How to Make Cherry Pie

Hi everyone! This week we're baking a cherry pie that's packed with sweet and juicy cherries, a creamy filling and a buttery golden crust. Let's get started!

Ingredients:

For the Pie Crust:

• 350g / 12.3 oz Flour

• 200g / 7 oz Butter

• 1 Egg

• 80g / 2.8 oz Sugar (fruit sugar)

• Zest of a small lemon

• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

• 1 tsp Vanilla

• 2 tbsp Icy water

For the Cherry Jelly:

• 500g / 17.6 oz Cherries

• 50g / 1.8 oz Sugar (fruit sugar)

• 150ml / 5.1 fl oz Water

• 15g / 0.5 oz Gelatin (can be replaced with a starch slurry: 1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water)

• 1 tsp Lemon juice

• 1 tsp Vanilla

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 250g / 8.8 oz Mascarpone cream

• 200ml / 6.8 fl oz Cream

• 5g / 0.18 oz Sugar (fruit sugar)

• 1 tsp Vanilla

Mix the flour, sugar, and cold butter until you have crumbs. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Add the egg and 2 tbsp of icy water to help the mixture clump together to form a dough. If it's too dry, add one more tbsp of water. Wrap the dough completely and put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) thickness and place it in a pie baking tray. Use a fork to make a few stabs around the inner side of the pie. Cover with baking paper and fill it with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for around 8 minutes at 185°C (365°F) in a preheated oven. Take it out, remove the weights and paper, and put it back in to bake until golden, for about 5 to 10 more minutes. When ready, take it out and leave it to cool down.

Pro tip: If the side crust browns faster than the middle, cover the edges with foil to prevent burning.

In the meantime, make the cherry jelly topping by putting cold water in a pot with the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and gelatin (follow the specific package instructions in case it needs to be put to bloom first). Place the pitted cherries inside (I remove the pits with tweezers to preserve the cherry as whole as possible), stirring gently to keep the cherries intact. Leave to simmer on medium-low heat until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and leave it to cool down to room temperature.

After the pie crust and the topping have cooled down, prepare the cream by mixing the mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl with a mixer, until stiff peaks form. Spread the cream inside the pie crust and cover with the cherry jelly. Cover with foil and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.

It is best and most flavorful when cold from the fridge, once all the flavors have set together. If you are impatient, you can try it after at least a couple of hours in the fridge. I like it because it is light, creamy and the preserved whole cherries in the jelly retain their fresh, sweet taste. Enjoy and let me know in the comments if you made it!