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Cherry Pie

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5 from 4 reviews

Recipe with step-by-step photos for Cherry Pie, inspired by the cult TV series, Twin Peaks. This recipe uses homemade pastry, as well as fresh cherries but you can substitute with frozen cherries.

Ingredients

For the pastry

For the cherry pie filling

For the egg wash

For the topping

Instructions

To make the pastry

  1. Place the butter, flour and icing sugar (powdered sugar) into the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Using the paddle attachment, mix until everything looks crumbly or like wet sand.
  3. Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor or by simply rubbing the butter into the flour and sugar with your fingertips.
  4. In a small bowl or cup, gently whisk together the egg and water.
  5. Add the egg mixture slowly to the dry ingredients, and mix until everything just comes together. You may not need all of the egg mixture.
  6. Do not knead the dough.
  7. Wrap the dough in some cling film.
  8. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

To make the cherry pie filling

  1. Remove the stones from the cherries, ideally using a cherry pitter (it is best to wear an apron while doing this). Alternatively, slice a piece off the cherry and try to extract the stone this way.
  2. Place the cherries, sugar, lemon zest and 1 split vanilla pod into a large saucepan.
  3. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5-10 minutes until the cherries start to break down a little. You can mash the cherries with a wooden spoon to help the process.
  4. Whisk together the lemon juice and cornflour (cornstarch) and add this to the cherries.
  5. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens. You want a fairly thick mixture so that it can hold its shape when you cut the pie later.
  6. Remove the vanilla pod.
  7. Set the cherry filling aside to cool completely.

To assemble the cherry pie

  1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F (without fan).
  2. Divide the dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other.
  3. Roll out each piece of dough between two sheets of clingfilm, lifting the clingfilm after each roll as necessary.
  4. Roll the dough to about 5mm thickness.
  5. Using the larger sheet of pastry, remove one sheet of clingfilm.
  6. Carefully place the pastry over the tart tin with the remaining clingfilm side facing up.
  7. Gently ease the pastry into the tart tin.
  8. Carefully pull off the clingfilm.
  9. Trim off the excess pastry.
  10. Wrap the excess pastry in some clingfilm and place in the fridge to use later as decoration for the pie.
  11. Fill the pastry shell with the cherry filling.
  12. Using the smaller sheet of rolled out pastry, remove one layer of clingfilm.
  13. Place the pastry on top of the tart tin, with the remaining clingfilm side facing up, to form the lid of the pie.
  14. Remove the remaining clingfilm and trim off the excess pastry by gently pressing the pastry against the edges of the tart tin.
  15. Gently press together the edges of the pastry by using your finger against the inside rim of the tart tin.
  16. Whisk together 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of milk to make an egg wash and brush this mixture over the pie.
  17. Make some shapes from the reserved pastry and place these on top of the pie.
  18. Brush over the decoration with some more egg wash.
  19. Sprinkle the pie generously with demerera sugar or granulated white sugar.
  20. Bake the pie for about 35 minutes or until lightly golden.
  21. Serve the pie warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream. The pie is also lovely served at room temperature.

Kitchen Notes

WHAT SIZE PIE DISH?
I used a 22 cm (9 inch) pie dish for this cherry pie. The recipe produced enough pastry for this size pie dish with some leftover. For my 22 cm (9 inch) pie dish, I needed only half of the cherry pie filling.

CHERRIES
I bought 1.8 kg (4 lb) of cherries to make this pie and, after removing the stones, stems and any dodgy fruit, I was left with a mere 1.1 kg (2 lb) of cherries. I nevertheless proceeded to make the cherry filling as per the recipe which turned out very well, despite having less cherries than required.

HOW TO MAKE A LATTICE PIE CRUST
To make a lattice pie crust, please see my post on How to Make a Lattice Pie Crust with step-by-step photos.

MAKE-AHEAD TIPS
* Both the pastry and cherry pie filling can be made ahead of time and kept covered in the fridge until needed.
* The cherry pie can also be assembled ahead of time and kept uncovered in the fridge. When you are ready to bake, simply brush it with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

STORAGE TIPS
This pie keeps well on a covered cake stand for several days at room temperature.

OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.

CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.

Nutrition