She's My Cherry Pie...

Cool drink of water
What a sweet surprise

Tastes so good, make a grown man cry

Sweet cherry pie...

C'mon, I can't be the only person who sang this to themselves while baking a cherry pie, right? Along with a little 80's hairbanging? Oh, I am?

Um...well...in that case. I never heard of this song before. What are you talking about? I deny all knowledge of this conversation.

::awkward silence::

Anyways...Alex's brother is here for the weekend and I love to bake for him. So when he requested cherry pie, I was happy to put this together! It's a fairly easy recipe, and I cut down on the work by using a pre-made pie crust. Me and homemade pie crust...well, let's just say that if we were in a Facebook relationship, our status would be "It's Complicated."

I found this recipe on the Food Network and it lives up to the good reviews. There is a good balance of tart and sweet, especially with the additions I threw in. Make it today and enjoy some sweet cherry pie of your own. 80's hair not required.

Warrant. For you Millennials...

Cherry Pie
adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:
4 cups cherries (frozen or fresh. But if you use fresh, then you have to pit them, and well...that's just the pits. Seriously, it's a PITA.)
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (I suggest starting with less sugar, since the cherries can be pretty sweet)
4 TBS cornstarch
1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)
favorite pie crust recipe, double crust
1/2 TBS butter
granulated sugar to sprinkle (optional)
lemon juice (my addition)
cinnamon (my addition)

Instructions:
Put cherries into a saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until the cherries release most of their juices, around 5-8 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk sugar and cornstarch together in a separate bowl. Once there is a decent amount of juice in the pan, remove from heat and then stir in sugar/cornstarch mixture. Mix in almond extract, if you're using it. Put it back over medium-low heat, and stirring frequently, allow it to thicken. Taste a small amount and adjust sweetness or tartness, whatever you want. I made mine more tart with lemon juice and threw in some cinnamon to spice things up. Take off heat and let it cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 375.

Pour the cooled mixture into the pie crust, and dot with butter. Moisten the edges of the pie, and cover with second crust. Flute the edges and cut slits in the center of the pie so that steam can escape. Sprinkle with sugar, if you want. Place the pie on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes and then let it cool for at least 1.5 hours. If you cut into the hot pie, it will be soupy and fall apart! Trust me, it's best to wait.