The First Fruit Pie of Summer
And so it begins. I know, we’re a bit late, but fruit has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest. Every year I await with relish the first bloodbath of cherry pitting. Somehow I always forget just how messy it gets and stain everyone and everything within arm’s length of the kitchen. But having my kitchen look like a killing floor is a small price to pay when you’re fruit-starved in June. A visit to the Ballard farmer’s market left me carrying 3 lbs of local cherries (along with some of the teeny-tiniest sweetest little strawberries!) and I was determined to make pie. Because, well, it has just been too long.
As with any pie, I started with my dough. I wanted to make a lattice top, so I decided to use the smear technique (more detailed instruction here) for my pâte brisée dough. This dough gives plenty of flake without all the puffing up of a laminated dough.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quick pie-making has become for me. I have faint memories of spending all day on one pie and feeling it was too prized to eat. Now I can dig in knowing that if I run out, I can just make another!
Since cherry and almond are like peanut butter and jelly (and Pantea’s favorite, this pie is for you!) I whipped up some frangipane to spread on the bottom crust.
Then I loaded her up with cherries.
And got to work on some strips for the top.
It was my first time making a lattice top and now I can’t imagine what took me so long to try. So much pretty for such little effort!
I want so badly to have a beautiful picture of a perfectly baked cherry pie. Unfortunately we tore into this pie so fast I forgot to document! It was a lovely first pie: flaky crust, yummy almond undertones. My only complaint would be that the cherries were just not quite there. Hopefully they’ll sweeten up in the next few weeks. Rumor has it that all the fruit west of the Cascades is waterlogged this year, so it’s going to be a hunt for the good stuff. If anyone can recommend great cherry farms, please share! In the meantime, I’ll be gorging on those teeny tiny strawberries.
I made that! 
I was there in spirit. Truth be told, when there is cherry and almond pie being had I know about it 😉
Officially intrigued by the pastry method. Totally trying it out on my next pie.
i am definitely going to try my hand @ the smear method…& this pie looks wonderful!
Beautiful lattice top! This is perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream 🙂
Your pie looks glorious. Cherry pie is probably my favorite. I’d have to skip on the almond in my household, but the combination sounds really good.
On the teeny tiny strawberries: it seems to me that every strawberry out there has the same amount of luscious flavor in it, but when they are teeny tiny all of that flavor is practically bursting out because of how concentrated it is. Teeny tiny strawberries almost always seem to be the best!