The Ultimate Easy Sour Cherry Pie

When you live in a cold climate like I do, any fruit you can grow seems extra special. We have two cherry trees on our acreage, and every year I look forward to harvesting those trees. Sour cherries have come a long way since the Nanking cherries of my youth. I love the newer U of S varieties, especially in jams, jellies, and desserts!

If you’re a fan of sour cherries, too, you have to try my sour cherry pie! Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe, or read on for some extra tips and tricks.

related: 28 HARDY FRUITS YOU CAN GROW IN ZONE 2 AND 3

A week before I photographed the pie you see in the photos here, the bush with smaller cherries was ready, so I made three and a half jars of jam. That year I ran my cherries through the mini blender, and I was much happier with how the jam turned out. The week after, the big cherries were ready, so that meant it was time for the annual pie!

Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

My approximate recipe for homemade pie crust is 2/3 cup lard or butter to 2 cups flour and a little bit of cold water. Try not to over-mix your dough, as it gets tougher the more you work with it. If you want to make a lattice or fancy designs, I urge you to use store-bought butter pastry dough, as I find that homemade dough is too difficult to work with when you’re making intricate designs.

Roll out your dough and add your cherries. In this photo, I didn’t use the pie filling that I had pre-done. If you’re going the same route, add sugar and flour to your cherries. (Sugar to taste, about 2 heaping tablespoons of flour for thickening. You could use cornstarch if you prefer.)

Seal up the edges with a fork when you’re done, and brush with milk and a sprinkling of sugar for browning. Bake at 350 for around 80-90 minutes and you’re done!

If you love sour cherries as much as I do, you’ll want to bookmark my other sour cherry recipes and posts, as well!

• SOUR CHERRY JELLY
• Easy Sour Cherry Tarts
• No Churn Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream
• HOW TO HARVEST AND PRESERVE SOUR CHERRIES LIKE A BOSS
• THE BEST WAYS TO PIT SOUR CHERRIES (EVEN WITHOUT A CHERRY PITTER)

Disclaimer: When I’m photographing pies, I do not make homemade crust. I’ve found that it’s too difficult to braid or make lattices with it, so I use store-bought butter pastry instead. If I’m making the pie for my friends and family and don’t need to get fancy, this is the recipe I use.

With all that out of the way, on to the recipe!

Continue to Content

Irresistible Sour Cherry Pie

Yield: Serves 8

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

A classic sour cherry pie recipe.

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Ingredients

• Filling:
• 6 cups pitted sour cherries
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 heaping tbsp flour
• Crust:
• 2/3cup lard or butter
• 2 cups flour
• 3-6 tbsp cold water

Instructions

1. Pit sour cherries if you haven't done so already. The additional time in the recipe is how long you should allow yourself to pit the cherries.
2. Combine cherries, sugar, and flour in a bowl.
3. Combine pie ingredients in a large bowl. I personally prefer to mix with my hands, as I get a more well mixed and workable pie crust. Add more water if too dry, or more flour if too wet.
4. Divide the dough into two balls.
5. Roll out one pie dough ball and set into a 9 inch pie plate. Trim the edges with a knife.
6. Pour cherry mixture into pie shell. If your plate is not very deep, you may only use 4 cups of the cherry mixture.
7. Roll out the other pie dough ball and use to cover the pie. If you are not making a lattice crust, poke holes in the crust with a fork.
8. Seal the dough by pressing a fork around the edges. Trim any excess with a knife.
9. Bake for 375 degrees for approximately 60 minutes. The time will vary depending on your oven. The pie crust should be a golden brown when finished.
10. Let cool slightly and top with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes

This recipe used two cups of sugar, but you can easily change the amount to suit your own tastes. I would use 1 cup if you like sour foods, 2 cups for most people, and 3 cups if you're making these for kids or don't enjoy sour foods as much. I personally do 2 cups if I'm planning on serving them with whipped cream or ice cream, and 3 if I think I'll be eating them plain.

In this picture I used pre-made pie crust because I was making my pie fancy for the picture. If you want to make a fancy pie crust like this, you'll get better results if you use pre-made dough instead of the pie-crust recipe.

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WANT SOME MORE SIMPLE HARDY FRUIT RECIPES?

If you’re looking to make delicious recipes with your homegrown hardy fruits, look no further. Check out my e-book Prairie Fruits Cookbook for over 25 mouth-watering dishes!

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