Yum! Cherry Pie

When I was growing up my dad worked for a large furniture store in our hometown. Each year in celebration of George Washington’s birthday (this was LONG before President’s Day was a reality) the store would hire someone to dress up like President Washington complete with the axe that cut down the cherry tree.

My mom would dress all 5 of us in our church-best clothing and we would go to Reidy-Scanlen for a family photo. We knew if we behaved (almost an impossible task for 4 kids only a year apart) there would be a cherry pie waiting for us at home. Mom always made a cherry pie for George Washington’s birthday. So despite the antics of Billy and John, (Mike and I were totally good and sweet and Bonnie was an adorable baby), we always managed to get through the photo shoot and then home for the pie.

Here is Mom’s cherry pie recipe along with a photo. I would be showing you a photo of a whole pie, but before I could take the picture my husband got into it! So, I figured one slice was better than nothing!


Mom's Cheery Cherry Pie

2 cans pitted tart cherries, drained, but save the juice
1 c. sugar
2 tbs. quick-cooking tapioca
7 drops red food coloring (more if you want it really really red)
2 drops almond extract (optional, don’t go and buy a whole bottle if you don’t have it)
Butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together with ¾ c. cherry juice. Let stand in bowl for 20 minutes.

Line a pie plate with an uncooked pie crust - either homemade or those easy Pillsbury ones in the refrigerator section. You need dough for two crusts so you can make that pretty lattice weave on top that ALL cherry pies have.

Pour cherry mixture into crust. Dot with about 4 tablespoons butter. Cut the second crust or dough into long narrow strips and weave them in a lattice pattern on top of the pie. You can brush the strips with a beaten egg for a glossy look like on the Food Network, but I hardly ever do this.

Bake in center of oven for 55 minutes. Pie is done when bubbly even in center. Serve with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

*Becky Knows Everything: I always put a cookie sheet on the bottom oven rack because fruit pies can be very juicy and bubble over sometimes.