Homemade Sweet Cherry Vanilla Pie
After my dad saw the homemade apple pie I made for my mother’s birthday, pie was his top request for Thanksgiving dinner. But not just any pie…cherry pie!
Honestly, this was the easiest pie I have made so far. (no pun intended) No slicing or peeling fruit is required; you just thaw frozen cherries and heat them in a large saucepan over medium heat.
You can use fresh cherries if you want, but I found that using frozen cherries made things much simpler! Especially if you are in a pinch preparing a feast for Thanksgiving.
Hope you love it as much as we did!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
For this recipe, you will need to prepare two pie crusts using No Fuss Pie Crust
For the Filling:
2.5lbs of frozen or fresh dark seedless cherries (8 cups)
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla
lemon juice squeezed from ½ lemon
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter
Instructions:
Prepare two pie crusts according to directions. When ready, preheat the oven to 375°.
If you are using frozen cherries, set them out and allow them to thaw at room temperature for about one hour. If you are using fresh cherries, you can skip this step.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir the cherries, sugar, salt, almond extract, vanilla, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and lemon juice. Stir frequently and simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from stove top and stir in the other tablespoon of cornstarch. Allow filling to completely cool and thicken.
Once cooled, pour the cherry filling into a prepared pie dish.
Roll out the second batch of pie dough and cut into 1” strips. Weave the strips over the fruit filling to create a lattice crust. (Link a tutorial)
Pinch or crimp the bottom crust with the top crust to seal.
Whisk the egg and milk together in a small bowl and evenly brush the top crust with the mixture. Sprinkle additional sugar over the top crust and dot with chilled butter.
Bake at 375° for approximately 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. Cover the pie with aluminum foil if the crust begins to get too brown.
Cool on a wire rack before cutting. Serve with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!
