Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust

Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust is a cherry pie lover’s dream! This pie is made with sour cherries and flavored only with a little  bit of almond (or vanilla), sugar and a dash of salt. I can’t get enough of this tart and sweet pie!

I remember my mom singing this song in her cute Japanese accent…
“Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
She can bake a cherry pie, in the twinkling of an eye,
she’s a young one who cannot leaver her mother!”

I’m not sure these are the correct lyrics, but she and my dad always struck up this tune whenever anyone mentioned cherry pie! My dad loved cherry pie. Actually,  dad loved almost any pie, which is where I’m sure I developed my love for pie. When our oldest daughter, Corrine was very young, my dad used to take her to his restaurant so she could have pie for breakfast. He told her he bought the restaurant so he could take her to get pie anytime they wished.  Big time grandparent points there!  Corrine made this Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust last year for Thanksgiving and it was an instant hit.

Don’t you love the sweet and tart factor associated with pies like Fresh Apple Cranberry Pie and Rhubarb Pie?  I absolutely love the contrast in flavors. Wrap that all up in a flaky pie crust and you have a winner. I topped this pie with a  lattice crust because I like the way a wide lattice crust looks, and it’s way less work than cutting thin strips of dough to weave!

This lattice is topped with a simple egg wash for a pretty finish and then sprinkled with a little coarse sugar to add a bit of crunch and sweetness to the top crust. Although this pie looks like it took hours to make, the filling involves opening cans of tart cherries, adding a few ingredients and setting aside. Make the pastry and in a little over an hour, you can have this beautiful pie cooling in your kitchen!

Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust

5 from 3 votes

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Author: Si Foster

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 55 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients 

• pie filing:
• 3- 14.5 oz cans sour cherries in water (pitted), drained, reserving juice or about 5-5 1/2 cups cherries
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon juice from cherries
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons tapioca
• dash salt
• 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
• crust:
• 2 cups flour, plus more for rolling out
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup shortening, Crisco* cut into tablespoon size pieces
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water
• egg for top of curst
• coarse ground sugar or granulated sugar for top of crust

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Instructions

• Turn oven on to 400 degrees and set rack on lowest setting in oven.
• Place the drained cherries, 1 1/4 cup sugar, dry tapioca, dash of salt and almond flavoring into a medium size bowl. Add 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cherry juice and mix gently. The tapioca will appear as little white pieces in the filling, but will dissolve and thicken the filling as the pie bakes.
• Set the filling aside while the pastry is made.
• Place 2 cups of all purpose flour into a medium size bowl.
• Add salt and Crisco.
• Using a pastry cutter, cut the shortening into the flour using a cutting motion (back and forth). This takes a total of less than one minute. Do not stir the shortening. You should have little pebble-like pieces in the bowl when finished. You may also use your hands to break the pieces of shortening up into the dry ingredients.
• Pour 1/2 cup the water into the bowl all at once. Use a fork or spatula to fold the ingredients together. Add more water if needed to allow the flour, shortening and water to combine. This process takes less than a minute.
• When the dough comes together, separate into two pieces. Roll out the bottom crust, place in 9.5 inch pie plate.
• Stir the filling again to make sure the sugar and tapioca are evenly distributed, and pour the filing ingredients into the pie shell. Roll out top crust and cut into strips of desired thickness. Weave a lattice pattern on top of the pie.
• Seal edges of pie. Brush with egg, sprinkle with coarse or regular granulated sugar.
• Place the pie in the hot oven on top of a sheet of foil or thin cookie sheet to bake for approximately 45-55 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.
• Let cool on counter for 3 hours before cutting.

Notes

-I used canned sour cherries for this pie, but you may also use pitted frozen or fresh sour cherries. Each can yields about 1.5 cups of cherries. Sour cherries are found in the canned fruit section of your grocery. Do not use prepared canned cherry pie filling!
-When making the filling, the juice seems runny and excessive when poured into the pie shell (and should be baked immediately to prevent a soggy crust) but it will thicken when baked.
-If the pie is browning too quickly, loosely place a sheet of foil or tent foil over the top of the pie.
-I bake this pie for 50 minutes on the bottom rack in oven at 400 degrees.
-It is best to allow at least 3 -4 hours for cooling so the filling will have chance to set up! Often times when the filling is runny, the pie simply has not had enough time to cool down and solidify.