Double-crust cherry pie

There's nothing that says Southern American diner more than a piece of cherry pie. The great thing abou this recipe is that you can make it year round, using preserved, frozen or fresh cherries. Best eaten on the day of making.

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
• 55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar
• 150 g cold unsalted butter, chopped
• 60 g lard, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp water
• 55 g (¼ cup) raw sugar

Cherry filling

• 2 x 680 g jars morello cherries, drained
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, finely chopped
• 50 g (¼ cup) plain flour
• 75 g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

Resting 1 hour

You will need a shallow 22 cm pie dish for this recipe.

Instructions

To make pastry, process flour, sugar, butter, lard and ½ tsp salt in a food processor until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 80 ml water and process until a ball forms. Shape two-thirds of dough into a disc. Repeat with remaining one-third of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to rest.

Preheat oven to 210°C. Roll out large pastry disc to a 28 cm round. Line a buttered shallow 22 cm pie dish with pastry, allowing edges to overhang. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out remaining pastry to 24 cm, cover and set aside.

To make filling, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Spoon into pie shell and top with 24 cm pastry round, folding any overhanging edges under and pressing lightly onto rim of dish to seal and form a decorative edge.

Cut out 5 leaf shapes in centre of pastry then brush pastry with egg wash. Scatter with raw sugar and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 190°C and bake for a further 50 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling.

As seen in Feast Magazine, Issue 14, pg85.

Photography by Derek Swalwell

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.