Excellent Double Crust Cherry Pie

This is my favorite classic double crust cherry pie recipe. It has a juicy, sliceable filling and a golden lattice top. It's simple, reliable, and can be made with fresh or frozen cherries, a little lemon, and the right balance of sugar and cornstarch so the filling sets beautifully.

This is an American-style cherry pie, meaning it's sweet, bright, and full of fruit flavor, with just a hint of almond and vanilla to deepen the flavor. The cherry filling in this pie does not call for butter, but if you use a good homemade pastry recipe, some of the butter from the pastry seeps into it. If you use something like a Pillsbury crust, you may want to throw a few thin pats of butter over the top, but it's not totally necessary. Without extra butter in the filling, you get a more fruit forward pie.

More Reasons to Love This Pie

There are a lot of cherry pie recipes out there, but this one hits that sweet spot between easy and bakery-quality. The filling is just right (not gummy). The sweetness is balanced, it has both lemon and almond for pops of flavor. And the pie is baked on a hot baking sheet to help prevent a soggy crust.

Reasons to Not Love This Pie

Because you have to pit cherries! Just kidding. I don't enjoy pitting cherries at all, but it's worth it if you do happen to have fresh ones. Luckily, frozen cherries work too. They can be a little juicier than fresh cherries, and I've had better results thawing them rather than using frozen. So fresh cherries are better, but with their price and the amount of pitting involved, frozen cherries are a reality.

Cherry Crumb Pie

If you're not sold on making cherry pie with a double crust, you can make this one it as a cherry crumb pie. Just replace the top crust with the crumb topping (below and in the notes).

Cherry Crumb Topping

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup old fashioned oats
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.

Mix all the ingredients together until crumbly and sprinkle over the pie before baking. Use the same bake times given for the double crust, but watch the crumb topping closely. You will most likely need to shield it with foil after the first 30 minutes of baking.

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Recipe

Excellent Double Crust Cherry Pie

Anna

A classic American style cherry pie with a lattice top

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

 

• Double Crust - Pillsbury Roll Out or Favorite Homemade Recipe
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch (24 grams)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 pounds fresh dark sweet cherries, pitted (5 cups) (see note about frozen)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small bits
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Sugar for sprinkling on top

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Put a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet in the oven so that it heats with the oven.
• Stir sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a mixing bowl to blend. Stir in cherries.
• Stir lemon juice, almond extract and vanilla extract together. Pour over cherry mixture and stir to mix.
• Roll out half the dough and press into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate. Put cherry filling in it. Roll out second half of dough and cut out strips. Arrange a lattice of strips across top of pie.
• Brush strips lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
• Place pie on the preheated rimmed baking sheet and bake 15 minutes at 425 F.
• Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake pie until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, covering edges with foil collar if browning too quickly, about 1 hour longer(check at 40 minutes).
• Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.

Notes

Frozen Cherries:  If using frozen cherries, be sure to thaw and drain before using.  If you don't thaw them they will release too much liquid and bubble over.

 

Cherry Crumb Topping Variation

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup old fashioned oats
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.

Mix all the ingredients together until crumbly and sprinkle over the pie before baking. Use the same bake times given for the double crust, but watch the crumb topping closely. You will most likely need to shield it with foil after the first 30 minutes of baking.

Keyword cherry pie, double crust

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