No, I did not bake an itty bitty person into my cherry pie. But, great scot, that would be creative. I did, however, bake cherry pies today. Why? Because it’s 99°F outside (without the heat index), I’m keeping my central air at 84°, and I’ve gone mad! Mad, I tell you! Ahem. There might have been a bit of sugar in the pie.
About a month ago, my dear friend John had a birthday. And what do I do when it’s someone’s birthday? I bake! And since we all know that baked goods=power, I discovered a few years ago via super-stealth methods that John’s favorite pie happens to be cherry, and so now I bake cherry pie for him for his birthdays. (Some day I am going to cash in on all of those favors. Knowing me it will be because I’m on the side of the road with a flat when the IO is out of town.) Anyway…this weekend the grocery store had cherries on sale for $1.99/lb and so I bought myself 4lbs of cherries because I am crazy can never remember how many pounds of fresh cherries it takes to make a pie. (For everyone else’s benefit, it takes 2lbs. You’re welcome.)
While I was putting away the groceries and de-pitifying my fresh cherries, I called my mom to see how she was doing. That went well for about ten minutes and then I talked to my baby sister and she got mad at me and then my mom got back on the phone and was upset at me because Rhi was upset and then my mom started to cry. So that made me feel like I was accomplishing some good in the world. I tell ya, it was a good thing I was already baking because it IS the only coping mechanism in this house. (Well, that and drinking, but it was only 11 a.m. and a girl’s gotta have some standards, yo.) See what a good friend John is? He has birthdays so I can bake and de-stress before I’m even aware I needed to de-stress.
Besides de-pitifying (oh, it is too a word) the fresh cherries, cherry pies are just about the easiest pies in the whole world to make. You slice (and de-pitify) 5 1/4 cups of cherries and dump them into a bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups of sugar and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. Mix that all together so the cherries will get sort of syrupy. You’ll need a top and bottom crust (I use a deep 9″ pie pan). After about 15 minutes, dump the cherry mixture into the pie crust, add the cover, crimp the edges and add three slits to the top crust. Wrap the edges of the crust with tin foil so it doesn’t burn and put the pie on a lipped cookie sheet to bake. Trust me – no matter what you do, the pie is gonna esplode into a cherry volcano. The cookie sheet will catch the run-off and prevent a giant mess in your oven. Bake the pie for 45 minutes at 375°. Remove the tin foil and continue baking for 15 more minutes.
Voila! Cherry pie! (Results for ridding yourself of stress may vary.)
June 28, 2010 at 7:48 am |
I am sorry there was / is stress and tears. But, at least there is baking and the cherries look yummy so I am sure the pie is delicious. Stay strong! We are here if you need us.
June 28, 2010 at 8:27 am |
I have never had a cherry pie baked with fresh cherries. It sounds wonderful! I’m so sorry that your phone call to your mom went that way. Hugs to you.
June 28, 2010 at 5:22 pm |
I’m not letting my husband know that you bake cherry pies! He will be on his way to Texas–and soon! (My mom used to make him a cherry pie at Thanksgiving– mince meat, pumpkin, and cherry. Yes, he was spoiled!)
June 28, 2010 at 7:53 pm |
Very impressive! I don’t even bake pies using pie filling!
June 28, 2010 at 8:09 pm |
I’m confused – can you lick the bowl from the cherries like the can of pie filling? And, if not, what’s the point of making the pie??
July 5, 2010 at 7:15 pm |
awwww…cherry pie does solve everything. I hope everyone in your sphere is now talking to each other again.