Cherry Pie

Cherry Pie

Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening
5 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
2 cans tart cherries, well drained
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Measure flour and salt into bowl. Cut in shortening thoroughy. Sprinkle with water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until all flour is moistened and dough almost clears side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons water can be added if needed.)

Gather dough into two balls; shape into flattened rounds, wrap with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes.

In the meantime, put the drained cherries in a bowl. Stir together the sugar and flour for the filling; mix well and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Flour your work surface. Unwrap one dough round, place on floured surface and lightly flour top of dough. Roll dough into a round about 2" larger than inverted pie pan. Roll dough up on rolling pin and carefull unroll into pie pan, easing to fit but do not pull the dough.

Repeat rolling process with the second piece of dough; set aside.

Pour filling into pie pan, sprinkle with almond extract and dot with butter.

Cut remaining dough into thin stips, if desired, and lay strips in a criss-cross pattern over cherries. Trim all dough ends to not more than 1" then working around the pan, tuck the stip ends up under the bottom crust that is hanging over, crimping in a decorative pattern as you go.

Alternately, you may skip cutting the strips and just lay the second round of dough on top of the cherries, trimming to fit then tucking the top dough under the bottom dough as described above. Make a few small slits in top of crust to let out steam.

Cover the edge of pie with a 2-3" strip of foil to prevent excess browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake pie 40-50 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and juices are bubbling.