CRUST:
1-1/2 cups of flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer on medium speed swiftly until crust appears “pea like.” Carefully sprinkle ice cold water in crust mix until it just starts to be fully moistened and gathers together. Pat into disc, wrap and refrigerate for at least one half hour. Roll out on floured surface and make and crimp piecrust. Freeze until ready to use.
FILLING:
4-1/2 cups Montmorency tart cherries –frozen
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp real almond extract
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp orange zest
½ cup dried Michigan cherries
1-1/2 cups of frozen blueberries
Combine frozen cherries, dried cherries, sugar, cornstarch. Stir constantly on med-hi heat until boiling. Add blueberries. Boil for one minute or until thickened. Add almond extract, lemon juice and zest. Pour blueberries in bottom of pie shell and pour cherry mixture over them.
CRUMB TOPPING:
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter softened
Mix together all crumb topping ingredients by hand or a pastry blender until crumbly.
Cover filling with crumb topping. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour or until filling is bubbling over crust.
Wow! How remarkable does this pie recipe sound? I have a couple of people in my family who aren’t fond of cherries, so you know what that means, right? More for the rest of us! Actually, in all honesty, I think this pie would be just the thing to make them come to their senses and realize that cherries are tart little miracles.
So there.
The amazing cherry pie recipe above is the winning Professional Best of Show recipe from the American Pie Council’s recent National Pie Championship. The national event was held in Celebration, Fl., was covered by the Food Network and the Today Show and featured participants from around the US and even Canada.
The winner was a bakery café owner from DeWitt, Michigan, Linda Hundt. It was a very bittersweet victory, however. Her prize-winning pie, which topped nearly 130 other entries, was named in honor of her brother-in-law who passed away just one week before the competition.
She suspects that she may have had Heavenly pull during the competition, but I wouldn’t count out the beauty of the recipe entirely.
From The American Pie Council:
The owner of the Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe, a vintage-style bakery in downtown DeWitt, Linda Hundt is known for her 50s-style dresses and aprons, her pearl necklaces and her pearls of “pie wisdom” including her mantra, “Eat Pie and Love Life.” After leaving her career in politics, Hundt started her pie business in 2002, selling pies to high-end restaurants and at farmer’s markets. Coming from a long line of pie bakers, Hundt names her award-winning pies in honor of the family members who have inspired her over the years. In her bakery and on her website, she tells the heartfelt and sometimes humorous stories behind each of her pies. Her brother-in-law Tom earned his pie, the Best of Show-winning “Tom’s Cheery Cherry Cherry Berry Pie,” by being a great supporter of Hundt’s dreams and a friend to everyone he met. Her “Mommy’s Pumpkin Pie” earned its name after a fire swept through Hundt’s mother’s home just before the holidays. Having to cook Christmas dinner at her daughter’s house in an unfamiliar oven, the normally wonderful cook burned the entire meal, except for the pumpkin pie. That fool-proof recipe earned the name “Mommy’s Pumpkin Pie.”
The APC/Crisco National Pie Championships were held April 24-26, 2009 at the Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort and Convention Center in Celebration, Fla., in conjunction with the Great American Pie Festival. At the annual event, bakers of all skill levels, all ages, and all degrees of training, from all over the United States and Canada, compete in a bake-off to determine North America’s best Professional, Amateur and Commercial bakers as well as budding Junior Chefs.
As the winner of the Professional Division of the APC/Crisco National Pie Championships, Hundt took home the prestigious Best of Show title as well as $5,000, a Crisco gift basket and a new Sears Kenmore range. Professional bakers entered pies in eight categories: Apple, Citrus, Crisco Classic Chocolate, Crisco Classic Cherry, Fruit/Berry, Cream, Nut and Open. The Best of Show winner was chosen from among the eight first place winners.
“This was an amazing year at the National Pie Championships with more bakers and more pie entries than ever before,” said Linda Hoskins, APC’s Executive Director. “In these lean times, people are getting back to basics and looking for economical home-based meals and activities. Fortunately, making and eating pie fits both desires perfectly.”
This year, the competition attracted 138 bakers who baked 465 pies in the Commercial division, 130 pies in the Professional division and 266 pies in the Amateur division. Talented pie makers came from 28 states, from as far away as Washington, California and parts of Canada.
The event drew more than 170 judges, including Kim Montello, Johnson and Wales University, Jim Whaples, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and professional chefs such as Robert Paulk, Certified Master Baker and David Ramirez, Executive Pastry Chef at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando and 2009 captain of Team USA in the Coupe du Monde (World Pastry Cup), as well as many food writers and editors. Judges also included everyday pie lovers who were selected through an application process. Talented pie makers came from 28 states, from as far away as Washington, California and parts of Canada.
A complete list of winners is available at www.piecouncil.org.
Crisco is a registered trademark of The J. M. Smucker Company. For more information, visit www.crisco.com.
The American Pie Council offers individual membership for amateurs as well as professionals and commercial bakers. Pie lovers receive multiple benefits including the “Pie Times” e-newsletter, membership directory and member-only online “pie talk” access for idea exchange, pie recipes, coupons and discounted entry into the annual APC/Crisco National Pie Championships.
The American Pie Council is the only organization committed to maintaining America’s pie heritage, passing on the tradition of pie-making and promoting America’s love affair with pie.
For more details, to become a member of the APC or to register for the National Pie Championships, visit www.piecouncil.org
Right around this time, I start whipping out the pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie recipes. My family loves both types of pies, so I can’t go wrong either way. There are so many different recipes for these Thanksgiving favorites and I always feel like I have to try them all. After all, I want to have the best pies I can when Thanksgiving rolls around. My husband greatly prefers sweet potato pies and my middle daughter, Brittany, much prefers pumpkin pies. The rest of us love them both to distraction.
