By Chef Alli

Ingredients

• 1 batch of your favorite pie crust dough
• 2 cans Wilderness Cherry Pie Filling, 21 oz. each, combined with ½ tsp. almond extract and ⅛ tsp. kosher salt
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions

1. Divide your batch of pastry dough in half and roll out one half into a large circle; sprinkle the top with a bit of flour. 

2. Now fold the dough in half (the flour keeps it from sticking together) and place the dough into a deep dish pie plate.3. Unfold the dough, and gently press it down into the pie plate, letting the pie crust hang over the edge of the pie plate. Fill the pastry crust with cherry pie filling, then dot with butter.

4. Now roll out the second half of your pastry dough, but this time into more of a rectangular shape, which keeps all the strips about the same length. Cut dough into strips about ¾” wide. (A pizza cutter works slick for this task!)

5. Now build the lattice. Place five strips of dough vertically onto the pie filling, leaving equal space in between each one.

6. Fold back the center strip of dough along with each strip on either side; now place a strip of dough horizontally across the center of the pie filling.

7.  Unfold the three strips, laying them over the horizontal strip. Fold back the inside two strips as shown above.

8. Lay a second horizontal strip across the pie filling. 

​9. Unfold the inside two strips across the horizontal dough strip. (As you can start to see, you are now creating the weave that makes the lattice for your pie.)

10. Again, fold back the center dough strip and the two outside strips, placing a third dough strip horizontally across the pie filling once more.

11. Here, you’re ready to place your last horizontal dough strip across the pie filling, unfolding the center two strips of dough over the top of it. See the next photo to see this completed.

12. Tah Dah! You’ve now completed half of the lattice top!

13. Now turn the your pie 180 degrees and start the entire process again to finish the lattice top.

14. Once the lattice is completed, trim the edges of the pie, pressing the dough together to seal them all around the outer edge of the pie.

15. Now fold the dough under, crimping the outer edge to  create a decorative crust all the way around the pie, as shown above. Using a silicone brush, gently dab a bit of milk onto the lattice top.

16. Sprinkle lattice top with a bit of granulated sugar. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to the 375 degrees F.

17. Bake the pie, uncovered, on the center rack of the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is oozing up through the lattice top. If you can, let pie cool before slicing.