As much as I love the classic apple pie, a good cherry pie is something I crave. Sweet, sour, juicy filling encased in a buttery, flaky crust- this is the best homemade Cherry Pie!
Making pies does not have to be complicated at all. You need no fancy ingredients at all!
A basic pie dough, made with pantry staples and fruits of your choice. If you don't want to make a lattice pattern like in this Cherry Pie recipe, you can simply just cover the fruit filling with another piece of rolled-out dough and make slits in it.
Or leave it uncovered to make a galette, like my Plum Apricot Galette or my Apple Marzipan Galette.
How To Make Cherry Pie
Step 1: Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Rub the chilled butter in the mixture using your fingertips.
Step 2: When it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, add iced cold water, 1 Tbsp at a time, just enough to bind the dough. It can be a bit scraggy at this point, but don’t worry, it will come together.
Step 3: Gently knead the dough using the palm of your hand, push the dough away from you 4-5 times until it's smooth.
Step 4: Roll it into a ball and flatten it into a disk. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. This should rest for at least an hour.
Step 5: When you’re ready to bake, keep an 8" pie pan handy and preheat the oven to 180C.
Let's make the fruit filling!
Step 6: Combine the pitted cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a bowl.
Step 7: Unwrap the dough and flour your work surface well. Divide the dough into 2/3rd and 1/3rd parts.
Step 8: Working with the bigger part, roll it out into a 9" circle. Place the dough gently into the pie pan. Trim the edges of the pastry to fit the sides of the pan.
Step 9: Spoon the cherry filling into the pie.
Step 10: Combine the pie trimmings with the remaining pie dough. Roll it out into a 10" circle. Using a sharp knife, cut into 16 strips.
Step 11: Lay 8 strips of dough on the pie filling in one direction.
Step 12: Crimp the edges of the strips with the pastry lining the pan. Now, lay the balance of 8 strips of dough crosswise across the filling. Agai,n crimp the pastry edges.
Step 13: Brush with melted butter, cream, or beaten egg.
Step 14: Bake for 30 -35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Allow the pie to cool for a couple of hours before slicing and serving.
How To Serve Cherry Pie
As with all pies, this gorgeous Cherry Pie is also a dream combined with some whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And they are best served warm, though I've been known to ( more often than not) eat them cold, straight from the fridge. I'm not at all fastidious like that! I just want my pie!
Pro Tips
- Make sure your butter or coconut oil ( if using) is completely chilled and cut into small cubes.
- Use chilled water. Or simply add some ice cubes to the water you'll be using.
- Chill your flour, too.
- Be careful not to overwork the dough. You don't need to knead it. Just pull it all together. It should feel a bit sticky and moist. Not dry.
- This recipe uses whole-wheat flour. You can make it gluten-free using buckwheat flour as I did for Apple Marzipan Galette, Chai Spiced Plum Galette, and Mulberry Pie.
- I made the pastry with butter in this recipe, but go ahead with coconut oil ( chilled) if you prefer to make it vegan.
So here's the summer's special Cherry Pie. Perfect for entertaining or just as a wonderful treat for home.
📖 Recipe
Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 1.5 cups Wholewheat flour You can use all purpose flour as well.
- 1/2 cup Butter, chilled, cut into cubes I used salted butter
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 3-4 tbsp Chilled water
Cherry Filling:
- 2.5 cups Cherries, pitted
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 2 tsp Lemon juice
Instructions
Crust:
- Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Rub the chilled butter in the mixture, using your fingertips. When it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, add iced cold water, 1 Tbsp at a time, just enough to bind the dough. It can be a bit scraggy at this point but don’t worry, it will come together. Using the palm of your hand, push the dough away from you 4-5 times until it's smooth.
- Roll into a ball and flatten it into a disk. Wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate until ready to use. This should rest for at least an hour.
- When you’re ready to bake, keep an 8" pie pan handy and preheat the oven to 180C.
Filling:
- Combine the pitted cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a bowl.
Assembly:
- Unwrap the dough and flour your work surface well. Divide the dough into 2/3rd and 1/3rd parts.
- Working with the bigger part, roll it out into an 9" circle. Place the dough gently into the pie pan. Trim the edges of the pastry to fit the sides of the pan.
- Spoon the cherry filling into the pie.
- Combine the pie trimmings with the balance pie dough. Roll it out into an 10" circle. Using a sharp knife, cut into 16 strips. Lay 8 strips of dough on the pie filling in one direction.Crimp the edges of the strips with the pastry lining the pan. Now lay the balance of 8 strips of dough crosswise across the filling. Again crimp the pastry edges. Brush with melted butter or cream or beaten egg.
- Bake for 30 -35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the juices bubbling. Allow the pie to cool for a couple hours before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Vandita says
Hi Natasha,
Have made this pie with so many fruit options. Thank you for sharing. Have a query my dough gets quite hard when I roll out and then gets cracked . Any pointers to what we can do to avoid that. Should I mix half WWF & APF ?
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Vandita, thank you for your interest in this recipe!
If your dough gets hard, then you can do either of the following things:
1. Increase the quantity of butter by 10-15 gms
2. Add an egg or some cream to the flour after you have added the butter
3. You can certainly mix ap flour with your wwf. Or make it entirely with APF.
Hope this helps. I'd love to hear if any of these tricks helped with a better dough.
Have a great day! xx