Blue Ridge Cherry Pie

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy boy Billy boy,
Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy
She can bake a cherry pie
Quick as a cat can blink her eye.....

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!! Have you, composer of this song, ever made a pie crust from scratch??? You would not make such flippant claims, even in jest, if you have. A blink of a cat's eye eh? Yes if it is blinking in slow-mo for about 24 hours -lol!

The biggest challenge of making a pie is without doubt the crust - if you nail that, then the rest is a breeze - And to master my pie-making skills, I once again turn to my lovely patient Canadian friend Stephanie of Joys of Baking. I followed her like the Lamb did Mary (ah- there is another rhyme I've inadvertently alluded to) you cannot but make a perfect pie crust. So my advice - follow this link for pie crust lessons.

What I claim to be mine is the filling -

In my Cherry kachal post, I told you about our wonderful cherry picking adventure, right? This was the first recipe I made with them - I have another very informative post on how to freeze cherries properly coming up soon.

What sets a pie apart from any other, other than a deliciously flaky crust? The filling, of course.
What a turn on it is to pick your own fruits, clean them, pit them and use them in a recipe - I made it my own by adding two ingredients that all my Indian friends would approve of and applaud :) Ginger and Cardamom. I ditched the same old Cinnamon and went for the exotic, the tingling spicy and what was pronounced a fabulous pie - I had taken this to a friends home and there was this gent there who was not a big cherry anything fan - I think he just got converted that evening :) I quote loosely "best pie ever" and went for seconds. That mes amies is a good compliment, n'est pas?

Here is the recipe for the pie filling
3lbs or 5-6 cups of pitted fresh cherries
3/4 cup of sugar
2tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1tbsp powdered cardamom
1 tbsp ginger powser

Preparation

In a heavy bottomed pan, throw in all the ingredients and cook for about 3minutes only until the ingredients come together.
Allow to cool down completely
Pour into the pie crust spreading evenly
Oven set to 350 and baked for 34-45 minutes

Follow Stephanie's baking directions please - Link here

Here is my pie crust, pie filling and finished pie pictorial - enjoy y'all. Sorry I did not have the time to take pictures from the start - too preoccupied trying to get the ingredients right :)

Dough is made

cut into 2 halves if making a covered pie

Roll out flat and wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate 

They can be in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer a lot longer

here are my two wrapped pie halves ready for refrigeration

The pie lady :)

Rolled and transferred on to the greased pan

Note little fingers have poked the pie!!

Following Stephanie's instructions to design the corners

Fixing poke marks

Look at that!

cut the excess crust from the rim

keep refrigerated until ready to roll out and bake

The stars are coming along

My little one helps press the stars

There she is in her Rapunzel outfit :)

The pie is filled

arranging the stars

The oozing that indicates a fully cooked pie :)

The color is off - not enough light :(

This is a good one!

Get your forks and dig in folks