Best Cherry Pie

Description

Canned Cherries by the US Department of Agriculture, public domain government resource—original source of recipe

• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ⅓ cup flour
• 2 cans red tart cherries, drained, reserving juice
• ¼ teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
• Pastry for double-crust 9-inch pie

Procedures

1. Preheat oven to 425 °F.
2. In a saucepan, combine sugar and flour.
3. Blend in 1 cup reserved cherry juice. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until thickened.
4. Remove from heat and add food coloring (optional), almond extract (optional), and margarine. Cover and refrigerate.
5. Roll out half of pastry and line a 9” pie pan.
6. Roll out other half of pastry into an 11” circle – cut into eight ½” strips.
7. Pour cooled cherry filling into pastry-lined pie pan – lay pastry strips horizontally and then vertically across the top of the pie. Crimp edges with forefinger of one hand pressed into thumb of the other hand, to seal edges.
8. Bake 30–35 minutes until crust is brown and filling is bubbling.