cherry pie

Sally McKenney’s cherry pie surrounds an almond-and-vanilla-flavoured cherry filling with golden pastry. Her method reduces the reserved cherry juices before returning them to the fruit, helping the baked filling become thick and sliceable.

This selection uses fresh dark sweet cherries, some halved and some quartered. They are mixed with granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts, then refrigerated while the chilled pastry is rolled.

The fruit is lifted into the bottom crust with a slotted spoon. Its reserved juices cook briefly in a saucepan until slightly reduced and thickened, then cool and return to the cherries; small cubes of cold unsalted butter dot the filling.

The second pastry portion forms a lattice over the fruit. An egg-and-milk wash brushes the top and edges, with coarse sugar optional, before the pie bakes until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles through the lattice.

McKenney cools the pie completely before slicing and serving. Vanilla ice cream and whipped cream are separately suggested toppings, while sour cherries, frozen fruit and other crust arrangements are alternatives beyond this selected dark-sweet-cherry lattice pie.