What’s on your ‘foodie bucket list?’ On mine, I wanted to visit Wisconsin’s Door County and get cherry wasted. That is, indulge in all things cherry! A few weekends ago, I did just that with The Baron and we had a wonderful time taking in the quaint towns along Wisconsin’s Door County Peninsula. Probably the best souvenir I brought home was a ton of freshly picked sour cherries to play with. And with some of those cherries, I made this glorious Door County Summer Cherry Pie. Sour cherries are sweetened with sugar for the most luscious filling and baked into a rich, butter crust for the best taste of summer. A la mode, of course!…
I had know idea how much of a foodie area Door County was. While there, we had our fill of fried cheese curds, goat milk gelato, Swedish pancakes, wood fire oven pizzas, experience an old school Wisconsin supper club, hit up a few cherry markets and of course, go cherry picking!
We came home with roughly over 20 pounds of cherries and it didn’t take me long to pit and pack them up to freeze. Now it’s just a matter of what I do with these little jewels…
And when I said I got cherry wasted, I really did. Maybe I got a bit carried away with all the cherry products I brought home. It was practically a taste of Door County: Island Orchard hard ciders (apple, apple cherry & cherry), cherry wine, cherry butter, cherry jam, cherry syrup, cherry pie filling, dried cherries, cherry bratwurst, mushroom & Swiss bratwurst, cheese curds, Corsica bread, 3.5lbs Nueske’s smoked bacon, a cherry cookbook, and 20+lbs of tart Door County cherries…
So with some pitted cherries ready to go, I made a cherry pie filling, some pie dough and made some pie. I didn’t bake it right away and instead, I wrapped the prepared pie in plastic wrap and with foil. This helped the pie crust firm up with the little bits of butter in the dough and helped keep the filling from getting too runny or loose. You will have a better result making this with sour cherries that need the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. Other eating cherries (like Bing or sweet cherries) don’t do as well and I’ve found turn out mushy with a dark color. You’ll notice my pie has a bright red color, which is all natural from the sour cherries. If you don’t have fresh sour cherries, look for frozen or jarred ones (also known as Morello or Montmorency Cherries.) Do note – this pie is best made a couple days before you actually want to serve it. You’ll need some time for it to freeze up (overnight is best)… and you’ll need a day for the pie to rest after baking so that filling thickens up and cuts easier and cleaner. Besides, this is one dessert that is really better the next day anyway!
Oh my, this cherry pie looks amazing! Gimmie a slice!
Such a gorgeous pie!