I would like to take you readers on a trip back into Shaw Girl’s past, specifically to the year 1990. I was a sophomore in high school, still rocking very high hair and questionable fashion choices. I had a major crush on one Jason Perry, but my mother wouldn’t let me go out on a date with him (he drove a van and in her eyes that meant he had designs on deflowering her baby). I hung out with a group of boys who fancied themselves a band, but they mostly just hung out in my best friend Daryl’s shed. I was heavily into Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles books (remember children, vampires DON’T sparkle), which caused some of my teachers to worry I may be into the occult. I wasn’t…I just imagined Lestat was a smokin’ hottie (NOT Tom Cruise).
Mostly, however, I immersed myself in music. And by music, I mean the world of hair metal. Oh yes my dear readers, I was a disciple of the school of hair bands. Motley Crue, Bang Tango, Scorpions, Ratt, Cinderella, Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, Gene Loves Jezebel…all of their tapes (yes TAPES) had a place in my duffle bag of music. I stayed up late to watch Headbanger’s Ball on MTV so I could get a glimpse of my favorite bands. I poured over magazines like Circus, Metal Edge and Spin…mostly for items to add to my Guns n’ Roses scrapbook (yeah, you read that right…don’t judge me if I still have it). And I one day dreamed that I too would take Tawny Kitaen’s place on a car hood in a music video. I know that’s wrong, but at the time, I didn’t care. Tawny was my hero…that is until I saw this video:
Yes, the song objectifies women and is brazenly sexual. Yes, Jani Lane (the lead singer of Warrant for the uninformed) is now a struggling alcoholic. And yes, I have no idea why American Gothic makes an “appearance” in this video. But back in 1990, none of that mattered. All I cared about was the catchy beat and the fact that the line, “So I mixed up the batter and she licked the beater” somehow seemed naughty. And back then, all I needed were dirty words and a scorching guitar riff to get me dancing.
All of this was going through my head as I was pitting cherries for a homemade cherry pie. I’ve always wanted to make a cherry pie from scratch but never cottoned to the idea of pitting four cups of cherries. I also didn’t like the idea of buying a cherry pitter, as it’s a unitasker. But after reading all of the other ways to remove the pit from a cherry, I decided to borrow a pitter from Brian. And man, am I in love!
The pitter shoots the pit right through the cherry with minimal damage to the cherry itself. Before I knew it, we had pitted all the cherries and I was ready to move on to making my pie. Which may or may not have included a few Cherry Pie dancing interludes.
Recipe: Cherry Pie
Ingredients
- For the Filling:
- 4 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (more if using pie cherries)
- 2 1/2 tbsps quick cooking tapioca
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tsps fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsps cold unsalted butter, diced
- For the crust:
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsps salt
- 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup lard, frozen and cubed
- 1/2 cup ice water
- For the egg wash:
- 1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- First, make the pie crust. Add the flour and the salt to a food processor and pulse four times. Add in half of the cubed butter and pulse four more times. Add the remaining butter and pulse again four times. Add the lard and pulse again until the mixture is crumbly in texture.
- With the food processor on, add the water to the mixture slowly. Add enough water until a dough ball forms in the processor bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl and separate it into two discs (one slightly smaller than the other). Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While the discs are chilling, make the cherry filling. Add the sugar, lemon, vanilla, salt and tapioca to the cherries. Using a spatula, stir it all together to coat the cherries. Let the mixture sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
- When the dough has sufficiently chilled, flour your work surface and roll out the larger disc. Drape the dough over your pie pan and crimp off any excess dough from the sides.
- Roll out the second disc of dough. To make the lattice top, cut strips of the dough using either a pizza cutter or a pastry cutter. The width of the strips is a personal preference. Pour the cherry filling into the crust. Dot the filling with the diced, cold butter. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the sides of the dough with some of the egg wash. Then lay about four lattice strips over the cherry filling. Lay four other strips perpendicular to the original four lattice strips. You can weave the strips over and under each other (see this post for a better explanation)…or you can be lazy like me and not bother. Brush the lattice top with the remaining egg wash. Bake the pie for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the crust is golden and the filling has thickened. Allow to cool before serving.
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dessert
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Stunning!!!!! Love cherries. Try making the same pie with sour cherries if you can find them.
I resisted getting a cherry pitter for a long time, too. I caved eventually and found some consolation in the fact that it also works on olives. (Every now and then I either can’t find the kind I want pre-pitted, or I accidentally pick up the wrong jar…)
Your pie is pure perfection! The one time I tried to make a lattice topping it ended in tragedy (I ran out of strips half way through…not pretty!).
I also truly appreciate your obsession with 80s hair bands. I grew up with a big brother heavy into hair bands. Therefore in order to be cool, I too was a fan of Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sisters, and Motley Crew.
WOW! Seriously gorgeous pie, lady! I’m very impressed by the lattice topping. Cherry pie is probably my favorite fruit pie and seeing these photos makes me want to try making it ASAP!
I know what you mean about the unitasker lame-ness of cherry pitters, but like I said on Twitter, it’s so darn handy (and inexpensive). I know Jen from UseRealButter uses a metal straw to poke out the pits, so there are other ways!
Great picture! And great patience pitting out those cherries! Looks like it was all worth the hard work.
Um…I LOVED that song when I was a kid. I had a cousin who was into hair bands so we had Guns and Roses, Posion, and Skid Row playing all the time. I used to dream that Axl Rose would fall in love with me (over Stephanie Seymour) and I’d tour with him around the world. THANK GOODNESS THAT NEVER HAPPENED.
I used a cherry pie pitter recently and I’m in love. Will be making a cherry pie soon for sure!
Great story! I was hoping to read a cherry pie warrant story when I saw your title, and you did t disappoint!
I finally broke down and got a cherry pitter – definitely worth it for the ease of pitting!
Your pie looks AMAZING but I think it’s even COOLER that you included the Warrant video… which is all I could think about when I saw you were making cherry pie! You rock. I’m back in town next week – would love to catch up!
I love it how so many of you also immediately thought of Warrant when you saw the name of my blog post! I spent all day humming “Cherry Pie” to myself!
The pitter really does make a huge difference and as Sara pointed out, it’s a relatively inexpensive gadget.
And I may still have a crush on Axl Rose…and by “may” I mean “yes”.
Your photos are really amazing. You did a great job. I absolutely love cherry pie, and even though it’s not my traditional summer pie, I’m going to have to make one soon after seeing this. For Independence Day, I’ll probably stick to the Blueberry Pie Supreme. Thanks for sharing this!
A hand held cherry pitter! The only one I’ve seen face to face (or is it face to pitter?) is an old, old, old one that gets clamped to the table or counter and cranked. A lot like this: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/media/originals/Jun05_CastIronBeauty.jpg
A hand held sure would take up a lot less space.
Cherry pie is totally one of my favorites. Yours looks great!