Classic Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust

I never wrote down a Summer Bucket List, but a few things were on my mind to do this summer.  One of them was to make a cherry pie with fresh cherries.  The stores around us have been marking cherries down each week and this week they're even more on sale, so it must be cherry season somewhere in the Northwest!  I'd encourage you to go buy some cherries and find some great recipes with cherries while the season lasts!

A lattice pie crust has always intimidated me because it looks so beautiful and I figured something like that must be super complicated.  Good news:  it's NOT!  This pie is delicious, but I'll be honest, the crust makes it.  I'm a sucker for a buttery crust, so I may or may not have scooped out the cherries in my slice last night and had pie crust and vanilla ice cream....

Recipe:
Crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole pitted sour cherries or dark sweet cherries (about 2 pounds unpitted, whole cherries)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (if using sour cherries) or 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (if using dark sweet cherries)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon milk
Vanilla ice cream

Crust:
Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in large bowl to blend.  Add butter and rub it with your fingertips until small clumps form.

Add the water and stir with a fork until the dough gathers together.  Gather dough into ball and divide into two balls.  Place each ball into a piece of saran wrap, flatten into a disc and wrap.

 Place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  Let the dough soften a bit before rolling out.

Filling:
Preheat oven to 425F.  Stir 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt in bowl, add cherries, lemon juice and vanilla.

On a floured surface, roll out one pie dough disc to a 12-inch round.

Place in a deep dish pie plate.  Trim the hanging crust to about 1/2-inch.  Roll out the second dough disc into a 12-inch round.  Using a butter knife, cut into 10 strips, about 3/4-inch each.  Pour filling into pie-lined dish and dot with butter.

Place 5 crust strips on top of filling.  One by one, weave the remaining 5 crust strips so that you have a lattice pattern.

Fold bottom crust up over side of the lattice crust topping and crimp the edges to seal.

Brush lattice crust (not the edges) with milk and then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet (just in case some juice spills out) and bake 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375F.  Bake for 1 hour more, or until pie filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown.  Cover the crust edges with foil if it is starting to brown too quickly.  Remove from oven.   Cool completely.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Source: Bon Appetit, June 2008