Flaky Homemade Cherry Pie From Scratch
Every slice of this homemade cherry pie offers a thick, perfectly sweet filling tucked inside a flaky, buttery crust…
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Cook
- 55 mins
- Chilling Time
- 3 hrs
- Total
- 4 hrs 25 mins
- Makes
- 10 servings
Every slice of this Homemade Cherry Pie offers a thick, perfectly sweet cherry filling tucked inside a flaky, buttery crust that is made from scratch. It's an easy-to-make classic that is worth baking any time of the year!
A Tribute to My Father-in-Law
This tribute comes from the original post for my homemade cherry pie, published on 11/19/2018.
The recipes I share here mostly draw on memories from my childhood and young adult years. This homemade cherry pie post is something that will now become a new tradition in our home. It is dedicated to my father-in-law, who passed away yesterday from cancer. This cherry pie was one of the last things he asked for, and it was an honor to bake it for him.
He actually asked for it to taste like his mother's, but I didn't have her recipe and time was short, so I searched the cookbooks I owned and online for the next best thing. I don't usually rush my pie baking, but even though this design is simple, I took my time to make sure it turned out absolutely perfect.
It was the least I could do for someone who had treated me like his own, especially after losing my own father to cancer 4 years ago.
My father-in-law was a brilliant, smart, and funny man. He was different and quirky, and I loved that about him, because I've always felt that's who I am too. We would always say hello and goodbye with a classic Euro kiss on the left cheek, a kiss on the right, and then a big bear hug. From the moment I met him, he made me feel like part of the family, and naturally he would then tease me about how I like my steak cooked.
Are there any well-done steak lovers out there? Anyone?
I'll miss the occasional Eagles game we watched together while eating shrimp dipped heavily in a cocktail sauce he insisted was spicy, and our yearly birthday cards, which were more of a history lesson than anything else.
I was lucky to get one last card for my birthday this year, back at the start of November. It was basically a short and sweet "Happy Birthday, Jenn…" followed by several paragraphs and photos from his time teaching over in India.
I miss this guy so much already. This post and this pie are for you, my dear father-in-law. Thank you for all the love you gave me…and for all those filet mignons you said you'd have to start grilling hours before dinner. You were the best father-in-law I could ever have asked for.
Love, Jenn
How to Make It
Let's go over how to make this canned cherry pie! The full, detailed recipe is below.
Make the pie filling. It takes six ingredients: canned cherries packed in water, cornstarch, granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Let it cool completely before adding it to the crust, or make it ahead!
Make the pie crusts. You'll need 2. Prepare them ahead and chill them for at least 1 hour. For the best crusts, keep all your fats and water very cold!
Prep the pie crusts. Roll one out, fit it into the pie plate, trim it, and crimp the edges decoratively. For the top crust, get as creative as you like.
For more pie crust tips, check out my Easy Homemade Apple Pie or Perfect Pumpkin Pie recipes.
Bake the cherry pie. This recipe has two baking stages. First, bake at 425ºF for 15 minutes, then at 375ºF for 30-40 minutes.
Let it cool. Let the cherry pie come to room temperature on a wire rack (about 2-3 hours) before serving. You can also refrigerate it once it has cooled.
Either way, the pie will set. It comes down to whether you and your guests prefer cherry pie at room temperature or chilled. Kept in the refrigerator and covered with aluminum foil, this homemade cherry pie lasts up to 5 days.
Tips for the Filling
Use cherries packed in water. Cherries packed in syrup make the pie overly sweet. Since we're already adding granulated sugar here, the syrup isn't needed.
I like Oregon Specialty Fruit's red tart cherries packed in water. They're usually in the canned fruit aisle. Be careful not to grab the kind packed in heavy syrup! Another fun way to use these red tart cherries is my Chocolate Cherry Bourbon Slab Pie. It's incredibly delicious!
Don't forget the water. When adding the cherries to the saucepan, include the water from 1 1/2 cans of cherries. Here's how I do it:
I pour the first can (cherries and water) into the saucepan.
For the second can, I first drain half of the water using the lid as a filter to keep the cherries in (use your best judgment). I pour the remaining water and cherries into a colander.
For the third can, I empty it entirely into the colander to drain the water. Give it a few shakes to get out as much liquid as possible, then add the cherries to the saucepan.
Make the cherry filling ahead. This filling doesn't take long to make, but letting it cool completely does. I always think it tastes better after a day or two in the refrigerator. It also helps prevent a soggy bottom crust.
Bring it to a boil. Once everything is mixed in the saucepan, let it come to a boil before turning the heat down to low. This gets the cornstarch working to thicken as the filling cools.
Store it in the fridge. Homemade cherry pie filling keeps up to 2 weeks in a tightly sealed food container in the fridge. Plastic or glass containers both work well.
Freezing Cherry Pie
To freeze your homemade cherry pie, bake it fully, cool it completely, and let it set. Freeze it uncovered until solid. Then wrap it several times in plastic wrap, followed by a layer or two of aluminum foil. I like to write what it is on the foil along with the date I made it.
Frozen homemade cherry pies keep for up to 6 months in the freezer.
As with my perfect pumpkin pie, homemade apple pie, and blueberry crumble pie recipes, it's best to thaw the cherry pie the day before you plan to serve it. Keep one layer of aluminum foil on, then refrigerate it for 10-12 hours.
Creative Ways to Decorate the Crust
Here are a few ways to decorate your homemade cherry pie!
- Basic Air Vent Cuts. Roll out the crust, then cut a few simple slits in it for air vents.
- Lattice. Cut out strips and overlap them in a creative pattern. I did this for my Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. It's not perfect, but it sure tastes good!
- Cookie Cutters. These are probably my favorite way to get creative with the top crust. Roll out the dough and cut a pattern, or cut out shapes and set them right on top of the filling.
For examples of cookie cutters in action, see my Easy Homemade Apple Pie, where I used alphabet cookie cutters plus the two below. The one on the left is from a cherry pie I made recently with my small dala horse shape! The other was made for this updated recipe post.
Essential Pie Baking Tools
For this easy cherry pie recipe, these baking tools are worth having.
More Delicious Pies to Try!
If you make this Homemade Cherry Pie Recipe or anything else on my website, please leave a star rating and tell me what you thought in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by!
Flaky Homemade Cherry Pie From Scratch
Every bite of this homemade cherry pie offers a thick, perfectly sweet cherry filling inside a flaky, buttery, from-scratch crust. It's an easy-to-make classic that's worth trying any time of year!
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Cook
- 55 mins
- Chilling Time
- 3 hrs
- Total
- 4 hrs 25 mins
- Makes
- 10 servings
Ingredients
homemade pie crusts
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening, cold and cut into small pieces
- 4-6 tbsp Ice Cold Water
homemade cherry pie filling
- 3 cans Red Tart Cherries Packed in Water, plus the water from 1 1/2 cans
- 4 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
optional egg wash and garnish
- 1 Egg or Egg White with 1 tbsp Water, for egg wash (optional)
- Sparkling Sugar, for garnish (optional)
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, use a pastry blender (or two forks) to combine the all-purpose flour, salt, cold cubed butter, and cold vegetable shortening until you have small, pea-size pieces. A few larger pea-size bits are fine too!
- Add 1 tablespoon of the ice cold water and work it into the dough with a spatula or your hands. Keep adding ice cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together and is no longer crumbly. If any crumbly bits remain, add the tiniest bit more cold water so they blend in.
- Once the dough forms a ball, place it on a lightly floured, clean surface and split it in half with a pastry cutter. Pat each half into a disc 1″- 1 1/2″ thick, double wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and chill it in the coldest part of the refrigerator (usually the back) for at least 1 hour.
- In a large saucepan, bring the cherries (with the water from 1 1/2 cans), cornstarch, granulated sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and stir constantly until the filling thickens and bubbles.
- Take it off the heat and pour it into a large glass mixing bowl (metal works too). Let it cool completely before adding it to the pie. See the tips for making cherry pie filling in the main post.
- Set an oven rack to the center position and place a jelly roll pan, baking sheet, or (my favorite) baking steel on it. Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Prepare the bottom crust and fit it into the pie plate. Trim the edges if needed, but don't crimp them yet.
- Spoon the cooled cherry filling into the bottom crust, then top it with the second crust in a design of your choice (lattice, cookie cutter shapes, etc.). Trim the top crust, fold it under, and pinch it together with the bottom crust, then crimp the edges.
- Brush egg wash over the edges and top of the crust with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the edges with sparkling sugar if you like.
- Set the pie on a sheet of parchment paper on the preheated pan or steel and bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF.
- Keep the pie in the oven, lower the temperature to 375ºF, and bake another 30-40 minutes. Either then, or with 15-20 minutes left of baking, you can add strips of aluminum foil, a sheet with a hole cut out, or a silicone pie shield to keep the crust from over-browning.
- Take the pie out and let it cool completely on a wire rack (about 2-3 hours) before serving. Or refrigerate it after cooling to chill. Either way lets the filling set properly.
Baker’s notes
- You can easily use store-bought crusts in place of the homemade ones. I suggest letting them sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before unrolling to prevent cracking.
- Recipe adapted from A Taste of Bedminster Elementary cookbook and the Artful Parent.
