SOUR CHERRY PIE

Makes 1 (9-inch) pie

Sour cherries, also known as Montmorency cherries, are the perfect cherries for pie. Where we live in western Washington, we buy beautifully sweet Bing cherries from the farmers’ market. We eat them until our chins are stained with cherry juice. But for pie, I want sour cherries. A specialty of northern Michigan and Oregon, these cherries are small and tart, a jewel of a cherry that looks more like a red currant. If you can’t go to the Michigan’s upper peninsula to visit a cherry grower, try to find sour cherries in season near you and freeze enough to make pies all winter. You won’t be sorry for the trouble you took to find them.

• 6 cups sour cherries, pitted
• 1¼ cups (260 grams) organic cane sugar
• 35 grams All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend
• Freshly grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• Pinch salt
• 2 disks chilled Pie Dough
• 1 large egg, beaten

Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine the cherries, sugar, flour blend, lime zest and juice, cinnamon, almond extract, and salt. Make sure all the cherries are evenly coated. Set aside and let the filling sit for at least 30 minutes before filling the pie.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out one of the dough disks, press it into a 9-inch pie pan, and crimp the edges.

Fill the pie. Fill the pie dough with the cherry mixture. It should mound pretty high.

Put on the top crust. Roll out the remaining dough disk. Lay the top dough onto the pie gently, as though you were putting a blanket on a sleeping child. Tuck the edges into the crimped crust. Make two or three small slits in the top crust to allow the steam out. Brush the top of the dough with the beaten egg.

Bake the pie. Slide the pie into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 375°F and bake the pie until the top crust is golden brown, the juices are sizzling on the edges of the crust, and the bottom crust is browned when you look at it from the bottom of the pan, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Wait! Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours before you cut into it. I know. It’s hard but it’s worth the wait.

Feel like playing?

If you can’t find fresh or frozen sour cherries near you, you can use canned cherries. Make sure to use 72 ounces of cherries to make up the bulk of the pie. Add more acid to cut the sweetness—try 2 or 3 limes here instead, with a little more flour to soak up the extra liquid—and cut the sugar in half.