Door County Cherry Pie with Easy Vegan Pie Crust

I have been a fan of Kelly Rudnicki since her website Food Allergy Mama first emerged on the scene in 2008. Her recipes are sweet, homey, and quite frankly, they work. So it came as no surprise to me when The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book arrived just a year later. Upon its release, Kelly shared this amazing homemade Cherry Pie recipe with us, but it quickly became buried in our archives. Today I’m re-sharing both the dairy-free recipe and Kelly’s amazing cookbook, which has become a beloved staple for countless food allergy moms.

About The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book

Kelly covers all cravings and seasons, from cakes to cookies, cobblers to pies, and pumpkin to berries. I sent a copy of The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book to Sarah, our resident milk allergy mama, and she said:

It is my favorite kind of cookbook: dairy-free (and egg- and nut-free), easy to follow with lots of great tips for food allergy parents, and filled with beautiful photos of the food and her (four, soon to be five!) children. It also doesn’t call for any obscure, hard to find ingredients. One photo in the book pictures the ingredients Kelly uses the most, and my husband said, ‘That looks like our fridge!’. After trying and enjoying a few of the recipes, I’m now obsessed with the Emerald Isle Coffee Cake, which is based on her mother’s recipe. I can guarantee that I’ll be relying on this cookbook for much of my holiday baking.

Beyond the Door County Cherry Pie recipe below, and the Emerald Isle Coffee Cake, below is a sampling of the almost classic recipes you’ll find in The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book:

• Apple House Cinnamon Doughnuts
• French Puff Muffins
• Italian Fruited Jam Tart
• Dairy-Free Classic Cheesecake
• Key Lime Pie
• Classic Yellow Birthday Cake
• Chocolate-Soy Nut Butter Candies
• Caramel Corn
• Cranberry Bread
• Whole-Wheat Waffles
• Bakery-Style Bagels
• Gingerbread Kids
• No-Nut Russian Teacakes
• Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies
• Cutout Sugar Cookies

What is Door County Cherry Pie?

Like almost all of Kelly’s recipes, this dairy-, egg-, and nut-free cherry pie is rooted in family tradition:

My mother-in-law, Jeanne, makes this pie all year long using the fantastic tart cherries of Door County, Wisconsin. She gets them fresh during cherry season and freezes them in quart-sized freezer bags. Get in the habit of picking in-season fruit and freezing for later; your pies will thank you.

I made only a few changes to make the pie allergen free, but it tastes as wonderful as her version. I highly recommend using an OXO cherry pitter to make the pitting task much easier. Also, you could make this with canned tart cherries in a pinch, but I can’t emphasize enough the difference fresh-from-the-farm cherries makes in the pie. I love this pie warmed slightly with a dollop of dairy-free ice cream. Enjoy!!

Reader Feedback: Door County Cherry Pie

Nora N. shared the following via our Facebook page:

Made this yesterday for the fourth. I liked it. I think it may have been a touch too sour for my guests, so I’ll add more sugar next time.

Special Diet Notes: Door County Cherry Pie

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian.

For a gluten-free cherry pie, swap in your favorite store-bought gluten-free, dairy-free pie dough or try this homemade gluten-free pie crust.

Door County Cherry Pie with Easy Vegan Pie Crust

 

Print

Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

This recipe is reprinted with permissions from Kelly's cookbook, The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book.

Author: Kelly Rudnicki

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

Easy Vegan Pie Dough

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup dairy-free shortening, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 5 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Cherry Pie Filling

• 6 cups fresh (or frozen) pitted red tart cherries, pitted (or option below)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch (can sub tapioca starch)
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon dairy-free buttery spread or margarine, cut into pieces

Instructions

Easy Vegan Pie Dough

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in food processor.
2. Add small pieces of the shortening, and pulse a few times until the mixture resembles small crumbs.
3. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, pulsing until the dough just comes together.
4. Divide the dough and transfer to 2 squares of plastic wrap. Use the wrap to pull the sides of dough together to form rounded disks.
5. Chill at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Door County Cherry Pie Filling and Baking

1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
2. Line a 9-inch pie plate with 1 rolled-out disk of the easy vegan pie dough.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the cherries, starch, and sugar, and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes on HIGH, until thickened.
4. Stir in vanilla, and pour the filling into your prepared pie pan.
5. Dot the top with pieces of the dairy-free margarine.
6. Roll out the second disk of easy vegan pie dough into a large 11-inch rectangle.
7. Cut the pastry into ½-inch strips, and weave dough into a lattice design. Crimp the edges to tidy up any loose dough.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is nicely browned. Cover the edges with foil if the crust is browning too quickly.
9. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

Canned Cherry Option: In a pinch, you can use 2 cans tart or sour pitted cherries. But make sure they are well drained and rinsed thoroughly. Add drops of red food coloring to give the canned cherries some of their red coloring back.

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