Sorry to the others, but our favorite stand at the market on Saturday mornings is Eden Valley. This is for two simple reasons: Their fruit tastes amazing and the farmers so really friendly, especially Lem. Well, two weeks ago they had tons of sour cherries – which are the perfect kind to make a pie with. Unfortunately, I did not have time two weeks ago to make a pie, so they have been sitting in the freezer waiting for their moment to come. That moment, turned out to be really tasty.

I looked up a few cherry pie recipes before making this one, because I knew that I needed to do something different than just throwing the fruit in there.  I wanted a pie that would hold together and look more professional than the goopey mess of the peach-blueberry one. Some of the recipes called for eggs, some for cornstarch, and some for some really intense combinations of both of those and flour. Wanting to make a pie that was mostly cherry and had that “made at home” taste, instead of “store bought”, I decided to improvise on the themes the recipes presented.

Ingredients:
- 2 pie crusts (again, store bought – I used the rolled up kind instead of frozen)
- 1 quart Sour Cherries
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Flour
- 1/4 tsb Almond Extract
- 1/8 tsb cornstarch

The trick I learned to making a good filling, was to actually cook the fruit first and get it to start to congeal before baking.  So, preheat the over to 375. Hlaf and pit the cherries. Mix with sugar and flour and put the whole mixture in a large frying pan. Warm to medium heat stirring often – until sugar and flour are melted into a nice viscous sauce. After about 5 mins, add the almond extract and the cornstarch and keep stirring. (Cherry pits actually have a really nice almondy flavor, and the little dose of almond extract actually brings out the aroma of the cherry – if you also have a good sour cherry beer you should find that almond flavor as well, since the beer is normally fermented on the cherry stones as well as the fruit.) It is possible I did not need the cornstarch, but just that little amount gave the pie the thicker filling I wanted. Continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes, until the filling is thicker than water, but not paste.

Line the bottom of a pie pan (I prefer glass) with one of the crusts. Pierce base of crust with a fork (allows moisture to escape and bubble and the crust to get a crispy on the bottom) and fill with cherry filling. Lay the top crust on, and pressing the edges together, roll the top crust under the bottom, and then use a fork to press down and seal. Bake for 35-40 mins until the crust is nicely golden brown.