Cherry pie

So I think that I've been a pretty good girl, giving you 3 posts that included vegetables over the past few months, and everybody knows that good girls who finish all of their vegetables get dessert. Couldn't we all use some of that? (if you answered no, you're obviously in the wrong place. Go eat some flax seeds or something). Cherries are actually in season as we speak, but I wanted a recipe that you could make even in the dead of winter (unlike the chicken-pasta-apricot salad recipe I put up in June. Fresh apricots are long gone and you probably won't see too many of them until next May.Yeah, I know there are still dried apricots and canned ones- good, but not the same).Anyway, this pie definitely fits the bill for a fabulous dessert that can be enjoyed year-round. Heck, I even made it for myself last year as a birthday "cake".Serving suggestion: vanilla ice cream.

I'm not going to lie, this isn't a "ten minutes and you're done" recipe, but I can absolutely testify that it's worth every ounce of energy put into it.

Before we begin, I need to burst your bubble about pies in general: any pastry chef or amateur baker will tell you that a pie crust must be made of butter. Lots of butter. Margarine will be accepted with serious eye-rolling and tongue-clucking but an oil based pie crust???? most would faint at the very thought. 

What can I say other than the fact that I've successfully been making oil-based pie crusts for a few years now and they're great? maybe a tiny bit haerder to handle than the butter-based ones but still pretty manageable and so much better foer you than the traditional kind? no freezing, half-baking or other kinds of fuss is necessary. The cherry filling has a teensy bit of butter, but we're literally talking about a tablespoon so don't look at me like that/. For those of you who haven't fainted yet from my lack of authenticity and are ready to embark on a much healthier but no less fabulous tasting journey, here we go:

Ingredients: (for a double crust)

2 cups of flour

pinch of salt

10 tablespoons of oil

a bit of powdered sugar

4 tablespoons of cold water

1. Combine all ingredients except the water and mix until the mixture becomes large crumbs. Sprinkle the water over the mixture and knead until a ball of dough forms. You may need to add a little more water or flour.

2. Divide the dough into two even balls. Cover one ball with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. The other ball will be the bottom pie crust: spray two pieces of baking paper with oil spray and sprinkle a bit of flour. Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is thin and flat.

3. Grease a 9 inch pie pan and eremove one of the baking paper sheets. Carefully transfer the dough to the pan, paper side up, and press the dough into the pan.Remove the baking paper and set aside.

Meanwhile, prepare the cherry filling:

filling ingredients:

1\3- 1\2 a cup of sugar (depends on how sweet your taste buds can tolerate)

2.5 tablespoons of sugar

pinch of salt

2 cups of canned cherries, strained

1\3 of a cup cherry strained cherry syrup 

1 tablespoon of butter or margarine

1/ Heat the oven to 220 C\400 F. In a small pot combine the sugar, flour,salth, cinnamon and cherry syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil.

2. Pour hot mixture over cherries and stir gently.

3. Transfer cherry mixture into pie crust and dot with butter.

4. Take second ball of dough out of refrigerator, roll in the same way as you did with the bottom crust and gentlyplace over the pie. Seal and prick top crust a few times with a knife in order to let the heat escape. 

5. Cover the edges of crust with aluminum foil to avoid burning and bake for 35-45 minutes or until pie is golden- brown.

There!that didn't hurt, did it? Serve hot or cold, with vanilla ic-cream or whipped-cream/

And here's another picture, just to inspire you:

Enjoy!