She's My Cherry Pie!

Back in high school, I did go to a Warrant concert. I can't believe I just typed that. Anyway, I was forced to go...yeah, that's it...because it was a friend's birthday. She knows who she is. So, this week I tackled the cherry pie, because one person voted and said I should. I'm easily persuaded.  Matt C. -- if you read this, the rest of the pie is YOURS! (I had to taste it for quality purposes.) I love cherry pies and making them. Here's the recipe I used:

1 20 oz can pitted SOUR* cherries
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tspn salt
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tspn almond extract
1/4 red food coloring (so the color will pop)
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 425. Drain cherries, reserving 1 cup of liquid. In saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in cherry liquid and bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Mixture will thicken. When thickened, add butter, almond extract, food coloring and cherries. Cover and refrigerate. Make pastry strips for top of pie. Brush strips w/ egg yolk and add sugar, if desired. Pour cooled cherry filling into prebaked crust. Make lattice w/ pastry strips. Be sure to cover prebaked crust edge w/ aluminum foil. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

*My husband did not pick up sour cherries, but the sweet ones. To offset, I added some key lime juice (from the numerous key limes I had left over from the key lime debacle) to restore the sour in the cherries. It worked swimmingly. The pie filling was so scrumdillyumptious and slightly tart, as I like it. I made sure to add sugar to the top of the crust for that extra sweet punch.

Things I'd change/do better: 1) the crust. Next time I'm going to forgo prebaking the crust. I want the edge and the topping to look cohesive. (And, I will also try not to almost burn the crust...oops.) 2) the crust, again...I need to make more pastry strips so I can have a prettier lattice on top.

And, I leave you with this...it's hard to find time to blog when your three-year-old decides to drop his nap. Damn. Mourning the loss of a nap.