I make 3 pies for Thanksgiving dinner. It doesn’t matter how many guests are coming, nor who they are.

Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without a slice of cherry pie. And a slice of pumpkin pie. And a slice of pecan pie.

It just isn’t.

And I make all 3 of them myself, usually on Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Are you impressed?

Everyone always raves about all that work I did to make three pies, but all three are so easy that it’s embarrassing.

This cherry pie is by far the easiest of the three, and it’s a great place for Grace to feel like she’s helping.

Originally posted on November 3, 2008

Cherry Pie

• 2 pie crusts – I always buy these in the dairy case, pre-made. I am normally a make-it-from-scratch kind of girl, but on Thanksgiving, there’s so much to do already, without making homemade pastry dough. I have gotten the store brand and the Pillsbury, and both come out very nicely.
• 2 cans of cherry pie filling – I have used both the regular and the lower sugar (with Splenda). These days, I use either 2 cans or regular or one can of each. (Two cans of lower sugar with Splenda makes the pie come out tasty odd.)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place one pie crust in a deep dish pie plate. Allow your little helper to use her fingers to press it into the bottom, sides, and especially the corners of the plate.
3. Open the cans of pie filling and scrape it into the pie plate. Ask your helper to spread it evenly across the crust with a spatula.
4. Lay the remaining pie crust on a large cutting board (or directly on the counter). Help your helper to make four cut outs (these will allow the steam to leak out of the pie; without them, the top crust will have big air bubbles trapped under it). If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you could cut a couple of Xs or even a couple of slits with a sharp knife.
5. Carefully lay the second pie crust on top of the pie filling, and press the edges together. You may need to use a bit of water or egg to get them to stick together nicely. Cut the top crust so that it’s even with the bottom crust, and finish the edge however you want.
6. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 14 minutes.

Grace’s Kitchen Friends

Please join in Grace’s Kitchen Friends! To play along, all you have to do is fill out MckLinky below. You can link up any post that talks about kids and food:

• feeding kids
• cooking with kids
• kids’ nutrition
• play with food or play kitchens
• crafts with or about food
• There are a lot of other kids and food things I haven’t listed (like growing food with kids or fun recipes that kids love!), so please don’t feel limited.

I’m easy like that, Dear Reader. The only thing I ask is that you link back here to Grace’s Kitchen Friends in your post. I can’t wait to see what your kids are doing!

Happily submitted to What’s Cooking Wednesday, Ultimate Recipe Swap, Things I Love Thursday, Kids in the Kitchen, Friday Feasts, Foodie Friday, What Did You Bake Today?, Food on Friday, Fight Back Friday, Finer Things Friday, Family Friday, and Beautiful Life

Photo courtesy of Rochelle Hartman on Flickr