Sour Cherry Pie

When we saw a few pints of sour (pie) cherries available at Kuntryside Orchard on Thursday, I knew we had to buy some to make a pie. I’ve made a few sweet cherry pies, but never a sour one. I also had a new pie crust recipe I wanted to try.

I had 2 pints of these beauties, so I started by washing, stemming, and pitting them with my cherry pitter.

Before they were pitted, I weighed them in case someone was wondering in pounds how many sour cherries I used. Then, I didn’t write it down. Then, I forgot. Oops! I can tell you that there were about 4 cups of cherries once they were prepped.

I will share my pie crust and sour cherry filing recipes shortly. I used a few recipes for reference (I’ll cite those), made some modifications, and hoped for the best. The last few pies I made were tasty but super runny even though I waited a few hours and refrigerated for a few more hours before we cut into them. Here’s the empty pie plate:

The pie, out of the oven:

And finally….drum roll please….when I cut into the pie….

I can see the bottom of the pie plate! All the juices didn’t immediately run out! I made a pie that’s NOT RUNNY!!!! I’m abnormally excited, I realize this. The difference this time? I thickened with tapioca. I know people have mixed feelings about this, but I’m going to swear by it from now on, at least for cherry pies. Wahoo!

Incidentally, a friend stopped by this morning while I was blogging and asked where exactly tapioca comes from, anyway. The short answer: a starch derived from the cassava (or yuca) plant. Greg, this is for you. :) Click here for the Encylopedia Britannica article about tapioca.

Sour Cherry Pie (**crust recipe from Strawberry Hand Pie recipe from the blog “Annie’s Eats”, and pie filling recipe inspired by Classic Sour Cherry Pie from “The City Cook”.**)

Ingredients:

10.5 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine salt (plus 1 pinch for later)
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups pitted sour cherries
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1 tablespoon cold salted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg
coarse sugar (optional)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together flour, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon fine salt for 1 minute on speed 2. Add cold butter pieces and mix for 2 minutes on speed 2, or until the mixture looks like coarse sand and there are still some pea-sized pieces of butter. Add milk and vanilla extract and mix for 30 seconds on speed 2, or until dough starts to come together. Divide dough into 2 parts, wrap each part in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Mix pitted sour cherries, sugar, pinch of salt, and instant tapioca in a medium bowl and let sit until juice starts to develop. On a well-floured surface, roll one pie crust into a 12 inch circle (slightly larger than the pie plate). Transfer crust into pie plate, leaving some overhang around edges. Add cherry mixture and sprinkle cold butter cubes on top. Put pie into refrigerator while working with the top crust. Roll the other pie crust into a 12 inch circle. Place top crust over cherry mixture, trim and seal edges, and cut some slits into top to let steam out. (Alternately, waste some time in the kitchen trying to be crafty, and make a lattice crust like I did. :)  )

Whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush egg wash onto top crust. If desired, sprinkle some coarse sugar onto top crust. Place pie plate onto a rimmed baking sheet (just in are there any drips in the oven!) and bake on middle rack at 375 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and cook for approximately another 40 minutes, or until crust is browned and juices are bubbly. Let pie sit undisturbed for 2 hours, then transfer to refrigerator to finish setting before cutting in.