Whole cherry pie with apple, grapes, and leaf-piecrust garnishes

Sweets Tart, Sweet, and Scrumptious

Packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, cherries are a nutritious choice anytime. This pie is sure to please—a special treat for summer picnics or holiday dinners. It requires much less sugar than its sour-cherry pie counterpart while maintaining all the flavor and sweetness. Try it topped with Vanilla-Coconut Ice Cream for a tasty addition to this classic dessert.

Prep Instructions

  • Yield: 8 (⅛ pie) servings
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you don’t use frozen fruit juice concentrate)
  • 1/3 cup Clear Jel (may use cornstarch, but Clear Jel gives a creamier texture)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 ounces apple-cherry juice concentrate (may use apple or white grape juice, or water)
  • 2 pounds (about 6 cups) pitted Bing or sweet cherries, fresh or frozen
  • 1 1/4 cups quick oats
  • 1 3/4 cups almond flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup water

Instructions

  1. Mix sugar, Clear Jel or cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl.
  2. Add enough liquid (juice or water) to make a thick paste.
  3. Bring water or juice and 2 cups cherries to a boil.
  4. Stir in cornstarch mixture (it will be very thick).
  5. Fold in remaining cherries and set aside.
  6. Follow pie crust instructions below.

Pie Crust:

  1. Place oats, almond flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir together.
  2. Stir in water—mixture should hold together in a ball. When it’s the right consistency, it will be soft but not sticking to your hands. If it’s too wet and sticky, add more oats or a little more flour; if it’s too dry, add more water to make it workable but not crumbly. Divide into 2 balls.
  3. Roll the dough from the center to the edges, forming a 12-inch circle. (This is most easily done by rolling between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.) After it is rolled to the correct size, peel off the top piece of plastic and lift the bottom piece with the crust and turn over onto the pie plate. Gently peel off the plastic.
  4. Trim pastry as needed and fill with fruit filling.
  5. Roll top crust into a circle and place on top of fruit-filled pie; vent pie crust top to allow steam to escape. Alternatively, slice into lattice strips for a lattice-top pie (see below).
  6. Flute edges and bake pie until done. If crust starts to brown before filling begins to boil, cover with foil.
  7. For the top crust, a lattice crust looks very nice. Roll out the second ball of dough and cut in 1-inch strips.
  8. Carefully lift half of the strips, one at a time, and lay across the filled pie, leaving a ½-inch space between each strip. You will need to do some patching, but this dough is very easy to work with. Add remaining strips in the other direction, making it look like a lattice. Don’t try to weave them unless you have another pair of hands to help you. The pie will be very pretty when baked!
  9. After pie is assembled, place on lowest oven rack and bake at 400°F for 10 minutes, then cover loosely with foil and bake at 350°F for 60 minutes or more, until the cherry syrup is boiling out through the cracks in the top of the pie crust.

Nutritional Data

Calories: 513.06
Fat: 26.24 g
Saturated Fat: 2.03 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 440.17 mg
Carbohydrates: 64.79 g
Fiber: 8.45 g
Sugars: 26.84 g
Protein: 14.73 g
© AdventHealth