Cherries are starting to make their grand entrance into summer! Yay! My rhubarb now has a tasty fruity companion and they’re all baked together in Cherry Vanilla Rhubarb Pie. You will “rhu” the day if you don’t try this pie. (Rhubarb = Rue, I couldn’t resist the rhyme.)
Surely you can find a friend via social media that has some rhubarb. Any farmers market or produce section of your local grocer will most likely have rhubarb for a few weeks. It’s out there; if you want it bad enough you will find it. Click here for a straight up Rhubarb Pie, I know there are some of you out there that live and die by rhubarb. But, give Cherry Vanilla Rhubarb a chance; she’s a tasty pie.
First things first: Chop up the rhubarb first and THEN the cherries. Cherries will oxidize, rhubarb will not. Cherries oxidize fairly quickly too so I pit and halve them as the last ingredient to stir into the pie filling.
I also added a tablespoon of chopped candied orange peels and a generous amount of pure vanilla (2 tablespoons). If you don’t have candied orange peel, orange juice can be substituted.
Prepare the bottom crust, add the luscious cherry-rhubarb filling, dot with butter, seal on the top and crust and BAKE for 70 minutes @ 350. Easy peasy. For gluten free crust, simply use my Gluten Free Flour Mix, as a one to one substitute for all purpose flour.
As the kiddos will be home for the summer soon, saving the last slice for yourself may be tricky. There’s a good chance you may be enjoying that last slice at 2 a.m. by the light of your fridge. Do what works for you.
Have a pie-tabulous week pie peeps!
Cherry Vanilla Rhubarb
Cherry Vanilla anything is super tasty, but add in some rhubarb and it's superb! Sweet and tart with a vanilla chaser, fruiti-licious!
8
30
minutes70
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Rhubarb Filling
2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 2 large stalks)
1 tablespoon chopped candied orange peels (or orange juice)
4 cups pitted and halved cherries (bing or other tart cherries)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch or Clearjel
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water for egg wash
- Grandma's Pie Crust (9-inch double crust)
2 cups flour (see notes below for gluten free)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shortening or butter (or 1/2-cup of each)
1/2 cup cold water
Directions
- Grandma’s Pie Crust:
- In a large bowl, stir all of the dry ingredients together.
- Use a large serving fork or pastry cutter and cut in the shortening (or butter) until crumbly.
- Add the cold water all at once and stir a few times, just until forms a ball (do not kneed or over mix).
- Divide dough in half (this will be rather soft). Roll out one half on heavily floured counter top about 1 to 1-1/2 inches wider than pie plate. Roll up dough onto rolling pin and unroll onto pie plate.
- Cut off extra dough and set prepared bottom crust aside for filling.
- Makes one 9-inch double crust.
- Filling:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Stir together the sugar and Clearjel or cornstarch (which helps there to be no clumps of the starch), then add in the rhubarb, candied orange (or juice) and vanilla.
- Pit and halve the cherries, adding directly to the rhubarb mixture.
- Pour the fruit filling into prepared bottom crust, dot the top with the butter.
- Wet edges of crust with egg wash, place on top crust, lightly crimp the edges and slice/cut in holes for venting.
- Brush the entire top crust with the egg wash, sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of sugar.
- Bake at 350 F for 70 minutes.
- Yum!
Notes
- Gluten Free Crust:
- Use my gluten free flour mix at a one to one substitution.
- Use butter instead of shortening. Make the pie dough the same as above, but roll it out onto a GF floured parchment or wax paper, invert onto pie plate and peel off paper. If it tears, it will simply push back together.
- Use egg wash to seal the top and bottom crust instead of water, and make sure to use egg wash on top for baking (otherwise it will be “light” and won’t have that beautiful baked look).
The pie crust is easy and very good, even for those of us who can’t make crust. The filling is INCREDIBLE!!! This is a perfect pie as far as I’m concerned. I will definitely be making this again. I had extra rhubarb and blackberries. I did the same with them only less sugar. It’s tart and good. It’s going to make a great cobbler or crisp haven’t decided which yet…
I LOVE that you combined blackberries and rhubarb! What a beautiful combination. THANK YOU FOR SHARING Kathy R! Happy Baking.
Can you freeze this pie? Which would be better frozen- baked or unbaked?
Yes, you can freeze it. You can freeze it either baked or unbaked. If unbaked, no need to thaw, just add 15 extra minutes to baking time and cover loosely with foil the first 15 minutes. Then remove foil and continue baking as directed. As everyone’s oven is different, check to see if filling is bubbling when done, if not, add another 15 minutes to the end of baking time. For a pre-baked pie, let it thaw on countertop a couple of hours or overnight in fridge and bake for 30 minutes (cover loosely with foil if you don’t want the crust darker). Happy Baking!