Sour Cherry Pie

It's safe to say that I've spent a solid 5% of my lifetime thinking about/driving to get/eating Mom's Apple Pie's Sour Cherry Crumb Pie. It's one of my absolute favorite pies on the planet!

The thing is, I've never tackled it before because I can never find sour cherries in the store. Then, one day last week it dawned on me that I can just get them from the source! So I made plans with Jules to hit up Crooked Run Orchard in Purcellville.

The weather was perfect and we got there right when it opened, so it wasn't crowded at all! Look at all those cherries!!!

We went for lunch at Monk's BBQ in town and it was out of this world! 

This place is worth the trip alone! Make sure you go on a Sunday and get there early! The KC Burnt Ends are only sold on Sundays and they sell out fast! This is probably my new favorite BBQ place in Loudoun County!

Our lunch of smoked chicken and burnt ends! They have some awesome bbq sauces to choose from - my favorites were the Angry Texan and the Raspberry Chipotle!

And I couldn't leave without getting a thick slab of bacon on a stick. :) I'll be using this later in the week in some sautéed brussels sprouts. It's shaking out to be a pretty tasty week. 

So back to it... I got home and set up shop on the deck and got to pitting! I refuse to buy a cherry pitter because I'm a cherry pitter away from being like Ariel with my collection of gizmos and gadgets (read: I got too much junk!). So life hack: I used a (clean!) paperclip - just pop the paperclip in and scoop out the pit! Quick, clean, and easy! I was able to pit 5 pounds of cherries in 20 minutes!

LOOK at all that tartness!

As for my recipe of choice, I went with SmittenKitchen on this one - with a few minor adjustments. Her recipe calls for almonds in the crumble, but I prefer pecans (that's what Mom's Apple Pie uses). I also tried the pie crust her way, but didn't use nearly as much water as recommended - the best advice ever for perfect pie crust is to add as little water as possible (thanks Becky Badger!) it makes for the flakiest crust!

You Will Need:

1/2 recipe All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough*

For the Crumble:

2/3 cup whole oats

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup pecans

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons corn starch

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/4 pounds fresh sour cherries, pitted, or 2 pounds frozen sour cherries, partially thawed

*Like I said, I didn't really follow the recipe for recommended water in the pie crust (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup and up to an additional 1/4 cup of water) - I used just under 1/2 cup of water for a full recipe (I just freeze the other half I'm not using). Add water a little bit at a time and it will look like you don't have enough - meaning flour will be left behind. Just use some patience and elbow grease and work the flour in. It will come together, I promise. 

Prepare the bottom crust. Roll out the chilled pie dough into a 12" round. Fit into a pie plate and fold edges under or crimp decoratively. Refrigerate until form, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare the crumble. In a food processor, grind oats to a flour (some chunks of oats are okay), then add all-purpose flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and pecans. Grind them together until the nuts are coarsely ground. Store together with melted butter in a bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the cherries with the sugar (taste to see if you want more sugar than called for), then add cornstarch and salt. 

Pour the cherries into your pie shell and sprinkle the crumble over the cherries. Place the pie plate onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and thick. Remove to a rack to cool to room temperature before serving. 

Boom. Done and all ready to take to work tomorrow! I scored this perfect pie basket at the consignment store in town today!

And another great find! A cast-iron muffin pan! I spent my afternoon working on seasoning this bad boy (and still have a ways to go). I can't wait to whip up some corn muffins in it!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!