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I don’t really have any cutesy stories about cherry pie, but I will share with you that my love for this delightful confection started at a young age. You see, on the rare occasion that there were pies around our house, they were prioritized in this order: Apple, Chocolate Creme, [every other kind of pie on the planet], and then Cherry.
It was a shame, really. But since I had a very strong older brother (who had very strong and hungry friends), the only pie I could safely depend on was that good ole’ cherry pie. I could take my time and actually savor it, since nobody else really wanted to eat it…they would tolerate it once everything else was consumed.
Joke’s on them because I’ve now created an easy, homemade cherry pie to rival any apple pie on the planet. 😂 (Please don’t tell them that though.)
About this Cherry Pie
There is nothing quite like a great homemade cherry pie. I can close my eyes and see thee perfect one, too: a filling that contains a mixture of dark and red cherries (I like mine whole, please), the perfect all-butter pie crust, and the almost beautiful irony of putting the most luscious, rich texture of this filling with a pie crust that just…shatters. And for some reason, I always imagine the perfect cherry pie having a lattice top crust.
It’s not a dessert, BB. It’s an experience.
Cherry Pie Ingredients
All-Butter Pie Crust: Friends, my Easy All-Butter Pie Crust is a must for this amazing Cherry Pie. The way the flavors meld together to make just the perfect taste is positively delightful. And the textures…so amazing. To eliminate the intimidation factor that many find with pie crust, I created a photo tutorial to walk you through the process in detail. This is a big baking skill, BB, and with any big baking skill, the key is practice and patience. But I guarantee that your first attempts at this all butter pie crust will taste better than any store-bought pre-made pie crust. And then, we move onto the cherry pie filling to end all cherry pie fillings…
Sweet Cherries: Listen, if you want to know how to make the absolute best cherry pie on the planet, hear this: use black and red sweet cherries. The finished cherry pie filling will be dark, to be sure, but you cannot beat the taste of this cherry pie. Of course, as with everything, the cherries that you use are dependent on your taste as a baker. I love a 60/40 mixture of dark-to-red, but you might prefer something different.
Also, there’s no shame in using frozen cherries for this pie. I love them, since I don’t have to pit cherries and I can get peak season cherries any time of the year.
Granulated Sugar: Remember what I said about peak season cherries? Well, because those peak season cherries are so sweet, we don’t need much sugar. The sugar makes the pie sweet, of course, but it also assists with overall caramelization in the filling.
Light Brown Sugar: The molasses in the light brown sugar gives this filling an ever-so-slight caramel note. Because it’s light brown sugar, that caramel note is just a whisper. It’s the je ne sais quois that nobody will be able to place in your cherry pie. For me, it’s the ingredient that I use to bring all of my friends over to the cherry pie side.
This, Friends, is the ingredient that makes their eyes pop open wide at the first bite.
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Fine Sea Salt: Between the fruit, two sugars, and the mango juice, we need a powerhouse to tamp down the sweetness. Enter fine sea salt, which does a beautiful job of helping to create balance in this dessert. Without it, this cherry pie could become (dare I say) “too rich”, and we definitely don’t want that.
Mango Juice (or Lemon Juice): Listen, that fine sea salt needs an assist in this pie filling. The acidity of the mango juice (you can also use lemon juice) does an amazing job of cutting through the richness of the cherry filling, preventing it from becoming overwhelming and unbalanced. Additionally, I love mango juice for this filling, because it enhances the eye widening effect (see Light Brown Sugar, above).
Because people love the special little touches that they cannot trace.
All-Purpose Flour (for the pie filling): The flour in the pie filling acts as a thickener. Fruit pies are notorious for being runny without some kind of thickener, so this is very important!
Cherry Liqueur: This is an optional ingredient, but you can use it in your pie filling to enhance the cherry notes even more, and also to enhance the smooth texture of the filling.
Beginners Start Here
Pie is something that can strike fear in the heart of the most experienced bakers. That is because pie really forces us to hone in and develop our baker’s feel: that intangible sense that lets you know when you have enough water, when your laminated dough is ready to put into your pie plate, when your pie filling has reached the proper consistency…I could go on.
Fear not, Dear BB! In this section, I’m going to walk you through the techniques that I use in this pie, to give you a FAQ tutorial to make this amazing pie (and all of the pies in your future). Remember, the absolute best cherry pie will come with practice, practice, practice. So that leads to the first tip:
Tip #1: Don’t expect to master pie crust the first time.
We hear it everywhere: “Mindset is key”. Nowhere in the baking world is that more true than when working with pastry. Because pastry is as much about feel as it is about skill. And the learning process can be incredibly frustrating. But it’s incredibly rewarding when it “clicks”, so the best advice I can give you? Indulge your curiosity, take your time, and go into your first pie crust attempts with a beginner’s mind.
Tip #2: Chill your tools.
One of the best ways to ensure great pie crust is to keep all of your crust ingredients very cold. But, did you know that if you keep your tools cold, you actually increase your chances of great, flaky crust?
When preparing to make pie crust, I recommend chilling your (stainless steel) mixing bowl, your pastry cutter, your rolling pin, and even the little fork that you’ll use to stir ingredients together. This initial chilling helps make sure that your butter doesn’t melt as you work with it, and that’s vitally important to helping you achieve the flaky crust of your dreams.
And if the butter starts to melt, don’t panic, refer back to Tip #1, and get it into a refrigerator as quickly as possible.
Tip #3: Make sure that your filling is completely cooled before using
This cherry pie uses a cooked filling, and you need to make sure that that cooked filling is fully cooled before using. Placing hot filling on top of cold dough is a way to make the butter in your dough melt prematurely, and once again, when the butter in your dough melts too quickly, you will lose the beautiful flaky layers that you’re trying to create.
Tip #4: Your refrigerator is as important as your oven!
I get it. When we think of “baking” we think of using our oven to heat things to a certain temperature. And while that is correct, it is also correct that another appliance is equally important for this cherry pie: your refrigerator.
First, you’ll need to refrigerate/freeze your ingredients and tools to help everything stay nice and cold. Some recipes even call for the use of frozen butter, and while this recipe does not require that, I have much respect for those who do use it.
Second, you’ll need to halve the completed pie dough, create thick discs with each half, cover them in plastic wrap, and, you guessed it, refrigerate those discs for at least two hours before using.
Third, you’ll need to make and refrigerate your cherry filling. Like chill it to the center. When you stir your cherry filling, it should be uniformly cool throughout. So, once again, the refrigerator is the MVP.
Fourth, as you build the pie, you’ll need to use your refrigerator to keep the bottom crust in place while you roll out the top crust.
And finally, you’ll need your refrigerator to hold the completed pie while your oven does a long preheat. You don’t want to skip this final refrigeration, since this helps keep your pie from shrinking!
So yes. Give the refrigerator a participation trophy because it is an extremely important participant in the all-butter pie crust world. 😊
Tip #5: Slow and steady baking wins the race!
There are two schools of thought when it comes to baking pie: either start at a high temperature and reduce to a lower temperature, or bake at a steady temperature for the entire baking time.
I have a strong preference for the latter. In my experience, starting at a higher temperature (425°F) and then reducing to a lower temperature (375°F) leads to overbaked, dry external crusts and inconsistently baked crust underneath. A steady-state bake brings this cherry pie to its best deliciousness, with consistent crust all around.
Tip #6: The cherry pie needs to cool completely.
This one is difficult, BB. You see, that all-purpose flour in your filling needs time after the baking process to finish its work. While the pie is cooling, the filling is completing its gelling process. If you are a patient baker and wait until the pie is completely cooled and chilled in the refrigerator (~2 hours after it’s finished baking, and then in the fridge again overnight, if possible), you’ll be able to cut it into beautiful, picture-perfect slices with filling that remains intact.
Tip #7: Use sweet cherries for this pie.
There is a whole universe of baking that revolves around sour cherries. However, this pie is specifically tailored for use with the sweeter version of this summer fruit. Want a sour cherry pie recipe? No worries! I have a friend who’s a crack baker who has an AMAZING Sour Cherry Pie with Almond Crumble Topping that you should try! I don’t recommend subbing sour cherries in this pie, as the sugar amounts really depend on the cherries themselves having some sweetness. Using sour cherries, without changing anything else, might lead to an unreasonably tart cherry pie.
This pie is absolutely worth the effort. It’s the best cherry pie I’ve ever made (or eaten), and it’s one that’s been specifically requested by people who are decidedly not in the “I love cherry pie” camp. Want a perfect accompaniment? Try my No-Churn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!
Let’s get onto the recipe, shall we?
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Easy Cherry Pie (From Scratch!)
This Easy Cherry Pie uses both black and red sweet cherries, as well as cherry liqueur and mango juice, for an absolutely elevated pie experience! You’ll love serving this cherry pie to your guests.
Ingredients
- Easy All-Butter Pie Crust (recipe makes enough for a double-crust pie)
- 924 g (6 cups) Pitted Sweet Cherries, fresh or frozen (tip: frozen work just fine! They are picked at the peak of ripeness and flash frozen.)
- 100 g (1/2 c) Granulated Sugar
- 100 g (1/2 c) Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Fine Sea Salt
- 2 tbsp Mango Juice or Fresh Lemon Juice
- 32 g (1/4 c) All-Purpose Flour
- 63 g (1/4 c) Kirsch (cherry liqueur) (optional, but it really enhances the flavor of this pie filling. You can also use brandy or cherry juice)
Instructions
To Make the Filling:
- Add cherries, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, Kirsch (if using), mango juice, flour, and fine sea salt to a medium saucepan. Stir to combine.
- Place on a stovetop, on medium high heat, until the mixture begins to bubble, stirring frequently to keep from burning. Once the mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat to medium. Remove from heat once the mixture has reduced by 1/3 and has thickened, and when the cherries are soft but not mushy.
- Remove the cherries from the heat and pour the Kirsch (if using) over the top of the cherries. Make sure there is nothing (like a microwave or vent hood) directly over the pot.
- Very carefully light the top of the cherries with a camp lighter or torch. Allow the flame to burn until it dies on its own. Do not stir or agitate during this process.
- Immediately place in a heat-proof bowl and set aside until the filling is completely cooled.
To Make the Pie Crust:
- Add the 352 g all-purpose flour, fine sea salt, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl. Stir with a fork to combine.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture. Stir gently to cover the butter with the flour. Then use a pastry cutter to break the butter into smaller pieces. The butter pieces should be between the size of a pea and the size of a walnut. The pieces will not be uniform and this is ideal!
- Pour the 125 g of water evenly over the flour/butter mixture and stir very gently to combine with a fork. The mixture should be shaggy but combined. If necessary, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the correct consistency. You should not need more than about 3 additional tablespoons!
- Split the pie dough into two equal-ish parts in your mixing bowl. Shape each half into the size of a fat disc and cover each disc with plastic wrap. Place in a refrigerator for at least two hours before rolling out (overnight is best, but it’s workable after two hours).
- While the dough is in the refrigerator, place your rolling pin in the freezer. To cool your surface, fill a gallon-sized zip top bag with 1/3 ice and 2/3 water and seal shut. Place on the countertop for 30 minutes to an hour to cool the rolling surface underneath your pastry mat.
- After the two hour refrigeration, flour a generous amount of flour on a pastry mat. Place one of the thick discs atop the well-floured pastry mat. Flour the top of the dough disc and also your rolling pin. Test to see if the dough is ready by gently tapping your rolling pin on top of the disc; if the rolling pin makes small indentations, you’re ready to roll. Gently roll to about 14″, or until the dough begin to retract (shrink) (this will be about 1/4” thickness). If the dough breaks when rolling, allow the dough to sit for 2-3 minutes and then try again. Dough often breaks when the butter is still too cold from the refrigerator.
- Once you’ve reached about 14″, fold the dough in half, then do a letter fold (see photos in the Easy All-Butter Pie Crust photo tutorial). Continue rolling, adding flour as necessary and turning over the pie dough occasionally; don’t worry about over-flouring at this point.
- After letter folding the dough, roll the dough again to 1/4” thickness. Repeat this step one more time, for a total of three times.
- Brush excess flour from the top of the pie dough. Use your rolling pin to place the dough into a 9” or 10” pie plate (see photo tutorial above for how to do this). Place the pie plate in the refrigerator while you roll out the second half of the dough.
- Roll out the second half of the pie dough, using the same technique as above.
- Add the filling to the pie plate.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the rim of the bottom dough with a small amount of water. Add the top crust and press gently to seal. Trim the pie crust to 2” outside of the pie plate, and fold over the crust to seal. If desired, crimp or flute the crust.
- Place the completed pie in the refrigerator while you warm your oven to a true 375°F, and place an oven rack on the bottom third of the oven. Allow your oven a significant amount of time to reach the proper temperature. I allow my oven to preheat for at least an hour.
- Place the cherry pie on a half-sheet baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Brush the exterior of the crust with an egg wash, made of 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water, scrambled together. Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes. Check the pie at this point to see if the outer edges are browning too quickly; if so, tent the entire pie crust and continue baking for another 25-40 minutes.
- This pie is complete when the pie filling has domed a bit, and when the filling is bubbling. You can expect this pie to bubble over a bit, so the baking sheet underneath is clutch.
- Allow the pie to cool on the countertop for at least two hours, then, for best results, place in the fridge overnight.
Notes
- If you are new to pie baking, this pie plate will help you tremendously! Using glass at the beginning of your pie journey will help you build confidence as a pie baker, because you’ll actually be able to see the point when your bottom crust has reached perfect caramelization. Once you get your “sea legs”, you can move onto different pie plates with more confidence.
- This pie goes great with my No-Churn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!