Cherry Pie Filling

I am about to bake a variety of little pies for the Fourth of July.  My imagination gets on over load     when it comes to pies. I must admit that pies and tarts are probably my favorite pastry.  As I have been planning the pies, I am, naturally, thinking about color, (as in Red, White and Blue) as my theme; no doubt it is what many of you are doing for the Fourth.  It's part of the fun, don't you think? The colors are easy to find, especially now that cherries are in season.  Of course strawberries, raspberries and blueberries are also easy to find right now.  I started to make my cherry pie filling, and decided I would post the recipe for the filling before I actually posted the pies.. then I had so much fun taking pictures of those pretty red cherries, that I ended up having a hard time eliminating pictures in order to condense my post a little… so if you think there are way too many pictures.. sorry, I couldn't help myself… cherries…. I love how they taste, I love how they look.

Cherry Pie Filling

Wash and pit your cherries. ( Above is the cherry pitter I have had for many years.  I have since seen another I would like to try that pits 4 cherries at a time). So if you are looking for a cherry pitter, those are both inexpensive tools and are wonderful to have on hand.

Ingredients:
5 to 6 cups fresh pitted sweet cherries, about 2½ to 3 pounds (if you are using sour cherries, increase the sugar by 1/4 cup and leave off the lemon juice).
1 cups granulated organic cane sugar ( I use organic cane sugar for this, because I want a clear and pretty red color… you could use Sucanat or Coconut nectar sugar… but, it will create a browner color, so the red won't look as bright).
4 tablespoons tapioca flour
Pinch of Himalayan salt
½ cup organic tart cherry juice (you could also use water)

1/4 cup water

Juice of 1/2 of a medium lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)

Instructions:

1.  In a medium to large sauce pan, blend together sugar, tapioca flour and salt.

2.  Add Cherries, juice, water and lemon juice and stir until well blended

3.  On medium heat, bring mixture to a light boil, while stirring constantly.

4.  Cook approximately 2 minutes, or until mixture has thickened.

5.  Store in a container in the refrigerator until needed.

Note: If you are wanting to can cherry pie filling, you will want to use a product like Clear Jel in place of the tapioca, which is more suitable for canning pie filling, because it maintains its nice consistency even when under the high temperature of canning.

Mix your ingredients…..

Stir over medium heat until bubbly and thick.

Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Stay tuned for pie recipes everyone.