Fresh Cherry Pie Filling Recipes

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the cherries, water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in food coloring if desired. Yield: 4 cups. , For a lattice-crust pie: Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom pastry; add filling. Make a lattice crust; trim, seal and flute edges. Cover edges loosely with foil. , Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Remove foil; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the cherries lose considerable juice, which may take a few minutes, remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Add the almond extract, if desired, and mix. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool. If the filling is too thick, add a little water, too thin, add a little more cornstarch.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Use your favorite pie dough recipe. Prepare your crust. Divide in half. Roll out each piece large enough to fit into an 8 to 9-inch pan. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top crust on and flute the edge of the pie. Make a slit in the middle of the crust for steam to escape. Sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in cherry juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add cherries, cinnamon, nutmeg and extract; set aside., In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Gradually add cold water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Divide dough in half so that one ball is slightly larger than the other. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger ball to fit a 9-in. pie plate. Transfer dough to pie plate; trim even with edge of plate. Add filling. Roll out remaining dough; make a lattice crust. Trim, seal and flute edges. If desired, brush with egg wash., Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°; bake until crust is golden brown, 45-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Blend the sugar, salt, and tapioca together.
• Add almond extract and water.
• Cook on medium high heat until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly.
• Add lemon juice and cook an additional two minutes.
• Add the cherries to the sauce, stirring gently to keep from breaking the cherries up.
• Add enough food coloring to make the mixture a bright red.
• Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and cook for 1 minute.
• Ladle the mixture into hot, sterile jars.
• Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
• Seal the jars.
• Process in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes.
• Remove from water bath and place on kitchen towels on counter top to cool.
• When you're sure the jar is sealed, tighten the rings.
• If a jar doesn't seal properly, pour the pie filling into another sterile jar.
• Make sure the rim is clean before putting the lid on and reprocess.
• Or you could pour the pie filling into a freezer container and put in your freezer.

Steps:

• Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl; mix slurry until very few lumps remain.
• Pour slurry into a saucepan. Stir in cherries and sugar. Cook over medium heat, covered, until mixture is desired thickness, 15 to 20 minutes.

Steps:

• Place cherries into a saucepan over medium heat, and cover the pan; heat cherries until they release their juice and come to a simmer, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir often.
• In a bowl, whisk the sugar with cornstarch until smooth; pour the mixture into the hot cherries and juice, and thoroughly combine. Return to low heat, bring to a simmer, and cook until the filling has thickened, about 2 minutes; remove from heat, let cool, and use as pie filling.

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.

Steps:

• First, make the pastry. Tip the flour, 50g almonds, butter, sugar and ¼ tsp salt into a food processor. Blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Beat the egg yolks with 2 tbsp cold water, drizzle over the flour and butter mixture and blend again until the dough starts to clump together. Tip onto a work surface and knead briefly to bring everything together into a smooth dough. Divide into two pieces and shape each lump into a puck shape. Wrap and chill for 30 mins. Will keep, wrapped and chilled, for up to two days.
• Remove the stones from the cherries - either cut them in half and pop out each stone, or use a cherry stoner. Toss the cherries with the jam, sugar and cornflour until there are no floury patches.
• If the pastry has been chilled for longer than 30 mins, bring it out of the fridge 20 mins or so before rolling, as it will be very firm. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Dust a surface with a little flour, then unwrap one piece of pastry. Carefully roll it out until it's large enough to line the base and sides of a 25cm pie dish, skillet pan or cake tin. The pastry will be very delicate, if any cracks appear when rolling, squash them back together and keep going. Lift the pastry over the rolling pin and into the dish - don't worry if it breaks, just patch it up by pushing it into the corners and up the sides and closing any holes. There should be a little overhang around the edges. Sprinkle the reserved 2 tbsp almonds over the base, then spread the cherries on top to fill the pie in an even layer.
• Roll out the remaining pastry so it's large enough to cover the pie. Brush a little beaten egg white around the pastry edge. Top the pie with the pastry lid as it is (piercing a hole in the centre for the steam to escape), or make a lattice topping. To do this, cut the pastry into strips, however wide you like. Arrange half the strips in one direction over the pie, leaving a few centimetres gap between each. Weave the remaining strips under and over these in the opposite direction, creating a lattice pattern. Squash the pastry together around the edge, then trim the excess with a sharp knife.
• Crimp the edge for a neat finish, or use any pastry scraps to make shapes to run around the edge - we used a piping nozzle to cut small circles. Stick them on with a little more egg wash, then brush the whole pie with a thin layer of egg wash. Sprinkle over a little caster sugar. Bake for 55 mins-1 hr, checking the pie after 40 mins. The edges may brown more quickly than the centre, if this happens, wrap a little kitchen foil around the edge to protect it.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 1 hr. If you cut it too soon, the fruit juice will be very runny and flood the pie. Best served just warm with cream or ice cream.