Cherry Pie

Life is Just a Bowl of (Cotswolds) Cherries………

It’s fresh cherry season in the Cotswolds right now so don’t miss out – it doesn’t last long.
My husband Randall Montgomery who takes all the lovely photos in my book
Cotswolds Memoir (on Amazon) and on my web site makes just one pie a year – and he
waits for the Cotswolds cherries which are particularly juicy and flavourful.
Here’s the recipe for this delicious cherry pie.

Ingredients:

2 Pre-made Shortcrust Pastry Shells
2 lbs Freshly picked cherries (Cotswolds Cherries if possible)
2 tbls Brown Sugar
1 Egg-white beaten with a tsp of water

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F (150 C or gas mark 2)
Pit the Cherries, place in a saucepan sprinkle with Brown Sugar, stir,
cover and stew on low heat for 20 minutes stirring occasionally
While the cherry mixture is cooking, roll out one Shortcrust Pastry Shell and place in 9″ pie pan
Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork and Bake for 20 Minutes

While the bottom shell is baking roll out the second Shortcrust Pastry to the thickness of a 10p coin and
with a pizza wheel or sharp knife cut the Pastry in 3/4″ strips 10″-12″ long

After baking, remove the first crust from the oven and use a slotted spoon to spoon the cherries into it
reserving the excess juice to use later (possibly as an ice cream topping)
(for decoration reserve one particularly large cherry to place on the top of the pie)
Now brush the egg mixture around the edge of the bottom crust and
use the strips of the second rolled out pastry to form a lattice work top as per this video below:

HOW TO WEAVE LATTICE PASTRY

Brush on more of the egg mixture, coating the top of the pie and sprinkle with Brown Sugar
Place in the oven and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, published in 1931.
Ethel Merman introduced this song in George White’s Scandals of 1931.
Rudy Vallee‘s version, recorded it in 1931, stayed five weeks in the top 10 pop music charts.

Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don’t take it serious,
Life’s too mysterious
You work,
You save,
You worry so
But you can’t take your dough
When you go, go, go

So keep repeating “It’s the berries.”
The strongest oak must fall
The sweet things in life
To you were just loaned
So how can you lose
What you’ve never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh, aha!
Laugh and love
Live and laugh,
Laugh and love,
Live and laugh at it all!