May 29, 2013 - Lattice-Top Cherry Pie

So I had a request this day for a cherry pie.  I had officially never made a pie that consisted of a dough shell, let alone one that had a lattice top, AND not to mention I had made a grand total of 1 pie in my life (the Chocolate Cream Pie, which I must admit did turn out great!).  Considering all this though, I was up for the challenge and said yes.

I read through the process for making the Pie Dough for Lattice-Top Pie first, then read through how to actually assemble the pie to make sure I understood everything, including the timing, before I jumped right in.  I started with the dough and mixed that up and got it in the fridge to chill for a while.  After that, it was time to assemble the lattice.

The lattice process included rolling out a large rectangle, cutting it into strips, freezing the strips, then assembling the strips into the lattice.  This was quite a process, but I must admit I was pretty proud of how my first attempt ever came out (only one tear!).  After the lattice was done and back in the freezer, I rolled out the other piece of dough and fitted that into the pie dish, then into the fridge that went.  While those to components chilled, I mixed up the cherry filling.

 

 

I actually used frozen fresh cherries that had been thawed, and they worked out great.  After the cherry filling was mixed up it went into the pie shell.

 

 

Then on the top went the lattice top....

 

 

The pie went in the oven, baked, and then came out and cooled.  I was actually amazed at how this pie turned out.  First of all, I was just excited how it looked (again, for my first dough pie ever), and then the taste.  The crust was flaky and buttery, and the filling had the perfect combination of sweet and sour.  This recipe was definitely one of the more challenging I had faced so far, mainly because it was all completely brand new to me.  However, I will say that I completely enjoyed making this, and I think I will be looking forward to trying other types of pies.  How, one last statement - My mom makes an amazing cherry pie, but I would definitely say this mine has to be a close second!