This old-fashioned cherry pie includes a splash of peach schnapps to “kick it up a notch.” Emeril Lagasse would be proud.
About the Recipe
This recipe is adapted from the Latticed Cherry Pie recipe in one of my favorite baking cookbooks, What’s Cooking Baking. I highly recommend this cookbook. It includes all the must-have basic baking recipes, from cakes and pies to cookies and bread. Another recipe I have tried and blogged about from this book is Iced Cupcakes, which I made to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Will and Kate last year.
The Latticed Cherry Pie is fantastic too, especially with the addition of peach schnapps, vanilla extract and cinnamon. The original recipe called for cherry brandy, almond extract and allspice instead. I’m sure it would be good that way too, but I didn’t have any cherry brandy or almond extract on hand.
I also did not make the pie crust recipe from the What’s Cooking Baking cookbook. I made my go-to pie crust recipe from Ken’s family cookbook instead. It’s the same one I used for my Peach Pie and Blueberry Pie.
The Step-by-Step
Start making the pie crust by mixing together the flour and salt. Then cut in the shortening.
Stir in the milk to moisten. Then divide into two parts and wrap in saran wrap. Store in the refrigerator while you make the pie filling.
Rinse about 2 1/2 pounds of sweet, dark cherries.
Remove the pits. This part is the “pits.” I like to use a paper clip to scoop out the pits. It works pretty well but is still quite messy. Be careful not to get the cherry juice on anything. It stains terribly.
Place half the pitted cherries into a saucepan with sugar. Heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Stir in the peach schnapps, vanilla extract and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch and water.
Then add the cornstarch mixture to the cherries. Heat and stir until the filling boils and thickens.
Let the filling cool while you roll out the pie crust into the bottom of a greased pie pan.
Stir the remaining cherries into the cooked ones, and pour the filling into the pie crust.
Dot the top of the cherries with butter.
Roll out the other pie crust and cut into strips.
Place the strips on top of the pie in a lattice pattern. Crimp the edges of the pie crust.
Brush the top of the crust with beaten egg.
Place the pie on a foil covered baking sheet to prevent spills. Then cover the entire pie with another sheet of foil and bake in the oven at 425 for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes until golden brown.
Let cool slightly before slicing and enjoying.
