Sour Cherry Lattice Pie

Happy belated Memorial Day! What better way to celebrate an American holiday than with a homemade cherry pie? Well truthfully, it started out as a mulberry pie. But when I went to retrieve my mulberries from the refrigerator, I discovered mold had taken over. Gross! I plundered my kitchen cabinets and found two cans of sour cherries. That'll do, pig! I scanned through my cookbook collection until I finally found a cherry pie recipe that called for canned cherries. This one comes from The Taste of Home Baking Book. I used my go-to crust recipe, and it was perfect. The use of cake flour and my adapted way of making the pastry are really forgiving. I baked the scraps while the pie was in the oven, and even after being rolled and re-rolled, they were still soooo yummy sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

My cherry pie!Dad is the grill master!

I also took this opportunity to test out a pie pan I just got. It's made by Chicago Metallic, and it allegedly makes slicing and serving pies a breeze. It comes with a contraption that slices the pie into 8 even slices. The pan itself has a removable bottom, and it came with a little stand that pushes the pie up from the bottom of the pan so that the slices can be removed from the sides without damaging them.After baking and slicing the pie in the Slice Solutions pan, I'm a BIG fan! It browned the crust nicely, and it kept the slices beautiful and clean. The package said it works best on single crust pies, but with some finesse, I managed to press the cutter into my lattice-topped pie with minimal damage. I'll absolutely be using this pie pan again and again! ;D If you're interested, I got it from UWantSavings.com for $17 and FREE shipping!PS: Let's keep this a secret from the new bathing suit I got from Target on Saturday... I'm having a slice of this pie for breakfast right now!

Sour Cherry Lattice Pie (from The Taste of Home Baking Book)
Makes 1 9-inch pie

2 cans (14.5-16 oz each) tart pitted cherries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Red food coloring, optional (the canned cherries are somewhat grayish; I added 3 drops red gel color)
1 tablespoon butter
1 double-crust pastry

Divide pastry dough in half. Roll half into a 12-inch circle, fit into pie pan, and let it rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator or freezer.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Drain cherries, reserving 1/4 cup juice. In a large bowl, combine the cherries, juice, sugar, tapioca, extract, salt, and food coloring if desired; let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roll other half of pastry into a 12-inch circle, and allow it to rest in the refrigerator until needed.

Pour filling into pie shell and dot with butter. With a knife or pastry wheel cut the other rolled out pastry into 3/4” strips. Place pastry strips in a lattice pattern on top of pie. (Click here for illustrated help.) Bake for 55-60 minutes. If crust begins to brown too quickly, cover edges with aluminum foil or a pie crust shield. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.