Cherry Pie

So, my cousin, Christina’s, favorite thing on earth
is cherry pie. And, she always asks me to make it.And, now I’m finally doing it.So, I have six cups of cherries now I use canned
cherries because they’re not in season right now.And, I used a combination of red, tart cherries
and dark, sweet cherries. So, I don’t have as
much sugar, because they’re naturally sweet.So, it took me five cans to get to six cups of cherries.I did two of the red tart and three of the dark and sweet.I’m going to pour those in a bowl.And then, I’m going to add a cup of sugar.And then, I’m going to gently
toss the cherries in the sugar…and set those aside for an hour, and let the
cherries soak in that sugar and let the sugar
pull out any moisture that’s left in the cherries.So, the next part of our cherry pie is…I
have a crust that, if you refer back to
regular pie crust, is what I used. And, I…It’s in a nine inch pie plate and in the refrigerator.So, now I’m going to take the top…I
want to make a lattice top for my
cherry pie, because it looks really pretty.So, I’m going to roll this out
into a ten by thirteen rectangle.Adding flour as I need it.Okay.I need a perfect rectangle.I going to cut off there.And cut it again there.And now, what I need are eight strips. So, I’m
going to put four going each way. And then, I’ll
show you how we braid them to make them latticed.So, what I’m going to do is cut it about in half.Now, the fun part is…If you break them, you just patch
them together, because we’re gonna freeze these.Freezing them makes them easier to manage
when you go to make your lattice crust.We need to keep them just a little bit
apart, so they don’t freeze together.And, you know what? This one got cut off.So, I’m going to roll out another
and just make one tiny strip.There we go.So,…I have eight strips of pie crust; and, we’re
to put this in the freezer for about thirty
minutes. And then, we’ll be back.So, our cherries have been
soaking for a little over an hour.You see all that juice that’s in there? We’re
gonna strain that out, because you don’t want
a soggy pie. That’s the last thing we want.So, I’ve got my colander set over a bowl.I’m just gonna pour this in.Set that aside.Now, the reason I didn’t do this over the sink is because
I want to keep a quarter cup of that juice, not all of it.Shake, until you get most of it out.And, I pour my drained cherries into a new bowl.And, I’m going to measure out a quarter of a
cup of that sweet juice that we just drained.See all of that’s left?That’s what we don’t want.Now, I have a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon…and a quarter teaspoon of almond extract.And then, I have a quarter cup of cornstarch.And, the cornstarch is going to be your
thickening agent so that your pie is not liquid.So, I’m just gonna toss with my hands…to try to get it all mixed together.You could probably use a spoon. But, I don’t
want to break up the cherries too much.Okay.And then, I have my pie crust that
was sitting in the refrigerator.So, now I’m going to put…pour my cherries right inside.And now, we have to put the lattice crust
on. But first, I have to get out of freezer.So, here’s our cherry pie.Here is our lattice strips.And, they are frozen. So, what I’m
going to do is lay them down.We’re going to start with four.And then, we’re going to weave.So, what I want to do is go under,…over, under and over.And then, the opposite, this way.And then, we’re going to let this warm up for a little
bit, so that we can create that nice crust on the end.So, we’re gonna give it about 10-15 minutes to warm up.And then, we’ll piece that back together.Then, we’ll be ready to bake our pie.So, our pie crust has been allowed
to soften up for about 15 minutes.Now, I’m just gonna cut around the
edges with my culinary scissors and save
that, because the pie crust is yummy.I’m gonna cut all the way around the edges. And then,
I’m going to crimp it to create a border and to seal the
two pie crusts together, the top at the bottom.And I’ll show you how to do that.So, what I’m going to do is pinch together.It’s going to create a pretty border.And, it’s gonna seal the two pie crusts, so that you don’t
have one that flies up and becomes no longer attached.And, if a little bit of juice spills out, that’s okay.That’s why we have it on our cookie
sheet, so that if any juice spills out…it doesn’t spill out and harm the bottom of the oven.You can see, all the edges are crimped.This one looks a little…There we go.Okay. Now I have an egg-white…that I’m going to brush over the top.I have these little lattice piecesThere we go.And then, I have a tablespoon of plain, white sugar.I’m just gonna sprinkle over the top.This is gonna give that crust just an extra little oomph.And, it’ll crystallize on the top, making
the pie crust look really pretty.There we go.So, I’m gonna stick this in a 425 degree
oven for 30 minutes, just to cook the top
of the crust to get a nice golden brown.And then, we’re gonna reduce the temperature, rotate
the pan and cook it at 375 for another 30 minutes.So you see the nice golden
brown color? That’s all we need.Now, we’re gonna turn the pie around,…close back up the oven,…take the temperature down to 375 degrees…and cook it for another 30 minutes.So, we cooked the pie for about 22 minutes
at 425 degrees. Then, we bumped it down to
375 and cooked it for another 20 minutes.You can go as long as 30. But, my crust looked
perfectly golden and the cherries look nice and juicy.So, I thought that I’d stop there,
instead of burning everything.And here is our cherry pie.