You can never go wrong with a classic. There are tons of fashion classics I always turn to. From red lipstick and smoky eye shadow to little black dresses and cashmere sweaters to stiletto pumps and leather handbags. There are some things pretty much all of us have in our closets and turn to over and over again.
Roses are classic flowers, a welcome sight in any vase or garden. We all have a favorite classic movie, song, and book. They may depend on the generation we’re from, but we can all agree on some. Like Forrest Gump, Thriller, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
These things are all classics with good reason. They have withstood the test of time, proving their awesomeness over and over again. They bridge age and generational gaps and give us happiness and comfort.
The amount of classic dishes in the food world is nearly endless. Grilled cheese, burgers, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, tacos, ice cream, brownies, and even Old Fashioned Sour Cherry Pie.
I’ve eaten classic cherry pie tons of times, but it was always made with canned or frozen cherries with lackluster crust. I knew I needed to make my own. This summer I counted the days until sour cherry season began. The moment I saw the ruby red beauties at the farmers’ market last weekend, I snapped them up and ran home to pit them. They’re actually pretty easy to pit, as with a little squeeze, the pit pops out. Cherry pitters are just going to tear these delicate fruits to pieces.
Oh man, is this pie a delicious classic! The golden brown, flaky crust melts in your mouth, yet stands up to the slightly juicy cherry filling. The filling isn’t too sweet, letting the flavor of the cherries shine through. It’s no wonder cherry pie is such a classic!
Old Fashioned Sour Cherry Pie #SundaySupper
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cold, cubed
- 4–5 tablespoons cold water
Filling
- 6 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 2 tablespoons butter, cold, cubed
- 2 tablespoons milk (I used almond, use what you love), for assembly
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for assembly
Instructions
- Make the crust. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add shortening and butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add 4 tablespoons of water and pulse to combine. Squeeze some of the dough together and see if it holds. If it does, the dough is good to go, if not, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it holds together. Pour the dough onto plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
- Once the crust has chilled, divide it in half. Roll half of it on a floured surface so that it fits your pie pan. Place it in the pan. Roll the other half so that it is slightly larger than your pie pan. Once rolled, fold it gently and carefully place it in the pie pan. Return to the refrigerator while you make the filling.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Make the filling. In a large bowl, stir together cherries, sugar, lemon zest, cornstarch, and bourbon. Remove the crust from the refrigerator. Set the top crust aside. Spoon the cherries into the pie pan, leaving as much juice behind as possible. Do not add much juice or the pie will be soupy! Dot the top of the cherries with the 2 tablespoons of butter.
- Place the top crust over the filling and crimp the edges tightly shut with your fingers. Brush the top with the milk and sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place pie on a foil covered baking sheet to catch any drips (and it will drip!).
- Bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F without opening the oven. Bake for about an additional hour, rotating halfway through if necessary, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling vigorously. Cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving. Pie may be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or in the freezer, wrapped in quarters in foil and parchment and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in a 350 degree F oven for about 30 minutes.
Notes
Additional chilling and cooling time is necessary
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Don’t forget to check out the other Sunday Supper dishes!
Beverages
- Best Wines For A Summer BBQ Party from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog
- Grilled Peach and Cinnamon Whiskey Sour from Peaceful Cooking
- How To Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade from Life Tastes Good
- Pineapple Margaritas from The Messy Baker
- Stone Fruit Sangria from Because I Like Chocolate
- Strawberry Lemonade from Basic N Delicious
Appetizers
- BBQ Stuffed Calimari from Jane’s Adventure in Dinner
Sides and Accompaniments
- Cucumber Salad with Blackberry Browned Butter Vinaigrette from Nik Snacks
- Easy Fruity Salad from Hot Momma’s Kitchen Chaos
- Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime Butter from The Redhead Baker
- Jacques’ Cucumber Salad with Onions from Food Lust People Love
- Mango Peanut Slaw from The Texan New Yorker
- Mom’s Classic Macaroni Salad from Webicurean
- Roasted Strawberry BBQ Sauce from Bobby’s Kozy Kitchen
- Two Tomato Chutney from What Smells So Good?
Main Dishes
- Asian-Style Pasta with Gochujang Peanut Sauce from Wallflour Girl
- Barbecue Ribs from girlichef
- BBQ Stuffed Peppers from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
- Bistecca from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
- Competition Baby Back Ribs with Apple-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce from Crazy Foodie Stunts
- Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Grilled Clams with Chorizo from Noshing With The Nolands
- Grilled Sanma from A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei in the Kitchen
- Grilled Shrimp with Lemon Basil from Nosh My Way
- Grilled Swordfish and Eggplant with Fusilli and Tomatoes from Cooking Chat
- Grilled Wings from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Lemon Oregano Spatchcock Chicken from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
- Mango Beef Kebabs from Curious Cuisiniere
- Steak Skewers with Chimichurri from Jelly Toast
- Sweet and Tangy Blueberry BBQ Chicken Pizza from Simply Gourmet
Desserts
- Amazing S’mores 7-Layer Bars from Flavor Mosaic
- Banana Pudding Pie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Blackberry Cake from Peanut Butter and Peppers
- Blueberry and Raspberry Galette from Rhubarb and Honey
- Farm Stand Blackberry Buckle from The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Grilled Peach Crumble from Try Anything Once Culinary
- Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone Cream and Sweet Balsamic Syrup from La Bella Vita Cucina
- Hot Fudge Ice Cream Pie from Melanie Makes
- Lemon Ricotta Bars from The Foodie Army Wife
- Old Fashioned Sour Cherry Pie from Pies and Plots
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Take A Bite Out of Boca
- S’mores Chocolate Cookie Cups from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
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Om nom nom nom! Now I see what you were pitting all of those cherries for. Thank goodness for cherry pitters. Pinned!
Thanks for the pin, Jennie 🙂
Hubby is a cherry pie LOVER! He will choose it over any other kind of pie. Your crust looks and sounds especially scrumptious. I would love it if you would bring this recipe over to my recipe link party The Yuck Stops Here this week. It starts on Tuesday at 8pm on my blog, Hot Momma’s Kitchen Chaos. I hope to see you there. HUGS
Oh, this crust is the best, Cheryl! I never used to eat pie crust, but now I can’t get enough of it.
Oh wow, that is beautiful, nothing like finishing a BBQ with a stunning pie like that!!
This pie looks great, I am confident that with fresh cherries was excellent!
Rewarded your patience of pitting.
YUM. I miss having a cherry tree in the family. When my inlaws sold their house we lost 4 large trees that provided us with tons of cherries. Your pie is smashingly beautiful.
Cherries from a cherry tree sound wonderful! Wish I had one in my yard.
Nothing beats a good cherry pie in the summer!
Totally agree! Thanks for visiting, Mallory!
This is my FAVOURITE type of pie!! Never make it because of all the pitting but man can I chow down
The pitting actually wasn’t too bad, Sarah – the pits came right out when I squeezed the cherries. One day you should give the recipe a try!
This looks so delicious I wouldn’t want to share!
It’s definitely hard to want to share this!
Fabulous!
Heather told me that when I share your FB post, the link you have in the comments section doesn’t forward. Can you put the link in the post? We can talk about it.
According to the way FB works, more people see the post when I put the link in the comments, but I can try putting it in the post for awhile. Maybe then I could go back and add it in the comments a day or two later too. Maybe even more people would see it then???
Did someone say pie?! Haha this looks phenomenal!
That is one good looking pie! The crust looks perfect and the cherries are so enticing!
Oooh–yea’s for classic pies! I’ve never made one, personally, but I absolutely love nabbing them whenever I see them in the restaurant displays. I’m totally getting the munchie-cravings now. Beautiful share for Sunday Supper, Laura!
What a perfect summer pie!!! I’d love a big slice with a scoop of vanilla 🙂
Your pie is really gorgeous!
Thank you so much – that means a lot from you, Jocelyn!
My sweet Lord, I love cherry pie. I even made one a couple of years ago..pitted the cherries myself too. Your looks waaay better than mine did LOL, and I’m sure it taste better too!
Not all of my pies look so great, but as long as they taste good, I don’t complain. You have to go the full mile and pit the cherries for pie. Thanks, Martin!
Gorgeous pie my dear!
I love sour cherry pies.
And the crust? Oh yes please
Thank you so much, Dawn!
I agree! This is a classic delicious pie. Look at all that juicy cherry filling….drooling!!
Nothing beats fresh fruits! Cherry pie is one of my favorites. Your crust looks perfect, I know how delicious it is when I saw vegetable shortening and butter in the recipe, it must’ve been crispy and buttery, YUM!
Crust with shortening and butter is the best! Thanks, Muna!
Classics are definitely classics for good reason..and this cherry pie is no exception! Looks AMAZING. I wish sour cherries were easier to find here!
They are even hard to find here and Michigan is like the cherry capital. Go figure!
If I could only choose one type of pie to eat the rest of my life, cherry would be it … and your version sounds positively wonderful!
This would be a good pie to have to eat the rest of your life 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Kimberly!
Classics are often the best! I love a good cherry pie and this one looks near perfect!
It was been way too long since I had cherry pie. Which is odd because it is my favourite fruit pie so I am not sure why I haven’t made it in such a long time.
This is a sign you should make one, Laura 🙂
That crust looks majestic! I can almost feel its flakiness and crumbliness through my computer screen ! Beautiful!
Thank you so much, Erica, and thanks for visiting!
Cherry pie is such a perfect summer dessert. I am so happy that you used sour cherries! I have some in my freezer that my mom gave me from their tree. I have fond memories of feeding those cherries to friends that came to visit. Heehee…
I bet those are the best sour cherries! I have some in my freezer from the farmers’ market.
cherry pie is my absolute favorite, hands down, best pie ever!! this looks great! love it! thanks for sharing!
We love sour cherries.. must have been awesome. Didn’t get the chance this summer to make a cherry dessert. Would love to try your recipe.
There’s still plenty of summer left to make a cherry dessert – even if it’s just with sweet ones.
Laura,
I know that you don’t know this, but my favorite pie is Cherry Pie. It is my favorite so much so, that being an April baby and ALL of my siblings and cousins are November and December babies, I had temper tantrums because my mother would always prepare pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas in honor of their birthdays and I always felt left out! Thus, my mother began baking cherry pies just to please me in those winter month holidays . . . and guess what? The cherry pies are now the first to be gobbled up! Thank you for this recipe, I will try it and look forward to it!
Hugs,
Roz
Cherry pie is the best all year round!