Lea’s Pie Crust Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups butter flavor Crisco
1 large egg
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ cup very cold water

Lea’s Pie Crust Directions:
1. Add salt to flour in mixing bowl and stir to mix
2. Add the shortening, and use a pastry cutter to chop the dough to the consistency of coarse cornmeal
3. Ina separate bowl, beat the egg, add the vinegar and the water. Stir together
4. Slowly pour the liquid over the flour mixture tossing lightly with fork to combine. Do not over mix
5. Divide dough into half. Shape each half into a ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes
6. Roll out each ball of dough on a floured surface to make a circle about 10″ across

Pie Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
6 cups sour cherries, pitted
2 Tbsp butter
2 Chilled pie crusts

Pie Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix sugar and flour and then stir in the cherries
2. Place one pie crust on a pie plate, form around the bottom, with some overhang at the top
3. With a fork, lightly puncture the bottom crust in several places (to prevent buckling of the bottom crust)
4. Spoon the cherries into the pie plate, spreading to level the filling
5. Cut butter into small chunks and sprinkle then over the cherries
6. Cut several small slits in the remaining crust, place on the pie, and pinch the two crusts together all around the edge
7. Cover edge with a 2 inch wide strip of foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking
8. Bake 35 to 45 minutes in a 425 degree oven, until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust
9. Cool on a cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving

This old fashioned cherry pie recipe makes two raw 10 inch pie crusts or one large cobbler crust. Make the crusts first and refrigerate. While the dough is chilling, you can quickly assemble the pie ingredients. You can substitute 6 cups of unsweetened and pitted frozen red tart cherries, thawed and drained, or 3 cans (14.5 oz. ea.) of pitted red tart cherries, drained, for the fresh sour cherries. You make also want to consider cutting the top crust into strips to make a really attractive lattice top. The lattice is also a fun challenge for the youngsters who like to be in the kitchen.

Lea’s original cherry pie recipe from Home Economics class circa 1959