on this blog.
To make a cherry pie you need two cans of tart cherries. I’ll always remember the can of Washington Cherries which said “we cannot tell a lie.. one can will not make an 8-in pie.” And true it is. If you tried with just one can it would be a very thin pie, a tart, really.
Cherry pie recipe
- Two cans of cherries. Drain one and leave water in a second
- One cup of sugar
- Two tablespoons of tapioca
- 2 tablespoons of butter to put on top the filling
- 2 pie crusts.
Mix the cherries, sugar, and tapioca or other thickener in a large bowl.
Conversion Chart for Thickeners for 8 inch Low Pectin Pies:
Fruit pies can be made with several thickeners. The below chart tells how much thickening agent you need to make a low-pectin pie. A high pectin pie would mean, basically, apple. So if you didn’t have a recipe, you could put the fruit in a bowl, add 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar, and then the thickening agent, and would be good to go. This would work for peaches, blackberries, blueberries, plums, raspberries.
| Ingredient | Measure: |
| flour | 1/4 cup |
| tapioca | 2 tablespoons |
| cornstarch | 2 tablespoons |
Meanwhile you’ve got to roll out the bottom crust. It’s got to be about 2 in bigger on all sides or if you like to do it the mathematical way the diameter of the circle should be 4 in greater than the diameter of your pie tin here’s a picture.
Roll out the Crust
In order to obtain the larger bottom shell, you’ll want to break your pie crust ball into 2/3 of the whole and then the rest for the top./
Put the bigger of the two balls down on the board and roll it out.
Pour the pie filling into the pie shell which you have already rolled out and put in the dish.
Next you’re going to put the butter on top of the fruit.
Turn on the Oven
About this time I’m going to turn on the oven you know how they always tell you to turn on the oven when you start and then you get distracted in the oven is on for an hour don’t do that it can get heated up in 10 minutes. Start with the oven at 425 degrees.
Okay so once you put the top on the pie you seal it to the bottom crust with water just a little bit on your fingers and then you crimp it and now it’s ready to go in the oven.
Notice that I put a cookie sheet underneath it. These pies have a tendency to leak, especially if you don’t crimp the edges tightly which is something I used to do for many years. I’ve kind of gotten on top of it now but I still put the pie on the cookie tray just to make sure the filling doesn’t run down onto the bottom of the oven. Then you’ve got to clean it off later after it’s burned on. Not fun. But anyway.
Bake the Pie
Bake the pie for about half an hour at 425 and then turn the oven down to 350 and bake it for another 45 minutes give it the knife test to make sure the filling has gelled.
Around here we often were running behind and had to eat the pie only 15 minutes after it came out of the oven and you can do that but it’s probably better to wait an hour if you can.
Some people like to serve cherry pie with ice cream but I don’t tend to keep ice cream in the house. Andrew just eats it all he’s on a strict ice cream ration half gallon a week. And his favorite is Rocky Road anyway so even if I have ice cream it’s chocolate. Just not as good with cherry pie as vanilla.
Why is it the best cherry pie recipe? Because it’s the easiest and it tastes better than the rest of them. The Cherry Pie is a perfect example of what I’ve been saying about cooking you don’t have to do it fancy to do it good. I’ve been told again and again my cherry pie is the best people have ever eaten but I didn’t do anything special. I just bought quality cherries and made a good crust that’s really all you have to do. Oh and you do have to bake it long enough.
