Cherry Pie

I'm 32 and suddenly southern. 

And yes I've lived in Georgia my whole life, but my family is from New Jersey, so we didn't grow up eating pies unless they were ice cream pies in a pre-made Oreo crust. 

I also didn't try fried chicken or learn what a "meat and three" restaurant was until college.

So when I say that this is the first pie I've made, maybe you'll forgive me.

This recipe was inspired by a book that Matt and I read to Ryan and Natalie before bed recently called Farmer's Market Day. In the story, the family buys cherries to make a pie, and Ryan thought it would be a great idea for us to try it ourselves. 

So our almost 3-year-old receives the thanks for *I think* making me officially southern and inspiring this yummy dessert.

Ingredients:

2 Jars Trader Joe's Dark Morello Cherries in Light Syrup (look like this)

2 Pie Crusts (I used Trader Joe's frozen- looks like this)

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3T cornstarch

1T butter cut into small cubes

2T Egg Whites

Directions:

If using frozen pie crusts, be sure to allow enough time for crusts to thaw completely.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle flour on pie crust and carefully line into 9 or 10 in pie dish, flour side down. Press together any breaks in the crust and ease into the corners of the dish, pressing firmly against sides and bottom. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one jar. (I set the colander on top of the sauce pan I planned to use.)

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan with the cherry juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently with a whisk until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Gently stir in cherries and vanilla extract.

Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle in butter cubes.

Roll out the top crust and use a sharp knife to cut into strips for a lattice crust. Weave lattice crust overtop of filling. (Video tutorial here).

Trim the edges of the top and bottom crust to 1/2 – 1 inch beyond the pie pan and then fold under. Either press around the perimeter with a fork or crimp the dough with your fingers.

Brush the crust with egg white and sprinkle sugar on top.

Cover edges with aluminum foil or pie crust shield. Bake 25 minutes. Remove foil or shield and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until center is bubbly and crimped edges are brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 3 hours or so before eating to allow the filling to gel properly. 

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.