EASY CHERRY PIE FILLING

Growing up I pretty much avoided cherries, I didn’t care for maraschino cherries at all and I didn’t have much exposure to many fresh cherries.  I didn’t mind cherry pie filling, but it still didn’t excite me all that much.  Fast forward to the first year I lived in Michigan, I had a friend give me a bag with enough cherries for a pie and a recipe to make the pie.  Considering that my husband is a pie lover, I couldn’t miss the chance to make one of his favorite desserts.  Oh.my.goodness….my eyes were opened to the goodness of freshly picked cherries and my life has never been the same.

The flavor that fresh cherries bring to a dessert is remarkably different than a can of cherry pie filling.  Every year since that first summer, I have gone back as much as I could to load our freezer with fresh cherries to make cherry desserts all year long.  After all, Michigan produces 20% of the US’ sweet cherry crop.  This year I decided to try to make cherry pie filling.  It’s ridiculously simple and, as most fresh fruit is, absolutely gorgeous!

INGREDIENTS

• 5 - 6 cups of FRESH SWEET CHERRIES, pitted
• ½ cup WATER
• 2 Tablespoons FRESH LEMON JUICE
• ⅔ cup SUGAR
• 4 Tablespoons CORN STARCH
• 1½ teaspoons VANILLA EXTRACT.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place cherries in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add water, lemon juice, sugar and corn starch. After it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and stir often while cooking for about 10 minutes. After removing from the heat, stir in vanilla extract and allow to cool.
2. .................................

for full recipes please see : www.crumbsandchaos.net

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