Do you ever get in one of those moods where you want to bake but you don’t want to put any effort into it? Well, I was in that mood recently. I raided my pantry for anything I could quickly throw together and ended up finding a few cans of pie filling (cherry, blueberry, and pumpkin). I also happened to have some pie crust in the fridge, so what better to make than a pie!
I decided on cherry pie, mainly because that was the popular vote amongst the other people in my house.
The back of the pie filling can had a recipe on it for cherry pie, but I chose to fly by the seat of my pants for this one. The only part of the recipe I used was the baking time and temperature.
First, I rolled out the pie crust and pressed it onto the bottom of a pie dish.
I had a heck of a time rolling out the crust. It was slightly cold when I started rolling it out, which was my mistake–I should have let it warm up. You can see in the photo that there are so many cracks that I squished back together.
Next, I used an egg wash and brushed the crust with it. The purpose of egg wash is to make the crust crisp and flaky, and this crust needed all the help it could get.
Finally, it was time for the fun part: pouring in the filling!
One can of filling seemed to be enough, but it was going to be a shallow pie. I only had one can of cherry pie filling, so it would have to do. Ideally, I would have wanted a second can to have a fuller pie.
With the top crust, I wanted to do something more showy than just rolling it out and cutting some ventilation holes in it.
I made a latticed top crust, and it wasn’t perfect, but it looked tasty! I brushed egg wash on it so it would have a golden, crispy texture when it came out of the oven.
The pie baked for 40 minutes at 425 degrees. It came out bubbling and looked absolutely delicious!
After letting it cool for a few hours, I cut into it. It was a little shallow, but it had a wonderful flavor!
Next time you need or want to bake something but don’t want to put a tremendous amount of effort into it (or you’re lacking time), I suggest picking up a can of pie filling and packaged crust. It’s a delicious dessert that everyone will love!
Baking With An Amateur 