Whoo hoo! This is my favorite time of year, between all of the summer parties and the Fourth of July, everyone seems to be in great spirits. I am in-between a weekend getting back from a blogging conference and the Forth of July weekend, so there's a lot of excitement getting thrown around in these parts y'all. Part of that excitement is getting ready for the Fourth. What all-american things will I make for food? Which fireworks do I pick up? Do I have enough red, white, and blue to splatter around the house?
Well, at least in the food department, what's more all-american than a sweet cherry pie? And the topper?.... it's got stars and stripes! What? Girl's on her A-game y'all. This particular pie recipe also includes another all-american pastime, moonshine. The splash of moonshine (and lemon) helps to add a bit of crispness to the already sweet cherries.
The first time I made this recipe, I couldn't believe at how easy it was and how few ingredients were really in it. I also had no clue that the filling would be so great without gelatin in it and only ½ cup sugar. I always assumed that the pies that taste the best (ahem...Grandma's pie) were loaded with cups of sugar and unflavored gelatin packets. Nope, not here, not now!
Of course I made this Uncle Sam-approved (I am just assuming he would approve) betty with gluten-free ingredients.
Taking the pits out of the cherries took the longest, about 15 minutes. I did this step the day before I baked my pie. You can use packaged cherries in a pinch, but lets be real y'all, there's nothin' like a fresh cherry pie.
I coated the stars and stripes in a little bit of milk and then a sprinkling of sugar to add a little bit of sweet crunch on top.
Gluten-Free Cherry Pie
Ingredients
- 2 unbaked GF pie crusts *, or 2 gluten-free pie crusts
- a sprinkling of GF flour, for rolling purposes
- 5 cups sweet red cherries, pitted
- ½ cup granulated sugar + some for garnish
- ¼ cup corn starch
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon moonshine **, we used legal South Carolina moonshine
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tablespoon cold butter, diced
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425*F.
- Roll out one of your pie crusts with a bit of GF flour and a rolling pen. With a knife, cut out your stars and stripes. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cherries, sugar, corn starch, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts, and moonshine together. Place this mixture over top of the second pie crust.
- Place the diced butter sporadically over the top of the pie. Then place your stars and stripes on top of the butter.
- With a basting brush or your fingers, gently coat the top of your stars and stripe with the milk and then sprinkle with sugar.
- Place the pie on a baking sheet to help support the pie and then place the entire setup in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Bake for 15 minutes on the middle rack and then decrease the temperature to 350*F and bake for another 30-40 minutes, or until your gluten-free crust is golden brown***.
- Serve warm and with your fav vanilla ice cream and as always, enjoy it messy!
*I really like this premade GF crust in a pinch. When making my own GF crust, I use Gluten-Free on a Shoestring's recipe.
***Do not let your GF crust over cook, as it will likely crumble apart. Yuck!
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