Cherry Pie!

I remember the last really hot summer here in Ireland, it was in July of 2006. My abiding memory is sitting out on our decking early one morning eating our breakfast and watching the sun stream through the fencing. It was the start of what my mother calls an Indian Summer!! 

There is nothing like a good cliche to describe the weather here at the moment, I think it would be fair to say that the sun is splitting the rocks and that you could fry an egg on a stone (has anyone ever tried that here in Ireland?). 

I however, am not a creature who enjoys the sun, well that's not exactly true, I love the sun it just hates me! Instead of turning as brown as a nut (another favourite saying of my Mother) my fair Irish skin just sizzles...ouch! 

So, as a result I retreat indoors away from the midday heat and somewhat unwisely turn on the oven. So far this week I made a sumptuous Black Forest Gâteau and now continuing in that vein I decided this beautiful cherry pie would be my next worthy project. The recipe can be found on Zoom Yummy, a witty blogger who take some excellent photos, especially on how to create this lattice topping. Enjoy!

I did cheat and use 340g of shop bought pastry, but I did pick out the punnets (500g) of fresh cherries by myself!

 My daughter and I destoned the cherries by hand, a very satisfying job indeed.

A note on the original recipe, I recommend mixing the cornflour and sugar together before adding to the cooked cherries, this will save the cornflour going lumpy over the heat.

I left 2cms of pastry around the edge of the pie dish.

It's really important to let the filling cool before adding the lattice, my pastry disintegrated into the hot filling (I've no patients for stuff cooling!!) also, thicker and wider strips than I cut out would be easier to work with.

Zoom Yummy lattice tutorial is excellent, well worth pinning for again.

I folded the 2cm pastry over the tails of the lattice and pinched with my fingers and thumb.

Ready to go into the oven, I didn't brush my pie with an egg wash but I will the next time.

50 minutes later this beauty came out of the oven all bubbling and gooey. Allow to cool to room temperature before eating.

A tasty treat for a beautiful summer's evening.