Can She Bake A Cherry Pie?

Or more to the point, can I? That's a question that I would always ponder when my mother would sing Billy Boy to me when I was little. It turns out that the girl in the song "can bake a cherry pie, quick's a cat can wink it's eye", but what about me?

Well, now that my camera and my computer appear to be on speaking terms, I can answer that question for you all.

I've been thinking or dreaming about making the iconic lattice-topped cherry pie for years. I don't like canned cherries or canned cherry pie filling though. So, this summer, armed with Rose Levy Birnbuam's magnificent guide The Pie and Pastry Bible and a few pounds of fresh cherries, I got to work.

First, I pitted the cherries and mixed them with sugar and almond extract.




While they macerated, I mixed up a batch of cream-cheese pie crust (enough for a double crust pie). Then, I rolled out the bottom crust, lined the pie pan with it,



and poured in the cherry mixture.

Next, I rolled the remaining dough out, cut the strips and wove the lattice on top of the cherry filling. This is not as easy as it looks, because the dough strips break pretty easily. Mending them results in a less then picture-perfect lattice. When you're done, though, you can get lots of satisfaction saying to your happy family "Look! Look! It looks just like a real cherry pie!" And since they are looking forward to eating it, they will smile and tell you "It does! It really does!"




Then, into the oven it went. While it baked, I happily cleaned up the kitchen and sang, several times "Can she bake a cherry pie Billy Boy, Billy Boy, can she bake a cherry pie, darling Billy?"

Guess what? It turns out that I can. And maybe with some more practice, I too will be able to bake them up before that cat can finish winking.