Door County Cherry Pie

by Terese Allen

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 55-65 minutes

Serves: 8

Door County cherry pie is a Wisconsin culinary icon. The real thing features a tart cherry variety called Montmorency, grown in orchards throughout the Door Peninsula. Serve this with vanilla ice cream…or, better yet, frozen custard.

Ingredients

1 recipe Vodka Pie Crust dough(see suggestions), formed into two disks, one slightly larger than the other
5 to 6 cups pitted, frozen tart cherries, thawed (measure before thawing)
3/4 to 1 1/4 cups sugar (use smaller amount if you like a tarter pie), plus additional sugar to sprinkle atop pie
4 to 5 Tbsp. flour (use the larger amount if you like a firmer filling)
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Directions

Drain the thawed cherries through a strainer, collecting the juices in a saucepan. Bring cherry juice to a boil and cook until reduced to about 2/3 cup. Cool to warm or room temperature. Combine reduced juice in a bowl with drained cherries, sugar, flour and almond extract. Stir this mixture occasionally while you prepare the rest of the pie.
If pie crust dough is chilled, bring it to cool room temperature. Heat oven to 425 degrees and place a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet on the middle rack to preheat.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger disk of dough into an 11-inch circle. Line a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan with this, leaving some of the dough hanging over edges of pan. Roll out the second, smaller dough disk into a 10-inch round.
Place cooled filling in lined pie pan. Place second round of dough over filling, pressing the top and bottom dough edges together and forming a high ridge of dough all around. Flute or crimp the dough ridge attractively all around. Use a sharp knife to make 3 slits in center top of pie to let steam escape during baking. Sprinkle pie with sugar.
Place pie on the now-hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake pie 10 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until top is browned (see suggestions) and you can see juices bubbling through the slits, another 40 to 55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Notes

Suggestions You can use our Vodka Pie Crust recipe or use your own recipe and make enough for a double crust. You can make the crust up to two days in advance by wrapping the dough disks in plastic wrap and refrigerating. Bring to cool room temperature before attempting to roll out. Tip! If it looks like the crust edges are browning too quickly, cut strips of foil and gently wrap them around the crust. Continue baking until done. (If you bake a lot of pies, you may wish to purchase a handy pie crust shield.)