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Sour Cherry Pie

Sour Cherry Pie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare pie dough recipe. Refrigerate two discs of dough for at least one hour before use.
  2. Pit sour cherries, discarding the pits and placing the cherries into a medium-sized bowl. Drain excess juice from the cherries and set aside.
  3. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  4. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disc of pie dough to a 14-inch diameter. Transfer to 9-inch round pie plate and trim excess dough away from the edge.
  6. Add the almond extract and lemon juice to the sour cherries. Toss gently. Add the dry mix and toss again until cherries are coated. Evenly spoon cherry mixture into the dough-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces and nestle them into the cherry filling. Set aside.
  7. Roll out second disc of pie dough to 14-inch round. Create preferred design for the pie top and carefully place on top of pie.
  8. Trim off excess dough and crimp the edge of the top crust to the lower one.
  9. Beat egg with water. With a pastry brush, carefully brush egg wash on the upper crust and the edge detail.
  10. Transfer pie onto a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 375°F and bake for an additional hour, or until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.
  11. Cool pie to room temperature, about 1 hour. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
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Sour Cherry Pie

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Tart sour cherries tossed with sugar, lemon juice and a hint of almond baked in a flaky tender pie crust…

  • clock icon
    95 MIN
  • 8 SERVINGS
Sour Cherry Pie

Discover why we can’t get enough of this SOUR CHERRY PIE!

Everyone repeat after me, “Thank you, Carol!” This stellar homemade SOUR CHERRY PIE recipe is all thanks to her. A few months back we were reviewing the content calendar, scheduling our summer recipes when she stopped me mid-sentence.

“Oh my gosh, we don’t have a pie on the calendar. We’ve gotta do a pie!”

Good catch, Carol! Crisis averted.

This simple oversight got me thinking about pies in general. Surprisingly, humanity’s love of them goes way back. Click HERE to read the excellent Wiki article about them. Sheesh, even the ancient Egyptians enjoyed a good pie. Who knew?

Really good pie recipes are shared and treasured, and I know cottage-goers will agree that homemade pies are the quintessential cottage dessert. In my mind, fruit pies are especially perfect for the cottage setting; whether you’re heading out to handpick the filling for a WILD BLUEBERRY PIE or stocking up at a local farm stand to make our PEACH PIE, there’s something to be said for a dessert that highlights the choice fruit of summer.

Read on to discover how this SOUR CHERRY PIE came to be and what we learned when we made it.

Ingredients for the Sour Cherry Pie

SIMPLE EQUATION

Every time we post a pie recipe, I say the same thing: practice makes perfect. Don’t worry if you’re new to pie making; you don’t need too much practice to perfect it. I bet you’ll have it down pat by pie number three.

Looking at the photo I’ve included, you’ll see there aren’t a ton of ingredients needed to make this cherry pie from scratch. Technique is the real key to a good pie, and the equation is simple: start with our foolproof ALL-BUTTER PIE DOUGH recipe, fill it with flavourful fresh fruit, bake it until it’s bubbly and the crust is golden, then give it enough time to cool so the filling sets. See? Really simple!

Freshly picked sour cherries

SOUR CHERRIES

We hadn’t zeroed in on a specific fruit when Carol and I agreed to add pie to this year’s summer fare. I wanted to wait and see how the fruit looked and let inspiration be my guide.

Sour cherries pitted

My friends often give me their, “Nik, you’re nutsy” look when I say things like this, but it’s true – I saw these sour cherries, and my heart skipped a beat! Sour cherries have a uniquely tangy and tart flavour like nothing you’ve ever tried. I think they’re best enjoyed as we’ve done here – in a homemade SOUR CHERRY PIE.

The sour cherries tossed in a bowl with sugar, lemon juice and few drops of pure almond extract

FILL ‘ER UP!

The filling for this pie was like a culinary cliffhanger – things went bad, then got good. The bad part was pitting two pounds of dinky, sour cherries. I started pitting them using a conventional cherry pitter and became frustrated when the pits kept getting stuck in the tool.

Homemade pie dough lining the pie plate

Then I realized I could pit them much easier by holding the cherry in one hand and coaxing the pit out and away my opposite thumb. Pretty soon I had this rhythm going and lifted myself out of the pits of despair.

Last thing on the filling is to expect your excitement to build when you add our secret ingredient, pure almond extract. Cherry pie lovers will swoon – amazing, right?

An interesting treatment for the top of the pie, a trellis design of dough

UPPER CRUST

Once the filling is ready and has been spooned into the pie shell, the fun part begins: the upper crust.

I try to vary the looks of the pies I make and experiment with the all-important upper crust. In this case, I really threw caution to the summer wind and tried to arrange strips of pie dough to look like a tartan or plaid pattern. Is it perfect? No. Do I still like it? Yes. Will I try something different next time? You bet! Have fun decorating your pies, and always remember, they still taste really good even if their design looks a bit funky!

Sour Cherry Pie cooling after baking

BAKE AND SERVE

I have to admit, even a seasoned pie maker like myself was astounded by the enticing, appetizing aroma of this particular pie as it baked. Thirty minutes in, I called Carol to tell her we had a winner. Taking it out of the oven was another moment of greatness, with the filling bubbling up around the perfectly golden crust. I may have shed a tear of joy, just saying!

Sour Cherry Pie

Serving the pie with nothing more than vanilla ice cream is suggested, keeping the focus on the fruit flavour. Talk about those sour cherries being perfect and wonderful, right? Your first bite will make you very, very happy!

Well, that’s been our experience with this SOUR CHERRY PIE, a definite keeper. That said, don’t forget to save this homemade pie recipe to a favourite Pinterest board or bookmark this page for future reference.

SOUR CHERRY PIE – a stellar baked treat that’s perfect for your next weekend at the cottage.

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Sour Cherry Pie

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Sour Cherry Pie

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Ingredients

  • 2 discs pie dough
  • For the filling:
  • 2 lb. sour cherries, pitted
  • ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • For the egg wash:
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon water

Directions

  1. Prepare pie dough recipe. Refrigerate two discs of dough for at least one hour before use.
  2. Pit sour cherries, discarding the pits and placing the cherries into a medium-sized bowl. Drain excess juice from the cherries and set aside.
  3. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  4. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disc of pie dough to a 14-inch diameter. Transfer to 9-inch round pie plate and trim excess dough away from the edge.
  6. Add the almond extract and lemon juice to the sour cherries. Toss gently. Add the dry mix and toss again until cherries are coated. Evenly spoon cherry mixture into the dough-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces and nestle them into the cherry filling. Set aside.
  7. Roll out second disc of pie dough to 14-inch round. Create preferred design for the pie top and carefully place on top of pie.
  8. Trim off excess dough and crimp the edge of the top crust to the lower one.
  9. Beat egg with water. With a pastry brush, carefully brush egg wash on the upper crust and the edge detail.
  10. Transfer pie onto a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 375°F and bake for an additional hour, or until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.
  11. Cool pie to room temperature, about 1 hour. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

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