When you live in a cold climate like I do, any fruit we can grow seems extra special.  My mother-in-law has two cherry trees on her 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. (Side note: did you know there’s 28 hardy fruits you can grow in zone 3?)

The bush with smaller cherries was ready a week earlier, so I made three and a half jars of jam with those.  This year I ran my cherries through the mini blender, and I am much happier with how the jam turned out.  This week the big cherries were ready, so that means it’s time for the annual pie!

Don’t be intimidated with the fancy crust. In this version, I use store bought pie crust and butter pastry to save time. If I wasn’t making this pie to be photographed, I would make my own pie crust.

Related: Sour Cherry Tarts

Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

Next up, the pie crust!  My approximate recipe 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 boughten butter pastry dough, as I find that homemade dough is too difficult to work with when you’re making intricate designs.

Roll it out and add your cherries.  In this photo I didn’t use my 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.)

Related: How to Pick and Process Sour Cherries

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!