Cherry Pie With Lattice Crust

This homemade cherry pie recipe is an elegant alternative to cloying versions made with fire engine red canned cherries or cherry pie filling. It’s worth seeking out fresh sour cherries (available for a short window every summer), but if you can’t find them, we’ve offered a substitute using sweet cherries that tweaks the sugar and lemon juice, outlined below. (Frozen cherries will work too, but they tend to release more juice, so allow them to thaw first and drain them before continuing.) Pitting stone fruit can be a chore, but a cherry pitter is one of the only single-use kitchen gadgets we stand by because it makes prep time fly.

The best recipe for cherry pie is only as good as its pie crust, and this one’s a winner. Whether it’s your first time rolling out pie dough, or you consider yourself something of a fruit pie savant, this pie crust recipe has a forgiving fat-to-flour ratio. It’s a flexible rubric you can repurpose for apple pie, pumpkin pie, and the like. Don’t feel like weaving a lattice? Keep the top crust intact—just cut a vent with a sharp knife so the cherry mixture doesn’t bubble over—or use cookie cutters or the rim of a sturdy glass to create shapes to decorate the top. Give the pie plenty of time to cool to room temperature so the tart cherry filling can set. Serve slices with a mound of vanilla ice cream perched on top.