Favorite Holiday Cherry Pie

How many of you enjoy a pie for your holidays? My family loves them! And since I don't like pumpkin pie, and I LOVE cherry pie, my mother started a holiday tradition when I was a little girl in which we always have a cherry pie for every holiday now. Now it is expected that this cherry pie make an appearance at every holiday. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!

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Cherry Pie with Fool Proof Pie Crust

Pie Crust

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Dry ingredients:

4 cups flour

6 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cup shortening

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Wet ingredients:

1 jumbo egg

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1/2 cup water

Cherry Pie Filling:

Combine in another large mixing bowl:

5 - 6 cans of thick cherry pie filling, drained of the juice (set aside for another use)

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. almond extract

Procedure:

Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
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Using a pastry cutter/blender, mix all the dry ingredients well.

The mixture will look lumpy as you continue to blend the dry ingredients together.
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Add the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl.
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Blend the wet ingredients well with a fork or whisk.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients thoroughly....add just a little bit of flour if necessary, but NOT TOO MUCH or the pie dough will be too dry!

Form the pie dough into a nice shaped ball and refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes.
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After chilling, cut the ball of dough in half. Technically, this is enough to make 2 double-crusted pies......BUT, for us it is enough to make one double-crusted pie and one single-crusted pie (so 3 crusts). It all depends on how thin or thick that you like your pie crusts......which we like ours on the thicker side.

Roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured surface (we use a large wooden cutting board).

Carefully lift and place the bottom layer of pie dough into a well-greased pie pan. Pour in the cherry mixture.

Cover the cherries with the top layer of dough. Crimp and decorate the way you prefer. Brush the top of the pie with melted butter (about 1-1/2 Tbsp. )

Sprinkle a nice layer of sugar on top of the buttered pie dough.

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Bake for 30 - 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven......constantly keeping an eye on the pie so that the edges of the crust do not burn.....about half way through the baking, I crimp aluminum foil around the egdes to prevent burning.

Enjoy with a wonderful heaping of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you prefer!
Mangia!

Beautiful sliced piece of yummy cherry pie!

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Beautiful Christmas Trimmings on La Bella Vita Farm!

Here's the brave hubby getting out on the roof on a cloudy Carolina December day to lovingly hang some of the Christmas wreaths! What a trooper!

Good job, eh?

It's beginning to look a lot like a "Southern" Christmas (no snow)!

More deco!

And lastly, our 88 year old Italian Papa in the Christmas mood!

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Essential Cooking Utensils & Equipment

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You know it's funny that we often forget to think about the little things in life that matter, don't we? These little things could be, well, just about anything! Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was so blessed to be able to visit my daughter and her husband for their first big bash holiday dinner. I am so glad that she trusts me and my husband to join her in the kitchen to help her along the way.



However, come to find out that my foodie-to-be, Bon Appetit reader, future gourmand daughter of mine does not have a very well-equipped kitchen!! H-m-m-m-m! She's still more interested in finding her money-saving fashion finds...... how I remember those days!

So I decided that I needed to give her a little assistance in preparing her kitchen. I am going to start this list and hope that you or anyone will add to it. I'll keep editing this list as time goes on. But here's a nice start (beginning with what my daughter does not have in her kitchen)!

• Dry measuring cups
• Liquid measuring cups (she has)
• Several sets of measuring spoons (she only had one set)
• High quality pots and pans (I use LeCreuset)
• Set of 8-sized mixing bowls (clear if possible) 2 sets if possible
• Rubber spatulas of many sizes
• Long-handled mixing spoons
• Rolling pin with sleeve (she has)
• Micro graters
• Cutting blocks of assorted sizes
• Immersion hand-held blender
• High quality hand-held mixer
• KitchenAid counter top mixer
• Food processor (she has)
• Pasta machine
• Baking sheets
• Cake pans of various sizes
• Pie pans " "
• Muffin pans
• Bundt cake pans
• Cooling racks
• Strainers and colanders
• Vegetable steamer
• Butter/sauce brush
• Funnels
• Whisks
• Garlic press
• Kitchen shears
• Good quality cutlery (knives)
• Blender
• Scales to weigh things
• Cookie cutters
• Can opener
• Potato peeler
• Lettuce knives
• Thermometers
• Nut crackers
• Tongs

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