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Turn oven on to 400 degrees and set rack on lowest setting in oven.
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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.
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Set the filling aside while the pastry is made.
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Place 2 cups of all purpose flour into a medium size bowl.
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Add salt and Crisco.
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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.
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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.
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When the dough comes together, separate into two pieces. Roll out the bottom crust, place in 9.5 inch pie plate.
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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.
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Seal edges of pie. Brush with egg, sprinkle with coarse or regular granulated sugar.
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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.
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Let cool on counter for 3 hours before cutting.