Grandmas Cherry Pie

There is something timeless about a homemade cherry pie – the flaky crust, the bubbling, ruby-red filling, and the scent that fills the kitchen while it bakes. This classic cherry pie recipe has been passed down through three generations in my family, shared by word of mouth and made from memory. It’s the kind of from-scratch pie that’s simple to make, yet rich with history. Whether you’re looking for an easy cherry pie recipe for summer gatherings or a way to preserve a cherished family recipe, this pie is filled with love, tradition, and the perfect balance of tart and sweet.

Why I love this pie

If you know me at all, you know that I love all pie. Hard pressed to find a pie this girl don’t love! I even had shirts made one time that said “It’s pie o’clock!” and the clock was a pie with clock hands. So clever, I know. There are so many pie’s that I have in my recipe file that have been passed down from my mom to me. This one in particular seems more special because I remember calling my mom and asking her for her cherry pie recipe. At the time my grandmas was living with her, because she had macular degeneration and had gone blind and could no longer live by herself. I remember my mom talking me through the recipe with my grandma chirping in her ear about the amounts and different details of the recipe. Neither one of them had it written down, they just made it on the fly from memory. Now jump ahead twenty years, I am so thankful that I wrote this recipe down and preserved it here because my grandmas has since passed and my mom is living with dementia and can no longer recall recipes, nor can she write them down.

I have to admit cherries are not my favorite of all the Michigan fruits. I have grown to love them. And I hate to admit it, but as a kids I would not eat cherry pie. Now I love it.

I found this picture on google images years ago. I just stumbled acrossed it somehow. I love it so much because it reminds me of my girls, sitting together chompin down cherries at the kitchen counter.

Gather these ingredients

How to make my Grandma’s Cherry Pie

I usually always use frozen tart cherries, or Montmorency is the most popular variety of tart cherries.

In a 3 quart sauce pan or larger add cherries, toss with sugar and cornstarch. Turn heat to medium, and stir. Cherries will start to release their juices and cook down. Continue to cook until juices start to thicken and there cherries filling no longer has a cloudy look to it from the cornstarch. Remove from heat.

Add 1 tablespoon butter, vanilla extract, and almond extract stir until butter has melted. Set aside while you roll out pie crust.

Roll out one pie crust and form it into the bottom of your pie plate, don’t trim pie crust .

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour cooled cherry filling in to the pie crust.

Roll out second pie crust and place it on top of the pie, trim excess pie crust, and roll the crust inwards as you crimp the edges.

Place pie on a lined baking sheet. This helps with clean up in case any cherry juices decide to escape. Cut a few slits in the top pie crust, to allow steam from the cooking fruit to be released.

Bake pie at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. If pie crust starts looking too brown, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pie and allow to coninue cooking . Allow one hour for pie to cool before cutting into it. As you can see I did not wait and my cherries ran right out in to the pie place. I needed to give them time to set up.

I hope your’e family cherishes this recipe as much as mine does. I would love to hear from you if they do, please take a few seconds and rate this recipe in the recipe card below. Enjoy! Sheila