Cherry Pie

Last week, we celebrated 4 years of marriage!  Time flies when you're having fun. :)

When thinking about an anniversary gift for my sweetie, I always start with the Hallmark list of annual anniversary gift ideas.  It at least gets the ball rolling for this indecisive, over-thinking mind of mine.  For Year #4, traditionally the gift is fruit or flowers.  A more modern gift would be an appliance.  I'll pass on the appliance since we moved into our house about 2 years ago, I think we are all set there.  Sticking with the theme, I decided to make something I knew he would love as part of his gift.

A cherry pie!

Wow, did I have a heck of time trying to find fresh tart cherries in May in Florida!  I couldn't even find frozen ones.  So, I resorted to canned tart cherries in water.  I'm sure fresh or frozen would have been a little better but we couldn't tell a difference.

Here is the inspiration for the pie decoration. :)

Here is how to make it:

Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

2 refrigerated pie crusts (I like Pillsbury.)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

4 cups sour or tart cherries

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons butter 

Milk & sugar for brushing top of pie

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 9" pie pan with non-stick spray and line with one crust.  In a bowl, mix sugars, cinnamon and starch.  Gently stir in cherries.  Add vanilla and stir.  Pour mixture in pie pan lined with crust.  Dot top of cherry mixture with pats of butter.  Cover with top crust.  Cut off excess pie dough around the edges.  This can be used to make a decoration for the top of the pie.  Flute around the edge of the pie sealing the dough using the first finger from one hand between the first and middle finger from the other.  Gently brush a small amount of milk or beaten egg over the top of the pie.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Cut a few slits in the top for ventilation.  Bake for 1 hour checking near the end to make sure crust doesn't burn.

Best served with vanilla ice cream in my opinion!

Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary, babe :)