This cherry pie recipe took first place in the Fruit and Berry category in the 1999 American Pie Council National Pie Championship.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch pie |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup shortening, chilled
- ½ cup cold water
- 2 cups pitted sour cherries
- 1 ¼ cups white sugar
- 10 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Whisk flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in shortening with 2 knives or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in cold water by hand just until dough holds together. Divide dough in half and form into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Roll out 1 dough disk into an 11-inch circle and press it into a 9-inch pie dish. Place in the refrigerator until needed. Roll out remaining dough disk into an 11-inch circle for the top crust, transfer it to a plate or baking sheet, and refrigerate until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place a baking tray in the oven to preheat.
- Place cherries, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium, non-aluminum saucepan. Allow mixture to stand until juices begin to release, about 10 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer until juices thicken and become translucent, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter and almond extract. Allow filling to cool to lukewarm.
- Pour cooled filling into prepared pie crust. Cover with top crust, trim and crimp the edges to seal, and cut vents for steam.
- Bake in the preheated oven on the preheated baking tray
- until crust is golden brown, 45 to 55 minutes. Allow to cool for several hours before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 506 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 4 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 13 mg |
| Sugars | 35 g |
| Fat | 28 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used this recipe for mini pies, so some parts needed to be adjusted, but this recipe was a great place to start! In order to have enough filling for the amount of dough this recipe made, I ended up using 4.5 cups of freshly picked tart cherries. I baked them for 20 minutes at 375. Result: I have 11 super cute mini pies!
Recipe calls for two cups of cherries which is one can. That’s not remotely enough. I used 2 cans (4 cups) and it wasn’t enough. Find another recipe.
Really simple and delicious pie. My family couldn’t get enough. The only thing I changed was using 3 cans of Oregon tart cherries in water vs 2c. Really could have used one more can. Next time I will play around with the crust, maybe use butter instead of Crisco for more flavor. This turned out amazing though! Question-Should I refrigerate leftovers?
Do yourself a favor and use fresh sour cherries. Not the ones at the store for eating fresh. Canned is to soft and mushy. I add a little red food color for astestics. This is very close to the recipe that my grandmother taught me.
Delicious! I followed some advice to add extra cherries. I added an additional 1 1/2C I also used vanilla extract because I didn’t have almond. It was super yummy!
This was great! I wasn’t able to get my hands on fresh cherries so I used a mix of frozen sweet & tart cherries. I also double the cherries. I dont usually like cherry pie, but this one is yummy. I will def make it again.
I did not make the crusts, used pillsbury, but my husband said the cherry pie filling was perfect, just how a cherry pie should take. My entire family loved it.
Very nice recipe! I love it. I prepared for Thanksgiving today, but I substituted the fresh fruit for canned Oregon fruit. I made me laugh reading in the comments all the substitutions and they still claim is the same recipe!! Happy Thanksgiving day!!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe, this is going to be my third year making it for Thanksgiving, but what is everyone doing because I just learned the company OREGON, who makes the sour pitted cherries has gone out of business. Does anyone else make these?
best ever so good i just love Cherry pie ..NO changes needed , that is why it won, perfect as recipe says
At my dessert, starch was not enough so sauce was too liquid but taste was really good everyone like it.
Loved it!
It turned out amazing, would possibly double this recipe for more cherries but it still turned out great. I wanted a crumble top so that was my only change and I set about 20 minutes to draw out the cherry juice to bring it to a boil. New favorite pie.
I wasn’t happy with my result using this recipe. The filling was hugely lacking in cherries, and the amount of corn starch used made it too much of a candy jelly. I like my cherry pie to be a bit more gooey and full of cherries. The flavor was there though.
I would maybe add a little less sugar to the filling. Perhaps 3/4 cup instead of 1 and 1/4 cups.
Amazing! I pretty much followed the recipe. Tips- I added about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon as well. I used less sugar than the recipe called for abs it was still plenty sweet! Also- mid the cornstarch with water to make it liquid and slowly add to the mixture so you dint get balls of corn starch. It will still do the job.
We love this pie! Thank you!
This recipe is perfect EXCEPT it requires more than 2 cups of cherries. I used approximately 5 to 6 cups of cherries as recommended by others who have reviewed.
Very good pie but needed to double the filling. I also added a little vanilla and almond extract.
Fantastic recipe! Did everything as directed other than substituting the almonds extract with vanilla and adding an extra dash of corn starch to make the filling a bit thicker. Yummy yumm! Here’s a photo of the pie, ignore the bubble!
This pie was very good and my husband who loves cherry pie really enjoyed it. I could not find sour cherries so had to buy frozen dark sweet pitted cherries. I used 3 times the amount of cherries called for in the recipe. 2 cups would not have been enough. I love almond extract but found the flavor a bit overpowering so next time will either only add a few drops or leave out all together. I also used pillsbury pie crust (the kind you unroll) and worked out great. Easy to make the lattice top which was pretty.