The Best Cherry Pie Recipe

This is the very BEST cherry pie recipe ever! A family favorite with flakey crust and tart cherries – LOVE!

I have a treat for you today.  For years I’ve enjoyed the best pies because of the talent my mom has in baking.  For Father’s day we made the best cherry pie recipe.  It’s my dad’s favorite.  This recipe I’m going to share with you today was created by my mom, much to the joy of my dad.  It is so simple.  I do believe that most people find pies intimidating.  Please don’t!  They are so simple to make from scratch and they take so few ingredients.  And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, like a homemade, made from scratch cherry pie.  You just cannot duplicate it in big stores.

My family has had cherry trees for as long as I can remember.  I have vivid memories of spending entire days pitting cherries.  I wish I was kidding.  They were not my favorite days growing up as a kid! Ha!  We would get the picnic table out, put on old clothes (cherry juice stains like no other!) and pit cherries all day long when they turned ripe.  Cherries freeze well, so my mom would freeze the pitted cherries to use in pies throughout the year for special occasions like Christmas, my dad’s birthday, Thanksgiving and others.

The original cherry trees are now gone, so my dad planted new dwarf cherry trees that have tart cherries.  They are best for pies.  This was the first year that the cherries were back, and we were excited to pick them!  I love the dwarf tree because it makes them easy to pick, and there’s not so many cherries that it takes an entire day to pick them.  One dwarf tree can make about 2 to 3 pies or 8 – 12 cups of cherries.  It probably doesn’t seem like that much for all the work my dad does to keep the birds from eating them. But when cherry pies is your favorite,  it’s so worth it!  My dad uses netting over the trees to keep the birds away as well as a giant balloon that the birds think is an owl.  🙂

I realize that not everyone has a cherry tree.  If you don’t, you can still make this recipe from scratch.  Look for cans of red tart cherries IN WATER.  Do not get the cherry pie filling.  You want them in water because I’m going to show you how to make your own cherry pie filling with just four ingredients.  It’s so, so simple and easy.

To make the best cherry pie recipe you will need:

1 Cup Sugar
4 T Cornstarch
¼ tsp cinnamon
(2) 16 oz cans pitted tart cherries or 4 cups tart cherries, pitted

1 cup of cherry juice (from the can of cherries or from their natural juices)
Best Ever Pie Crust

Of note is that the cans of tart cherries are now usually 15 oz, so you’ll need to buy three to get to four cups.  You can freeze the remaining for later.  You can also buy cherries that are pre-frozen in the freezer section.  Make sure they are tart cherries as they make the best pies.

If you’re using fresh cherries, it is best to freeze them overnight and then let them thaw. This allows them to get good and juicy.  You want to be able to drain some of the juices so that you can use them for your filing.  Too much juice will mean a juicy pie.  It still tastes great, but doesn’t hold together as well.

Drain the cherries so that the juice is measurable.  You’ll need one cup of cherry juice.  If you find you are short, use water to get to one cup.

In a pan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and 1 cup of the cherry juice. Cook on medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.  It will take about 5 to 7 minutes.  As you can see above, it gets really think.  That’s when you know it’s ready!

I love THIS WHISK for making pie filling.

Add the cherries and mix.  You can make this the night before.  In fact, it’s best to do that because you will want your cherries cool before adding them to the pie crust.

Pour the cooled filling into a formed pie crust with 1 Tablespoon of flour on the bottom.  Dot with butter and add top crust.   Bake at 450° F for 15 minutes, turn down oven to 350 °F for 30 more minutes.  

Let the pie cool and enjoy!

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