Homemade Cherry Pie and Crust

Like I had mentioned in my Pumpkin Pie post, I was on a pie kick and this Cherry Pie was one of my choices to make. I used a different recipe for the crust (pumpkin pie one here) and I think I like this one a lot better. It was from an Amish Book...and my experiences with the Amish and Mennonites have been wonderful, especially in the food department! So I was very excited to try it out. Yum Yum Yum!

Recipe for Crust and Filling:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup lard (I used Crisco... no lard in my pantry!) ;)

1 large egg

1/3 cup cold water

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 (21oz) "Comstock" Cherry Filling cans

1.In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Stir to blend. Add the lard (crisco) and rub it into the flour with your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, water, and vinegar and stir with a fork until the dry ingredients are moistened. Form the dough into a ball and divide that into 2 balls. Form a ball into a disk and roll it out to a 1/8-inch thickness on a floured surface.

2.Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie pan and trim the edges to a 1-inch overhang. Fold the dough under and crimp the edges. (NOTE: You can use my method from the Pumpkin Pie Post)

3. --save the trimmings to make a design if you want on your pie. I took a toothpick and stenciled out 2 cherries and cut them out with a knife. I am quite proud of myself for it! hehe

4. Place the Cherry filling in the pie pan -roll out the other ball of dough and place over the filling (or, if you are doing lattice design, cut the dough into strips and lay over the filling accordingly). Trim the edges and seals the pie crusts together. You can make a fancy edging if you desire as well. If you made a design to go on top go ahead and place that and make a few slits into the pie for ventilation during baking.

5. Preheat oven to 425°F.

6. Bake for 15 mins, then decrease oven temperature to 350F and back for 30 min, or until crust is golden brown. If you find your crust browning too quickly, cover it loosely with tin foil!

Homemade Pumpkin Pie and Crust

You know that you're over summer when you really start craving some Fall recipes... like Pumpkin pie! Yum! I got on a pie kick last week and made this and a few days later made a Cherry Pie with a different crust recipe. Both turned out stupendous and something I would certainly make again and again. Unfortunately my husband, Don ate them both before I had time to eat more than one slice. He covers his glutenous behavior by saying you can't expect to eat a piece every other day (which is what I do)...you have to have multiple pieces (with whipped cream and or ice cream) everyday. Ha! Good thing he exercises...

Single Pie Crust Recipe:
1 -1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 Cup Shortening (see pictures for trick)
4 to 5 Tbs Cold Water

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Blend in shortening until pieces are pea-sized.

I have done this for years and it has saved me a lot of messy cleaning. If I have to measure out ingredients like butter, shortening, peanut butter, etc. That is oily and sticky I will always take some plastic wrap and place it over my measuring cup. Then you simply fill it in, plop it out and put back your clean cup! :)

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2. Sprinkle 1 Tbs of water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 Tbs of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Form dough into a ball.

3. On a lightly floured surface, (or on parchment paper, which is what I did) use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.

4. To transfer pastry, you can either wrap it around the rolling pin and unroll the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease the pastry into pie plate without stretching it. OR, if you did it on parchment paper, you can simply put the pie plate over the rolled out dough and then with your hand under the parchment paper, flip it right side over. Then gently ease the dough into the plate, flattening it out on the bottom and around the edges.
5. Now trim the edges, or dazzle them up - your choice :)

(Note: I did not roll my out big enough. You can see toward the bottom I did not have enough crust to go all the way up..... roll out thinner next time!)
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Pumpkin Pie Recipe:

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 eggs

1 (15 ounce) can Libby's Pumpkin

1 (12 ounce) can Evaporated Milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2.Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into your awesome pie shell.

3.Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)