Fresh Cherry Balsamic Pie Food

HOMEMADE CHERRY PIE WITH FRESH CHERRIES

Steps:

• In the bowl, put the all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, the powdered sugar, and the cubed cold butter.
• With your clean hands, start mixing the butter with the rest of the ingredients. You want to break down the butter until you get small pea-sized pieces, it doesn't matter if some are bigger than others. Be careful not to overwork the butter. These bits of un-mixed butter will help to create the flakiness of the crust. You can make this step with a pastry cutter or a food processor.
• Once you achieve said consistency, add the egg yolks and mix.
• Add tablespoons of cold water one by one, mixing in between. You want to achieve a consistency that is not too wet. It needs to stay barely together when pressed and should not stick to your hands. It's best to add the very cold water one tablespoon at the time, and check if the dough needs more water or not. Remember you can always add, but never take out.
• Keep mixing until you form a ball of dough, you should end up with a "clean" bowl.
• Divide into two balls and form each into a disk, wrap it in cling wrap and let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will allow the flour to hydrate and drop the temperature of the dough a bit.
• Crusts can be made ahead and frozen up to 8 weeks. Defrost for 2-3 hours or until dough is soft before rolling and shaping.
• Start by preheating your oven at 400 F /200c.
• Prepare the cherries by removing the pits, for this you can use a cherry pitter, or cut them in half and remove the pits.
• In a large bowl combine the pitted cherries, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla & almond extract, and lemon juice. Set aside.
• Roll out one of your pie dough disks: on a floured surface roll it until you reach a 1/4 inch (13mm) inch thickness as it follows: Roll a bit up and down and then turn 90º to one side. Roll again in the same direction and then turn again 90º. Keep rolling until you obtain the desired thickness.
• Roll the other dough disk, cut it in strips with a knife or a pastry wheel cutter, and set it aside.
• Line the pie pan with the first rolled crust and adjust the dough making sure there are no air bubbles underneath. Do not worry about the excess dough you are going to use it to create a nice decoration on the border.
• Fill the pie pan with the cherry mixture, discarding any excess liquid formed in the bowl.
• Create the lattice top crust by placing 4 dough strips on top of the pie pan leaving some space between them. Fold the second and third strips up & place two more strips on the opposite direction creating a crossed pattern and repeat all around the pie. The idea is to obtain weaving effect, by having always one strip up, one down.
• Press together the excess bottom crust with the end of the strips and crimp the edges with your fingers, or use a fork to press them together. Whisk the egg whites, then brush the surface of the crust.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F, then reduce the heat to 350°F or 180C and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on your oven. Keep an eye on the crust, so it doesn't get too browned, if it starts to get two brown move it to a lower rack or place a piece of foil on the pie.
• Once fully baked, let the pie cool so that the filling will fully set. Sprinkle some powdered sugar to garnish and serve with vanilla ice cream.

EASY FRESH CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Pit and halve cherries, set aside.
• In a separate bowl stir together flour and salt, stir in the sugar, add the cherries and almond extract. Then mix in the cold, cubed butter. Place mixture in the fridge to keep the butter from melting.
• To make the crust stir together flour and salt.
• Add the 3/4 cup of butter flavor Crisco and cut in shortening with a fork, 2 knives or pastry cutter until shortening is the size of small peas.
• Add water, a tablespoon at a time, and mix with fork until the dough starts to form a ball.
• Work dough into one large ball then separate into two. (If doing a lattice top, or using a deep dish pie pan, I normally make the ball for the bottom pie crust a little larger, gives you more to work with when rolling out the dough).
• You can either roll out the dough between 2 sheets of wax paper, or a floured surface. I prefer rolling it out on a floured surface, sprinkling a little flour on top of the crust and my rolling pin, rolling it out until about 1/8 inch thickness. Then rolling the crust onto my rolling pin and placing it on the pie plate. Make the crust a little larger then your pie pan.
• Prick bottom crust with a fork.
• Add the cherry filling into the crust.
• If making a solid top, again roll out another pie crust and add to the top, crimp edges with a fork that's been dipped in flour, and cut slits into the pie.
• I like to add a small amount of melted butter brushed over the top and a sprinkling of white sugar to give the crust a little sweetness, but this is of course optional.
• Place pie on a cookie sheet in center of oven and bake at 425 for 40 minutes, or if you're in high altitudes, bake at 400, until golden brown.
• Note: if the edges of the crust are browning too quickly, wrap edges in aluminum foil.

BAKED FRESH CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Place bottom crust in pie pan. Set top crust aside, covered.
• In a large mixing bowl combine tapioca, salt, sugar, cherries, and extracts. Let stand 15 minutes. Turn out into bottom crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, flute edges and cut vents in top. Place pie on a foil-lined cookie sheet--in case of drips!
• Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Let cool for several hours before slicing.

THE BEST CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bottom pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan; made pricks along the bottom with a fork.
• Bake in the preheated oven until pie crust is lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Remove crust from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
• Combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract together in a bowl. Pour cherry mixture into the prepared pie pan; dot with butter. Cover with top crusts, crimp the edges to seal, and cut vents into the top with a sharp knife. Place the pie on a foil-covered baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. If it is browning too fast cover the pie with an aluminum foil tent. Continue baking until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 10 to 20 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool, about 15 minutes.

CHERRY CRUMB PIE

Steps:

• Combine the cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until the juices are hot and bubbling, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and cook for 1 minute.
• Stir together the cornstarch and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add to the cherry mixture, stirring until incorporated. Continue to cook until glossy and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, or up to 1 day.
• Make the crumb topping: Whisk together the flour, brown sugar and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until it is in pea-size pieces and the ingredients are well combined. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before using, or up to 1 day.
• Preheat the oven to 375˚. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Roll out the pie dough on a floured surface into a 12-inch round, starting at the center and working your way out. (Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough if it's a bit too moist.) Carefully transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie pan. Gently press the dough against the sides of the pan. Tuck the overhanging dough underneath itself, then crimp the edges with your fingers.
• Pour the cooled cherry mixture into the pie crust and sprinkle with the crumb topping. Put the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is browned, about 50 minutes. (Cover the crust with foil if it's getting dark too quickly.) Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool at least 2 hours before serving.

FRESH CHERRY BALSAMIC PIE

Steps:

• Wash and pit cherries (I used a cherry pitter gadget, but you can also use a paper clip to gouge them out).
• Place in large saucepan and mix with sugar, lemon juice, balsamic venegar, and 2 tbsp water. Cover and heat on medium high, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil.
• Mix 3 tbsp hot water with 3 tbsp flour to form a paste. Slowly pour into cherry mix, stirring constantly, making sure there are no lumps. Let simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let cool in fridge.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare pie crust and line 2 pie plates. Pour cherry filling into both pie shells. Place top crust layer over filling, and remove excess around edges. Flute the crust and cut vents into the top (be creative and make fun patterns and shapes like cherries or hearts).
• Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 45 minutes.
• Let cool before serving.

FRESH CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Whisk flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in shortening with 2 knives or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork, until flour mixture is moistened. Do not add more water than you need: when you squeeze a handful of the moistened pastry mixture, it should form a ball.
• Divide the dough in half and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Mix cherries, sugar, and tapioca flour together in a saucepan; let sit until the sugar draws out the cherries' juices, about 10 minutes. Heat the cherry mixture over medium heat until the juices begin to thicken and run clear, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; mix in butter and vanilla extract. Let sit until filling has cooled to lukewarm, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Roll out half the pastry to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Place bottom crust in pie plate. Spoon filling into crust using a slotted spoon to drain excess syrup; dot with butter. Cut left over dough into strips with a sharp paring knife or pastry wheel. Lay strips on top of the pie, pressing to seal the edges.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crust is a golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes.

FRESH CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place rolled out crust in bottom of pie place.
• Roll out top crust and set aside.
• In a large bowl combine tapioca, salt, sugar, cherries, and extracts.
• Let stand 15 minutes.
• Turn out into bottom crust and dot with butter.
• Cover with top crust, flute edges and cut vents in top.
• Place pie on foil lined cookie sheet, in case of drips.
• Bake for 50 minutes, until golden brown.

FRESH CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Combine sugar,flour and salt.
• Add almond extract to cherries and toss with sugar flour mixture to mix well.
• Pour into pastry lined 9 inch pie pan.
• Put on top crust.
• Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes.
• If edges brown too much cover it with aluminum foil.
• The syrup does bubble and may spill over a little so I set the pie on a cookie sheet then baked it.