I ended up pitting and freezing all those gorgeous sour cherries we picked up a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t make a pie that weekend, so I wanted to save them for July 4th. My family was over again yesterday, and while it wasn’t quite the holiday we were expecting (my brother was in the ER, H had a slight fever) we made the most of it and ate plenty of food (my mom made mac ‘n cheese!). Including this, my first real sour cherry pie.

This was a Martha recipe, although in her recipe the pie didn’t have a lattice top (just a solid top with holes cut out of it). But, if you’re going to make a cherry pie I say you really need to go all the way. It was delicious, and even better with ice cream. I think I may still love sweet cherry pie a little bit more, but this tasted exactly like summer. And I was just so happy to be making a pie, I can’t believe this is my first of the year.

Martha Stewart’s Classic Cherry Pie with a Butter Crust
For the filling
2 pounds fresh sour (tart) cherries (or drained thawed frozen), pitted (6 cups)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the crust
Pate Brisee (I used my go-to Martha recipe)
All-purpose flour, for surface
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the filling: Toss together cherries, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a bowl.

Make the crust: Roll out 1 disk pate brisee to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour in filling.

Dot top with butter. Refrigerate while making top crust.

Roll remaining disk pate brisee to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. **I strayed from the original recipe at this point, and I cut my dough into roughly 1″ strips to make a lattice for the pie.

Then I arranged them in an overlapping lattice pattern, crimping the ends into the side of the pie dish.

Fold edges under; crimp as desired. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Brush crust with egg wash.

Bake pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet set on the middle rack, with a foil-lined baking sheet on bottom rack to catch juices, until pie is bubbling in center and crust is golden, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack, and let cool before serving.