Tom's Balsamic Cherry Pie

Tom's Balsamic Cherry Pie

Ingredients

• Filling
• 3 and 1/2 lbs Cherries, pitted
• 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons Celia's Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• Pepper Crust
• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4-6 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Glaze
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. 1. Prepare the filling. Bring the ingredients to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium high heat, stirring every few minutes. Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Take care not to crush the cherries when you stir, as you want them to remain whole in the pie. At the end of the 30 minutes, the cherry filling should have thickened significantly. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. 2. Pprepare the crust, mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter. cut the stick into 2-inch cubes on a cutting board, add the butter cubes to the bowl and toss them to coat in the dry ingredients, use a dough scraper to chop the butter cubes into smaller bits that are roughly pea-sized. Begin adding the tablespoons of ice water while stirring gently. Grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze. If it generally sticks together when you let go, it is fine. If it completely crumbles apart, it needs a bit more water.
5. Separate the dough into two pieces, one that is 2/3rds of the total dough and one that is 1/3 of the total dough. The bigger ball of dough will be the bottom crust and the smaller ball of dough will be the lattice top. Roll out the big ball of dough onto a well-floured surface, keeping it in a nice circular shape. Once it is about 1 cm thick, transfer it a lightly greased and floured springform pan that is 8 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches tall and mold into it into the sides of the pan, letting the extra crust hang off the sides. Trim excess crust, and roll out the smaller ball. Cut it into 1-inch strips for the lattice pattern, but leave the lattice pieces on a large plate lined with parchment paper. Place the plate and the crust shell, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
7. 3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. For the glaze, whisk the egg and water in a small bowl until combined. Remove the pie shell and lattice from the refrigerator. Brush the tops of the lattice strips with the egg mixture. Pour the filling into the pie shell and then arrange the lattice strips on top. Use your thumbs to press the edges of the crust and lattice strips together and cut off any excess crust. After the edges of the crusts are secured, lift them up a bit so that they don't hang down over the edge too much, otherwise when the pie is done and you unhinge the cake pan, the crusts will break off when the sides of the pan expand. Brush the edges of the crust with the egg mixture as well.
9. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 20 to 1 hour and 30 minutes, on the second lowest oven rack, lightly brushing the surface with more egg again at the 45 minute mark. If you notice the edges of the crust browning too quickly, cover them with tin foil.
11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 45 minutes to 1 hour before serving.