Since I had freshly picked cherries from a recent farm trip, I have used half of the cherries to make cherry jam and the other half to make cherry pie. I have already posted the recipe for homemade cherry jam few weeks ago and now I am posting my next recipe pie with fresh cherries.

Ingredients:

Serves 4 to 5

For pastry:

• 1 1/2 cup – All purpose flour
• 1/4 cup – Cold unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 1/4 tsp – Baking soda
• 1/4 tsp – Baking powder
• 2 tsp – Sugar
• 1/8 tsp – Salt
• Cold water (for kneading) as needed
• Melted butter or milk to brush the pie

For cherry filling:

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup – Cherry jam
• 1 cup – Whole cherry (fresh)
• 1 tbsp – Brown sugar

Preparation method:

Making of crust:

1. Take a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, butter cubes, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and rub with both your palms to incorporate the butter into the flour.
2. Add cold water little by little and mix well together to form a crumbly dough. Place them in a cling /plastic wraps, cover and refrigerate for upto 1 hour or until firm. Crust is ready for making pie, set aside.

Making of cherry pie:

1. Wash cherries, remove seeds and cut them into half, set it aside.
2. Take pie crust from refrigerator and cut them into halves. Roll out a sheet with one half of crust about 4mm / quarter of an inch thick. Grease your pie pan with butter, line the rolled pastry and trim off the excess( as shown in the picture).
3. Spread a thick layer of cherry jam in the bottom of the pie, and then place the pitted and chopped cherries on top. Later sprinkle brown sugar on top of the cherries.
4. Now roll the other half of crust into slight thick that is a bit longer than the diameter of your pie pan. Cut this pastry into strips as shown in the picture.
5. Decorate the top of the pie with pastry strips as shown in the picture. Seal them properly at the edges.
6. Put the pie in the refrigerator to rest for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400°F, brush the top of the pie with melted butter or milk and bake the pie for 35 to 40 minutes.
7. Remove the pie from oven and allow them to cool before you can remove it from the tin. Serve with vanilla ice cream on top or have it as it is.

Notes:

• Dough should be crumbly not a smooth dough. So add water as required for crumbly dough. Cold water is a must ingredient in this recipe.
• Brushing dough with melted butter or milk that gives a nice golden brown color to the crust.
• Since I had fresh and homemade cherry jam ready, I used it as a filling for my pie. You may use store bought cherry jam.