Brook's Cherry Pie
Every February, my mom made a cherry pie around President's Day. She said it was because of the whole story about when George Washington was little and he chopped down that tree. And then she'd share his famous quote "I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the Cherry tree." We celebrate George Washington's Birthday and President's Day in February. So...it is traditional to bake cherry pies in honor of the occasion. But did you know that February 20th is actually Cherry Pie Day?? (by the way, Cherry pie is America's second most popular pie, behind only apple pie in popularity. However, in the month of February, it's Number 1.)
recipe courtesy of Brook's Mom
- Ingredients:
- Crust:
3 cups sifted flour
1 level cup Crisco
Pinch of salt
Water
Filling:
1 strainer full of frozen tart cherries (2 bags)
1 cup cherry juice (drained from the frozen cherries)
3/4 cup sugar
2 TBS quick cooking tapioca
Couple drops almond flavoring
1/2 stick butter
- Directions:
- The day before or early in the morning of the day you're going to make the pie, put the frozen cherries in a strainer and let the juice drain into a measuring cup.
You CAN use a pre-made crust if you'd like. I'm just not allowed. I'd be grounded. True story. :)
So if you're making the crust your self, use a pastry blender to cut together the flour, shortening and salt. I then take a 2 cup measure and put it almost full with ice and water. Then I sprinkle the water into the bowl and kind of pull the water through the mixture and it becomes little balls of dough. Then move them aside and sprinkle again. Keep doing this until most of the dough is little pea-sized balls of dough. Then take it all out and press together and divide in 3. This recipe makes 3 pie crusts. Roll out two, bag the third and refrigerate for a 1 crust pie another day. Put one crust in the pie plate and cut the other with a cookie cutter. I used a STAR shaped one.
Take the juice from the thawed cherries and mix it with the sugar and tapioca and almond flavoring. Let set 15 minutes then stir in the cherries. Pour filling into crust and top filling with cut up butter. Place stars on top. (I sprinkle with a little cinnamon) and bake at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour. Top with vanilla ice cream!
Read more: http://www.westmichiganstar.com/pages/i.php/Recipes/brook-s-cherry-pie#ixzz2LRIsYmII
