Homemade Sour Cherry Pie Filling
Ah, Spring! Where art thou?
Lo! where the rosy-bosom’d Hours,
Fair Venus’ train appear,
Disclose the long-expecting flowers,
And wake the purple year!
The Attic warbler pours her throat,
Responsive to the cuckoo’s note,
The untaught harmony of spring:
While whisp’ring pleasure as they fly,
Cool zephyrs thro’ the clear blue sky
Their gather’d fragrance fling.
So tired of these long cold grey and dirty days of this long, drawn-out Winter-Spring. Time for a cherry pie! Not really – but time to get the abundance of frozen, pitted, gorgeous red Evans Sour Cherries out of my deep freeze and into something wild and colourful and bright and bountiful.
That looks about right. Actually, that was so easy, it makes getting there embarrassing!
Superb with the Three Ingredient Gluten Free Algarvian Cake, above. Yet, making mistakes is how I learn. Wish it wasn’t, but it just is. Has been that way all of my life. I should be brilliant by now.
I do have my moments. Like, “inventing” this homemade Evans Sour Cherry Tiramisu. Vanja would say, “Don’t mess with a good thing, Valerie.” And, if he is saying this after the fact, it is the look he gives me that drives home my regret. My tiramisu is Vanja’s favourite dessert. I have not made it for awhile and got the idea of making one with homemade Evans Sour Cherry pie filling inside of it. I couldn’t face the possibility of that look, so decided to test my idea on a large one person portion instead of the entire batch.
“Look, ma! Mikey liked it! He liked it!” I will definitely be making a less traditional presentation of my classic recipe in a see-through pedestal bowl the next time I make it. This was supercalifragilisticexpialidociously delicious! You must try it. Making a tiramisu is so easy.
And…working my way through to develop this recipe with my frozen pitted cherries should have been so easy. Hands up. How many of you have frozen sour cherries in your deep freeze from the fall harvest? I hope you pitted them first. There is so much that can be accomplished with pitted frozen sour cherries. That was not the mistake I made. I have experienced more than my fair share of brilliant little flavourful episodes of Evans Sour Cherry concoctions burst upon my palate this Winter.
This is such a great recipe. I actually do pack my flash frozen pitted perfect little cherries into zip lock bags, two cups at a time. So, two bags had the four cups of berries needed and hanging them for a few hours produced about 2 1/3 cups of this jeweled cherry juice.
Cornstarch. My nemesis. I don’t use it often. Probably why. The formula I applied to the dry ingredients to wet for this recipe was actually perfect the first time. That was a miracle. Oh, I also believe in miracles. They also happen to me all of the time. I’d sure be in trouble if they didn’t. Recognizing them used to take some time, but now, they are just obvious. I’ve made a lot of sour cherry recipes and pies, but never the sour cherry pie filling with that translucent thick sauce I could eat out of the can with a spoon. And, why not? I like to use it. I enjoy eating it. Even though it tastes like something that I could never possibly make myself – and maybe shouldn’t? The thickened sauce does have that “naughty-naughty” written all over it, don’t you think?
Second time around, I did it differently. I added the dry ingredients through a sieve to the juice, gently shaking the mixture over the heating juice and that worked perfectly. I was going to use a 2:1 ration of juice to sugar, but decided to use less sugar to start, so did 1/3 of brown and 1/3 cups of white sugar with 1/3 cups of corn starch. Recipes for preserved cherries use brown sugar, so I took the risk and used both. That worked well.
It was actually perfect. But, I first time round, I decided to add the extra juice… and then more cornstarch… and what a mess. I liquified it all to use in a cake or triffle and started again. Can anyone relate? It was actually a delicious mistake, but had very few possibilities for use. The miracle was getting the formula for this recipe right the first time. The mistake was looking the miracle straight in the face and denying that it had actually happened by adding the remaining juice. Spank me.
Yet, it happened. This is a great recipe. The sauce is very thick, seemingly too thick as it is hot, and will thicken much more when cool; however, the cherries need to be added and will dilute the viscosity.
Frozen cherries do look deflated, don’t they? It is amazing how a little cooking plumps them right up.
Important to cook the cherries in the sauce a couple of more minutes to firm the sauce back up.
The entire batch makes exactly one liter of filling, perfect for one pie. Who knew? S-m-a-r-t-e-r than I thought by a country mile. I was so pleased (and shocked, actually).
This recipe does thicken to a gel at refrigerator temperature, but back to room temperature, or inside of a pie, and you have the perfect homemade Evans sour cherry pie filling that you can use any way you normally would as you used to use that canned concoction with all of those deadly preservatives.
Making a tiramisu in the classic fashion, I always double my recipe (use 12 eggs and 2 500mL containers of Mascarpone, or make my own double batch), and find I inevitably have a generous amount left over for another little individual sized dish that would actually feed two. So, dipping the Lady Fingers into the espresso Kahlua mixture to layer the bottom of the jar, I layered the light eggy cheese mixture the first layer, and then dolloped a layer of this homemade Evans sour cherry pie filling under the second layer of cream. The third layer of liqueur soaked biscuits was topped off with the remaining cream, then set to cure (soak all the goodness into the biscuits, until the dish “becomes one within itself”.
I want to sing a rendition of “I AM FREE!” from the mountains, as I have just made the most gorgeous, much healthier version of a pie filling we all love, from cherries I grew in my own backyard. And the taste? Enough sugar, no doubt about it, yet that tart cherry flavour is addictive. Completely different than canned filling. I had not realized that creating such intense flavour in this kind of a recipe was even possible. Seriously. Yeah.
Still is the toiling hand of Care:
The panting herds repose:
Yet hark, how thro’ the peopled air
The busy murmur glows!
Yep. If Spring is not in the air, we can still force it there. (part of Ode in the Spring by Thomas Gray)
Evans Sour Cherry Pie Filling
This is the cherry pie filling recipe you have been looking for. The one exactly like the pie filling you buy in the can, but better, because you know what is in it, and made it yourself.
Ingredients
- 4 cups pitted sour cherries fresh and pitted , then frozen and drained
- 2 cup cherry juice (I got more than 2 cups when my frozen cherries thawed)
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
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Thaw cherries, and hang in sieve over a bowl for a couple hours to separate cherries from juice
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Blend cornstarch with both sugars; place juice in a medium saucepan, and whisk in dry ingredients as you sprinkle them over the juice via a sieve
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At medium-low heat, stir until thickened and clear; mixture will be very thick
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Add strained cherries, stirring constantly to bring mixture back to a boil: 1-2 minutes (it won't really boil, but will just plop-plop for a minute or two as you continue to stir constantly)
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Remove from heat immediately as cherries are tender should not be overcooked
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Stir in almond and vanilla; pour into canning jar
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Cool to room temperature
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Freeze pie filling or store in fridge for 2-3 weeks in tightly sealed container
Instructions for Thermomix:
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Thaw cherries, and hang in sieve over a bowl for a couple hours to separate cherries from juice
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Scale cornstarch and both sugars into the TM bowl slowly; combine for 2 seconds at speed 0-3
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Set for 1 minute on speed 2 and slowly pour juice in through the hole in the lid
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Set time to 4 minutes, temperature to 80C and speed on 3; stir until mixture is very thick and clear
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Add cherries to the sauce in the TM bowl; set time to 2 minutes at Reverse speed 2 and temperature at 80C
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Remove from heat immediately as cherries are tender should not be overcooked
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Stir in almond and vanilla; pour into canning jar
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Cool to room temperature
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Freeze pie filling or store in fridge for 2-3 weeks in tightly sealed container
Recipe Notes
I measure my cherries every year, after pitting, into 2 cup bags for freezing. Therefore, I know I have 4 cups of cherries and the juice from the frozen cherries is necessary for this filling. You will find you have about 2 1/2 cups juice. Don't even think about putting the extra juice into the recipe.
I can’t wait until cherry season arrives so I can try this. I’ve never been a fan of the canned so this looks great!
Oh – and the taste!Let me know how it goes, El!
🙂
V
Lovely post, Valerie. Cherries are a favourite of mine. I haven’t tasted your canned cherries, but I do have a wonderful recipe for cherry preserves on my site too that can be used in pie making. You and your readers might enjoy it. Happy cooking from my place to yours.
Everything write about looks so delicious!
🙂
V
Best Evan Cherries pie recipe. Just made it and it tastes amazing. The only thing I did different was I used all the juice. The consultancy was perfect. I have a new convection oven and coocked it at 325 for45 mins. It was perfect.
Wonderful news, Diane!
So happy to hear this. It tickles my soul right down to my toes!
Hugs,
Valerie
Yummy, more wonderful things to do with our Evan’s cherries. Thanks you for this great recipe, Brendi
Mmmm…This will be the first year of actual fruit from my Evans Cherry tree! I do so look forward to making something with the probably small harvest. I did get a few pails of the cherries from friends a few years ago and they made deluxe jam! Lizzie, I will check out your preserve recipe!
I have excellent recipes for Sour Cherries…. just google “a canadian foodie” cherry cherries
or do a search on my home page.
🙂
V
So delicious!! Can you believe my husband doesn’t like cherries? Strange but true 🙁
I do believe it, Susan. Husbands are strange. 🙂 Mine doesn’t like celery or cucumber or parsley or green beans. Or lemon in anything except lemonade.
AH!
🙂
V
G’day! Love cherry pie! Reminds me of childhood!
Cheers! Joanne
Joanne
Loving that tinny cherry pie filling was one thing – this tart-sweet sour cherry zing will have you doing cart wheels and back flips all over your garden. You must make it.
🙂
Valerie
I know this was posted almost a year ago but I just found it on Pinterest and I made the filling today and baked it in a pie. The taste was awesome but it came out a sort of jelly texture rather than the smooth gooey texture I was hoping for. It was smooth before I baked it but ones it was set in the pie it was more like jelly. Any idea what I might have done wrong or what I should do differently next time?
Ashlee
That didn’t happen to me, and is a bit odd. Thank you for letting me know! Was it the “smooth gooey texture” you were expecting before you baked the pie? When refrigerated, mine did “set up” more, but when room temp or warmed up, the texture was perfect. So, I just need more information to problem solve with you. If it was “jelly-like” out of the oven, it must have been very thick going into the pie crust? Possibly add more juice next time? Elevations change the way baking rises, maybe there is an element that changes the viscosity of fillings? Haha! Doubt it, but there has to be a solution.
🙂
Valerie
The recipe looks nice, but the format of the website is annoying. Why have all the pictures first, then FINALLY the recipe at the bottom?
Hi Carson,
In 9 years and thousands of comments, you are the first to complain about this format. I am sorry you found it annoying, but it works for me, and most readers.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the recipe.
🙂
Valerie
Hi there! Live in the great white north and just picked my first evans cherries yesterday. Plan to make your pie filling recipe today. Could you tell me how long to process as i am canning it for my boys:)
Sunny
I have not canned this, but I do suggest a little less cornstarch, then. I would process it for the same length of time you would cherry jam. What a great gift for your sons! I added the tiniest scent of almond to a batch, and that was divine. Please let me know how it turns out?
🙂
Valerie
Thankyou!:) i substituted tapioca for cornstarch and first batch was a bit runny. Second batch… Wowzers!!:) beautiful! Now, why is mine not that vibrant red yours is?? Its red, just dark. Used evans and juliet sour cherries- they are pretty red!:)
Excellent! Please let me know exactly what you did second batch to get it perfect! The colour? I think I know. This year I left the berries ripen on the tree about 2 full weeks longer than I usually do as my daughter, husband and grandson came to visit and I wanted them to see the beautiful tree full of the berries. I was aware many pick them later than I opt to each year, and thought I would go for it. Well, they are much darker when riper, much sweeter – thought still very tart, and for me, not nearly as flavourful. Won’t be picking cherries late in the season again.
🙂
Valerie
I just found this via pinterest and I wanted to say thank you. I have 6 cherry trees in our yard and this year we got a TON of fruit. I am in cherry heaven (or hell!). I just made this in a bulk batch to use throughout the year. It is fantastic!
This is such wonderful news, Elizabeth! Did you freeze it or process it?
I know what you mean about the heaven or hell fine line, too! Believe me. So gratifying to grow so much and then I become intense about using and producing every morsel. Waste not!
🙂
Valerie
Hi
If I make this and put into jars and do a 20 min processing bath, would it be shelf safe for 6 months.
If it is properly processed it will be shelf safe for a year.
🙂
V
Thankyou so much for sharing your sour cherry pie filling recipe (for the Thermomix). Cherry pie is my absolute favourite and I feel very proud to have successfully made my very first. I found I needed to repeat the 4 minute cooking process before my mixture thickened (TM5) but apart from that is was as easy as pie – pun intended! Thanks again
Taryna,
It is wonderful for me to get this kind of feedback as it instills confidence in my readers that my recipes have been tried and tested and work. I really appreciate your tip for the TM5, as well. I haven’t made it with the TM5, but am finding, for the most part, not too many adjustments are needed in most of my recipes, so appreciate hearing that you did this and will add my instructions in the recipe once I get it made with mine, as well!
Hugs,
Valerie
Thanks so much for the recipe. I made this for our (early) Christmas dinner this weekend and it was wonderful. I’m not sure what was going on with my cherries but from frozen I didn’t even get 1 cup of cherry juice let alone 2 so I supplemented with a pure black cherry juice from the store. Next time I’ll try to have a sour cherry juice on hand just in case; this time all I could find in it was a blend. Regardless, it tasted delicious, was easy to make, and I will definitely make it again.
OH, what great news, Alison! Wish you could send me a picture! Love to hear that my recipes are understood, work and enjoyed! That warms my heart! And of course, thrilled you found the recipe and read my blog. Sour cherries are such a special gift to my garden as they were not grown here when I grew up… so I cherish them so much now.
🙂
Valerie
Just found this, and have about 40 cups of Evans cherries to do up. How do I go about freezing this made product?
Thank you in advance
Hi Dawn,
Personally have used it after making it, and not frozen the pie filling, but you can see some of my readers have. I would measure the cups into a zip lock freezer bag – enough per pie, if that’s how you plan to use it, make sure the air is out of the bag, then label, date, and freeze them on a flat surface in the freezer. I am sure it will freeze perfectly.
🙂
Valerie
Well, I’ve got my cherries out of the freezer & after straining 8 cups of them for about 4 hours I have ONE cup of juice. I did freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting in bags, and wonder if that might make the difference? What should I do? Squish them a bit over the strainer? Add water? Help! I so wanted to make this for Thanksgiving this weekend!
I sent you an email to reply earlier, Linda – hope you received it in a timely fashion and hope it helped. Simply adjust the amount of cornstarch. Let me know what happened.
🙂
Valerie
Hi i just found this recipe and is exactly what i am looking for! homemade over canned any day. Once i make the pie filling, i want to freeze it how long will this last in the freezer? thanks!
Packed well…., I’d say a year. Mine does. 🙂 Valerie
Hi Valerie is there a way to multiply this recipe for canning purposes. Might have access to lots of cherries and would like to make the pie filling and can it and boiling water bath it for how long? Thanks Lesley
Hi Lesley,
I am sure there is away – but I haven’t done it so I suggest calling the Blue Flame Kitchen and asking their advice on this one.
🙂
Valerie
Ok so a friend and I have used and loved this recipe, but we both made large double crust pies (different times, a month appart) and the filling in both went runny and liquid like. Neither of us have ever done a double crust with this recipe before. But never had an issue with it in a single. Filling was perfect when we filled. Any suggestions why?
I don’t use this recipe for my sour cherry double pie crust recipe. I also have that one posted and simply use frozen cherries with it, so am not the person to answer this, but my best guess would be that there was not enough cornstarch in the initial recipe. I’ll have to try it, but really like this recipe for my lattice pies and other recipes.
🙂
First I’ve heard of the issue, did a search and cannot find any reasonable answer. Sorry it happened to you!
Keep us informed.
🙂
Valerie
Magically delicious!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Doralynne! We love it, too!
🙂
Valerie
Greetings! I just found your recipe on Pinterest. I made this for my son’s birthday cake and it’s utterly amazing! I used a huge jar of sour cherries and it worked out beautifully! Thank you so much for this lovely recipe. It’s a keeper!
Have a wonderful day!
Thank you Jan!
Tickled you took the time to let me know and to provide my readers with the confidence to give it a go!
Hugs,
Valerie
How long will pie filling last in fridge?
Hi Faith
3-5 days
🙂
Valerie