This delicious homemade cherry pie recipe combines sour cherries, sweet cherries & dried cherries in a flaky, sugary crust with a lattice top.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

True confessions: Up until a few years ago, most of the cherry pies I'd baked in my life were made with canned cherry pie filling. I could lie and say it was the thought of pitting all those cherries that kept me reaching for the can opener instead of the cherry pitter. But, the truth is...

I really kinda like canned cherry pie filling.

I'm not talking about those beautiful jars of cherry pie filling you find at farmer's markets, that are made by real people (in my imagination, this is always someone who looks like my grandmother), with pronounceable ingredients and gorgeously ripe, whole fruit. Unfortunately, that's not the kind of cherry pie filling I'm talking about.

The kind I'm taking about is those cheap cans of cherry pie filling in the baking isle of supermarkets everywhere. You know... the kind where corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors are sometimes listed before actual cherries.

Sigh. I know I shouldn't... and yet, store bought canned cherry pie filling is a little like a hostess chocolate cupcake for me - way too sweet and totally artificial tasting, and yet, somehow, soooooo freaking delicious.

When I was a child, my grandparents lived in a house situated in the middle of an old sour cherry orchard. Most of the cherry trees were long gone, but on the side of the house, a few rows remained. Every year, when the cherry tree branches were heavy with ripe cherries, we would visit my grandparents and pick buckets of cherries.

After hauling them home, my mom would go to work pitting pound after pound of cherries, sealing them in bags for the freezer so that we could have homemade cherry pie year round.

Then my grandparents moved cutting off our supply of free sour cherries, and my mom started making her cherry pies with canned pie filling. So, my love of canned cherry pie filling is her fault really. You see that, don't you?

There's nothing better than a homemade cherry pie

Having confessed my ridiculous love of canned cherry pie filling, I also want to make it perfectly clear that it doesn't hold a candle to THIS homemade, 100% from scratch cherry pie. This pie is much, much better and 100% worth the extra effort. It's like comparing a fast food hamburger to a really good steak. The hamburger might be your guilty pleasure, but there's no contest about which is better.

Here's what I like about this Cherry Pie Recipe: it contains frozen sour cherries, fresh sweet cherries, AND dried cherries. The combination of all three kinds of cherries gives the pie is a contrast of flavors and textures that's absolutely delicious. But as always, you have options...

• Use only sour or only sweet cherries
• Omit the dried cherries altogether
• Use fresh OR frozen cherries.
• Use a combination of fresh and frozen cherries.

As long as the quantity of fruit is the same the combination and type of cherries is entirely up to you.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

A few words about cherries

Pitting cherries is kind of a pain in the you-know-what. I was lucky enough to find pre-pitted frozen sour cherries at my local farmer's market. But, I still had to pit the sweet cherries. The easiest way to do this is with a cherry pitter.

My favorite cherry pitter is the OXO Good Grips Cherry and Olive Pitter. It has a splatter shield that helps contain cherry juice splatters. “Helps” is the key word in that last sentence. There will still be some splattering and cherry juice has a remarkable ability to stain anything it touches. My suggestion is to pit the cherries over a deep bowl so that the sides of the bowl catch most of the errant splatters.

You also might look at the cost of dried cherries and reconsider including them at all. You can actually leave them out all together and your cherry pie will still be delicious.

But, I urge you to make this pie once with the dried cherries before deciding if the extra cost is worth it. The dried cherries add an unexpected chewiness to the filling that I love. I think you will too.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

Recipe: Homemade Triple Cherry Pie

This recipe was originally published on ofbatteranddough.com. For more detailed instructions, please see the original recipe ---> Homemade Triple Cherry Pie

Ingredients

• 1 recipe Fool Proof Pie Crust, chilled for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator
• 2 ½ cups (350g) pitted sour cherries
• 2 cups (280g) pitted sweet cherries, fresh, canned, or frozen and thawed
• 1 cup (138g) dried sour cherries
• ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 2 ½ tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
• 1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon (14g) salted butter
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 2 tablespoon (42g) granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Roll out and partially pre-bake the bottom pie crust according to these instructions. Set aside to cool while you make the cherry pie filling.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degree C).
3. In a medium size, heavy bottom saucepan, add the sweet, sour and dried cherries, sugar, tapioca, cornstarch and nutmeg. Stir gently with a wooden spoon to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened and boiling.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond and vanilla extracts. Pour the filling into the partially-baked bottom pie shell. Dot the surface of the cherry pie filling with small pea-size pieces of the butter.
5. Remove the remaining pie dough from the refrigerator and, on a well floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough into a large circle, about 18 inches. With a pizza wheel, fluted pizza wheel or paring knife, cut the disk into 12 ½-inch wide strips.
6. Starting in the center of the pie, lay half the strips across the top of the filling in one direction, than lay the other half of the strips across the pie, perpendicular to the first. Trim the edges of the strips so that they are even with the edge of the bottom crust.
7. Roll a section of the remaining pie dough into a thin, ½-inch thick rope, about 32 inches long. Lie the rope around the edge of the pie, covering the edges of the lattice strips completely. Press the rope gently onto the edge of the pie. With one hand on the inside of the edge and one hand on the outside, use the index finger of your inside hand to push the dough between the thumb and index finger of your other hand to form a U or a V shape. Continue this crimping motion around the entire edge.
8. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the crust with milk and sprinkle evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
9. Put the pie on a baking sheet (to catch any drips) and place in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Rotate the pie in the oven and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes. The pie is done when the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
10. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing. The pie can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but is best served slightly warm or at room temperature.

More Recipes For Cherry Season

Sweet Cherry Crumb Pie - This delicious cherry pie with a buttery crumb topping uses those plump, juicy, sweet cherries that are available in grocery stores and farmer's markets all summer long. Baked in a flaky pie crust and topped with brown sugar crumbs that are tender and crunchy all at the same time, this just might be my favorite summer fruit pie.

Cherry Sauce Made with Sweet Cherries - This delicious homemade cherry sauce is made with sweet cherries and requires little more than adding all the ingredients to a saucepan and cooking them until the sauce is the consistency of maple syrup.

I make this sauce with fresh cherries all summer long, spooning it over ice cream, cakes, pancakes, waffles, scones, and biscuits. But, you can also use frozen cherries to make it any time of year.

Cherry Crumble Bars with a Shortbread Crust - These buttery cherry crumble bars are little slices of heaven, that's what they are. The shortbread base is everything shortbread should be - rich, not too sweet, and so tender it melts in your mouth. Top the buttery shortbread with orange liquor-spiked cherry preserves and crispy, crunchy, sweet butter crumbs for bars that resemble cherry crumb pie in cookie form.

Photo byRebecca Black.comwell/ ofbatteranddough

For more of my recipes, visit alittleandalot.com and ofbatteranddough.com.

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