Recipe: Red Cherry Pie (canned cherries), Fresh Cherry Pie, Lattice Pie Crust

Red Cherry Pie (canned cherries), Fresh Cherry Pie, Lattice Pie Crust
rec.food.recipes/Janie McKinney (1997)

RED CHERRY PIE

3/4 cup juice from cherries
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 (1-pound 4-ounce) can (2 cups) pitted tart red cherries, water packed and well drained (save the juice)
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring
3 or 4 drops almond extract (optional)
Dash of salt
Pastry for 8-inch lattice-top pie (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Combine cherry juice, sugar, tapioca, cherries, red food coloring, almond extract and salt; let stand for 20 minutes. Line 8-inch pie plate with pastry; fill with cherry mixture. Dot with butter. Adjust lattice top; seal. Bake at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes.

FRESH CHERRY PIE

3 cups pitted fresh ripe tart cherries (pit with a small paperclip, spread open)
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (depending on tartness of berries)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Mix cherries, sugar, flour and salt. Turn into pastry-lined pie plate; dot with butter. Adjust lattice top; seal. Bake at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes. Serve warm.LATTICE PIE CRUST

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) COLD unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup COLD solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Mix flour and salt in bowl. With pastry blender, cut butter and shortening into flour mixture until the mixture is the texture of coarse meal.

Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture a tablespoon at a time while you toss the mixture with a fork; stop when the mixture begins to clump together. Divide the dough in half, shape and flatten into two disks.

Don't worry if the dough isn't smooth; if you handle it enough to be smooth, it's going to be tough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll out one of the disks to a diameter of 10 inches, as round as you can make it. Without stretching the dough, press it into an 8-inch pie plate and trim off the excess dough. Roll the remaining disk into a round that is 1/8 inch thick; cut into eight 3/4-inch strips.

Place 4 strips on the pie. Fold every other strip back halfway from the center.

Place the fifth strip crosswise of the other strips and slightly off-center.

Flip back the folded pieces onto the cross strip. Fold alternate strips back; place a second cross strip over the stop. Flip folded strips back over the cross strip. Rotate the pie and continue to weave 2 more strips into the pattern. Press ends to inside of pie edge to seal.