It doesn’t look like I’m going to have time to get a full post up before Sunday ends but here are a few pictures just to prove I did actually get the pie made on Sunday 
I was skeptical about this week’s recipe and almost didn’t participate as I couldn’t find sour cherries anywhere, but at the last minute I came upon some cherries and changed my mind. And boy am I glad I did – I really enjoyed this pie! Many thanks to Michelle of Flourchild for this pick – it’s a good one! I hope to get a full post up about the pie later tonight…
UPDATED: Well, I failed at getting a full post up last night but I did want to post a few thoughts about the recipe today:
- After a lot of searching, I wound up using red tart canned cherries from Oregon Fruit Products Company (I used two 14.5 oz cans). The cherries were packed in water so no issues with sugary syrup. I drained the cherries because I wasn’t sure all the liquid in the can would be absorbed by the cornstarch. These cherries had great flavor and I would definitely use them again. My only qualm is that they were fairly expensive, though in all fairness I don’t ever buy or bake with cherries so maybe cherries are just an expensive fruit in general?
- I don’t know if I’d use Melissa’s flaky pie crust recipe again. It uses a lot of shortening (as opposed to butter) to achieve the flakiness and I didn’t think the crust had much flavor. Also, I had a lot of trouble rolling this crust out. It kept crumbling and I kept having to piece it back together again. Maybe I should have added more water?
- I used almonds instead of pistachios in the crumble topping. I don’t like pistachios and I never have them on hand. I did, however, have both almonds and walnuts. I did a quick internet search to get a sense of whether almonds or walnuts would be a better match with the cherries. I found more almond/cherry combo recipes so that’s what I went with. I thought it turned out wonderfully and I’d definitely go with almonds next time I make this recipe.
Once again, thank you Michelle for a great selection this week! I look forward to trying other fruits in this pie with the crumble topping. For the recipe, visit Michelle’s site, and be sure to stop by the SMS site to see how the other bakers fared this week!
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Crumble toppings are the best for pies! I’ve never heard of sour cherries before.
The pie LOOKS de-licious!
That looks wonderful! Definitely need to try this recipe out.
Very pretty pie. I wasn’t sure about baking the pie either but found some frozen pie cherries Friday evening. I love the almond crumble idea also =).
Oh, cherry and almonds together in a pie sounds absolutely delightful!!
Yay you actually made it! And it sounds like you enjoyed it too!
I’m so curious to hear how it turned out with almonds! I think cherries and almonds seem like a natural pairing, so I bet it was good!
This recipe seems to be a “mind changer”. The crumble topping looks delicious.
oh this pie looks delicious! especially that crumb topping. oh so good!
Funny, I almost posted without photos last night since it was late and blogger was being uncooperative. It looks lovely and glad you ended up liking it!
Your pie looks great. I almost went with almonds on top too.
Wow! This was the BEST cherry pie ever! I loved the slightly sour flavor and the crumb crust was out of this world! Just had the last piece tonight!
I’ll definitely have to keep this recipe in mind if I ever attempt to make a cherry pie myself!
I didn’t get to make this one yet, but I’m glad you gave your opinion on the crust. Maybe I’ll just stick with Dorie’s. Looks wonderful!
Oh the cost of the canned cherries was definitely worth it. I’ll probably make this pie two to three times per year. I’m glad that you found the tart cherries and was able to join in on the challenge. Your almond crumble looks really good.
BEAUTIFUL pics, Tracey! Thanks so much for your sweet comment – I’m excited to join y’all!
Your pie turned out beautifully, Tracey!! I agree with you about the crust, though: it was flakey, but it totally lacked flavor. Sorry I’ve been away for the past week; I had a good friend in town and wasn’t able to do much on the computer. I’m back now, though
Glad you liked it, I really liked it too, although did have some trouble with the crust as well.