Homemade Cherry Pie

Who doesn't love a delicious Homemade Cherry Pie? I know that we love it, but I hardly ever make them. So this year for Thanksgiving I decided to make one. I remember the last time I made cherry pie it didn't turn out so well. I didn't make a pretty crust and my filling boiled over the top and spilled all over the inside of my oven, burning.  What a mess, right?

This year I wanted to try a lattice top and I am not going to lie, I was so proud of myself. I thought it turned out beautifully.

I don't know if you remember that time that my dad and kids and I went cherry picking and I shared about canning cherries, but these are the last of them! We had an insane amount of cherries and I have made so many desserts from them, like pies, Cherry Turnovers and Cherry Ice cream.

My filling was simple to make, and it is the best filling

• 5 (ish) cups cherries
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Combine cherries, water, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch in a medium pan on medium heat.
2. Bring mixture to a boil then turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add in almond extract.
4. Pour into pie crust, adding a top crust over filling and pinch edges together.
5. Brush an egg wash over the top of crust and sprinkle a small amount of sugar over crust.
6. Bake on 350° for about 40 minutes.

If you are using a sweeter cherry, I would definitely cut back the sugar to at least 2/3 cup, otherwise, it is going to be extremely sweet. Since I used pie cherries, they're a bit more tart and need a little extra sugar. And I'd just use your favorite pie crust recipe. I feel like I have tried so many recipes over the years trying to find the perfect one for me.

When I took my pie out I was giddy with excitement! I thought my Cherry Pie was so pretty and I couldn't wait to eat it!

After Thanksgiving dinner, I couldn't wait to dig into my pie. Summer and I both wanted a piece right away and a sliced into it, then took a big bite!

You can imagine my disappointment when I bit into a cherry pit! I was so embarrassed! I then had to tell my entire family to beware if they had a piece of homemade cherry pie that they don't break a tooth!

And I couldn't believe that of all the cherries I have used over the last couple of years, of all the treats I have made with them, this pie was full of cherry pits! Everyone that had a piece ended up with a pit! So don't do what I did and let your kids help with the pitting! (Kidding, stuff happens!)

Despite the mishap, I still thought my Homemade Cherry Pie was pretty and it tasted delicious! What is your favorite way to eat cherries? Pie is becoming a fast favorite for me!

And make sure to check my Instagram for other recipe favorites!

DIY: Easy Home Made Pumpkin Puree

So yeah, it's December. Maybe you have snow on the ground, you're sipping hot cocoa by the fire, but that doesn't mean you can't still be thinking of all things pumpkin.

I don't think I actually know anyone who doesn't like pumpkin. I am not sure if it is even possible!

We love pumpkin everything in our house and because of that I love having pumpkin puree on hand all the time. And luckily, this year we had a pumpkin abunance! I bought 5 pumpkins to carve but we only ended up carving 4. And Tyler and Summer both had school trips to the pumpkin patch and got to bring home a decent size pumpkins. I decided that instead of letting them go to waste I was going to cook them up! It is easy enough and the result is always worth it!



Some people might say you need a certain kind of pumpkin to make your puree. But I am here to tell you that you do not! They taste just as good as a sugar pumpkin and you are not going to know the difference, especially after adding the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. for all the goodies you are about to make with it!



You are going to start with cutting your pumpkin in half and cleaning out the seeds and stringy goop!



Then you will lay it down (cut side down) on a lined cookie sheet, cooking on 350° for 45 minutes.



Be careful when you take it out of the oven because it is HOT!



The most awesome part of this is how easy the skin just peels right off of the pumpkin! It is super quick!



I used a potato masher to mash it all down and then I used my blender to get it to the puree that I wanted! That way it is nice and smooth!





Then 2 cups at a time I placed the pumpkin puree into freezer bags. We have the perfect cups that fit a freezer bag right over the edges and it makes it so much easier to fill the bags!



Some of our favorite things to make with our pumpkin puree is:

• Pumpkin Pie


• Pumpkin Poke Cake


• Pumpkin Sugar Cookies


• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies


• Pumpkin Cheesecake


• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies


• Pumpkin Zucchini Bread


• Pumpkin Waffles


• Pumpkin French Toast Sticks

What are your favorite things to make with pumpkin?? 

Cherry Turnovers

Yesterday I shared all about our journey up to the Orchards, and about the insane amount of cherries that we picked... Yes, we got extremely greedy! (See that post HERE)

So now that we've processed 49 pounds of pie cherries, and about 25 pounds of other cherries, it is time to start making some treats, right?

I scoured Pinterest for all the delicious cherry recipes that I could find... and there were a lot! So after pinning about 20 different ones I had to decide which I was going to make first.

It wasn't actually hard at all. I knew I wanted to make turnovers ASAP!



It is a pretty simple process, yet it has many steps. I will say this right now: It is time consuming and you can speed up the process by using this quick tip: Make your sauce the day before and store it in your refrigerator. Then take it out and let it get to room temp. before you use it.

So we started out with measuring out the cherries. I had this cute little helper working with me.





Sauce is ready, and now cooling to room temperature.



I used frozen pastry puff and let it thaw out for about a half hour so it was easy to unfold. (But you could EASILY use croissant rolls to make this as well! I will probably try it that way next time, and it would be cheaper too. This recipe makes 6 and for as long as the process is, it would be nice to have more to show- but they are delicious with the pastry puff!)

Then add the cherry sauce to the base of your turnover.



Add the top piece on, wipe an egg wash over the top and crimp the edges with a fork.


Then poke a couple of "air vent" holes into the top piece. Sprinkle with a little sugar too. (I didn't have any coarse sugar, so you can't see mine!)



And Bake.



Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
Crust: 1 box (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry (thaw in the fridge)

Egg Wash: 1 egg and 2 tsp milk, beaten
coarse sugar for tops (optional)

Filling:

1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 Tbsp room temperature water
2 1/4 cups fresh cherries, pitted and stems removed (Or 12 oz frozen cherries)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and set aside.


2. In a medium saucepan, add the cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Stir occasionally with a rubber spatula over medium heat until the cherries begin to release their juices, about 5 minutes.


3. Mix in the cornstarch, then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Allow to cool completely at room temperature.


4. Cover a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.


5. Lay out both pastry sheets and use a pizza cutter to cut into 12 rectangles. 6 will be the bottom crust and 6 will be the top. Put the 6 bottoms on the baking sheet.


6. Use a pastry brush and brush the edges of the bottom with the egg. Then put about 2 Tbsp of cherry mixture onto each of the bottom rectangles.


7. Add the top rectangle onto the cherry filling, lining up the edges as best you can.


8. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal shut. Repeat this with the rest of the pies until they are all sealed with the fork.


9. Slice 2 slits in the tops for air to release.


10. Brush the tops of the pies with egg, then sprinkle with the coarse sugar.


11. Put the pies into the refrigerator for up to 1 day but for at least an hour.


12. Preheat oven to 350°F


13. Bake the pies for 35 minutes or until they are golden brown.


14. Remove pies from the oven and cool on the pan until ready to serve. (They will be extremely hot on the inside!)


15. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Enjoy your delicious Cherry Turnovers!

Cherry Picking and Canning

Last week my little family and my dad ran up to the nearby orchards. It is a place that we visit multiple times a year to pick strawberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, rhubarb, raspberries, apples, pumpkins and everything in between.

It's a place that my parents took me, and I love taking my kids. I love getting to go there and pick my own fruit right off of the tree, or from the vine and bring it home to make treats, or carve pumpkins with my family.



So we went up with the plan of picking about 20 pounds of pie cherries, and a handful or so of a couple other kinds... But we got up there, and the trees were just covered in pie cherries. And our eyes were too big. We got greedy and we started picking. But just look at these trees and all the amazing cherries growing from them. We couldn't help ourselves!



Then someone who works at the orchard told us he would give us a great deal because we were buying so many, and we got even more greedy. I really wasn't planning on buying many cherries for myself. I went to help my dad pick and then can what we picked... but after the guy said he would give us a discount..... well, you already know where this is going....



And by the times we left, we had 49 pounds of pie cherries.... double what we went there for. And another 26 pounds of cherries to eat.... See what I mean? We were greedy!



The next morning we loaded up and headed to my dad's house bright and early. We knew it was going to be a long day of cherry pitting, as this isn't the first time we've done this! But we got to my dads, cleared the counters and got to work. As my dad and I did other things the littles would take over for a couple of minutes and pit a few cherries and then we would get back in our cherry picking routine.





It took us several hours to pit our cherries.... about 3 1/2 actually.... Finally when we were closing in on the pitting we started getting out stuff ready for the canning part of it.





And when it was time we started to fill the jars.





Finally we started to see the light at the end of the very long tunnel! We spent about 8 hours total pitting and washing cherries, washing and prepping jars, lids and rings, waiting for water to boil, waiting while the cherries were in the boiling water.... And finally when we could see the bottom of our cherry bowl we were able to start cleaning up. And thankfully I put dinner in the crockpot before I left that morning...



It was such a long day but as I start to make cherry treats, it all makes it worth it.

Here are the instructions we used for canning cherries:

Syrup
Light - 2 cups sugar to 1-quart water
Medium - 3 cups sugar to 1-quart water

We actually wanted a even lighter syrup so we used about 1 cup of sugar for about 5 cups of water.

1. Wash and pit cherries


2. Wash jars and rings (make sure you have new lids)


3. Fill your sink with boiling hot water and place your jars probably 6-8 at a time, depending on size) and leave jars in water bath until they are ready to be filled. (You could also wash the jars in your dishwasher right before and then leave them in there until it is time to use them, keeping the door closed to keep them hot.)


4. Place rings in hot water as well.


5. Get a small pan and put lids in water. Bring to a small boil to heat. You don't need to boil for sterilization, just to warm them, so you really don't need to actually "boil" them.


6. Fill jars with cherries. You don't want to pack them too tight. and then pour in syrup. And make sure to leave a half inch of space at the top.


7. Wipe rim with a towel to dry it off and place lid and ring on jar. You don't need to put the lids on super tight, just make sure they are "fingertip tight". (you want air bubbles to have a place to escape during boiling)


8. Then you will put your jar onto the rack inside of your canner. (The rack rests on the edge of the canner and once you have all of your jars in it you can lower it in.)


9. Make sure you have at least 1 inch of water over the top of the jars (add hot water if needed) And cover with lid.


10. Return to a full boil and THEN start your timer. We boiled our cherries for 25 minutes.


11. When your time is up remove from boiling water (we used a jar lifter) and place on the counter to let cool. As they start to cool you will hear them "ping". This is an important part of the process as it shows they have sealed properly.


12. Allow to cool for 24 hours. Check the seal by pressing on the top of the lid. If it pops, your jar did not seal correctly and you'll want to use those right away so you don't lose your work.


13. Label your lids with the contents and date and take to storage.

You just canned Cherries! And so did we! We ended up with about 40 jars of cherries (24 pints and 16 quarts) Plus, I brought home about 8 cups to start cooking with right away! YUM!

Stay tuned for lots of fun Cherry recipes SOON!!