Sour Cherry Pie

It's been way too long since I've posted! Between the house, work, travel, and getting ready for the baby the summer seems to be flying by.

Here in Michigan, July means cherry season. Normally, I just stick to eating the sweet, red cherries, but this year I've been inspired by what they have at the farmer's market so I've been using the sour cherries as well. The sour cherry season is short, so I've taken full advantage by making this same pie the last two weekends in a row. The first time I made it just for Joe, my parents, and me. It turned out so well that I made it again last weekend for our block party. I'll definitely be making it again next summer since it's simple and delicious. *Note: I used a store bought pie crust both times since I didn't have time to make one from scratch, but there are tons of good recipes out there for homemade pie crusts.*

Ingredients for the topping:

2/3 cup old fashioned oats, ground to a flour in a food processor or blender (yielding 1/2 cup oat flour)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup unsalted, sliced almonds, chopped medium fine by hand or ground in food processor

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

dash of almond extract

Ingredients for the filling:

1 quart + 1 pint of sour cherries

1/2 cup sugar

2-3 tablespoons cornstarch (depending on how juicy the cherries are)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove pits from cherries and place pitted cherries in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine oat flour, all purpose flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt, and chopped almonds in a bowl. Stir well. Melt butter and allow to cool slightly. Add dash of almond extract to the butter. Pour butter into flour mixture and stir until well combined and crumbly.

In the bowl of pitted cherries, add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gently stir until cherries are well coated. If there appears to be too much liquid, pour a little of it off, but not all.

Pour cherry mixture into prepared pie crust. Using your hands, crumble the topping evenly over the cherries.

Place in pie plate on a sheet pan to catch any drips as the pie starts to bubble. Bake for an hour and 10 minutes or until the juices are bubbly and thick. If the crust appears to be getting too browned, place a sheet of tin foil loosely over the pie at the halfway point. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

*Recipe modified from Smitten Kitchen