Fresh Homemade Cherry Pie Filling
Fresh homemade cherry pie filling! You can make a bunch of it during the cherry harvesting season or you can choose frozen cherries.
We’ll guide you through this recipe from scratch today. It’s straightforward without artificial colours or flavours. You can keep it in the fridge for months and use it when making your next cherry pie, tart, or to finish a cheesecake.
Why make homemade cherry pie filling?
The benefits of making your own filling, is having full control of the ingredients. Depending on the natural flavour of the cherries, you can adjust the sweetness or tanginess as well as the thickness. You can also add some spices such as cinnamon or star anise and make a batch for special occasions like Christmas.
Pitting cherries
Some people avoid fresh cherries because they don’t like pitting them. A cherry pitter will make this task easier compared to the old fashion way of pitting with a toothpick or paperclip. In this recipe, we simply cut the cherry in half before taking the pit out.
Fresh Homemade Cherry Pie Filling
EQUIPMENT (click pictures for details)
Ingredients
- 270 gr freshly pitted sour cherries – keep the stones
- 50-60 ml water
- ½ lemon juice
- 50 gr sugar
- 1.5 tbsp corn starch
Instructions
- Wash, halve and pit the sour cherries and place the stones into a cheesecloth.
- Place all ingredients, including the stones in cheesecloth, into a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove the cheesecloth and transfer the cherry mixture into a tight jar and turn it upside down to sterilize. Store the jar in a dark and cool area.
Notes
- Almond essence is a traditional ingredient in a cherry filling mix but using the fruit stones instead will also boost flavour.