Cherry Pie with Streusel

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This fabulous cherry pie is made with a traditional pie crust filled with fresh cherry filling and topped with a generous pile of brown butter, almond cinnamon streusel. Serve it with ice cream or the lemon & vanilla bean sweet cream I made.

cherry pie with streusel topping and cream and cherry on top

Why you’ll love this Cherry Pie

Pies with a streusel topping are superior. It’s a fact. It tastes better and this makes the pie much easier to handle and eliminates any need to “make it pretty” because you really just can’t change how it looks..
I did blind bake the crust because the cherry filling is WET but I promise you can do it and I have a detailed tutorial for it!
It’s great leftovers too if it’s reheated.
You can use fresh or frozen cherries just make sure to follow extra instructions below if you’re using frozen cherries.
It made a self-proclaiming pie hater say “That’s not normal pie, that’s GOOD pie”…lol.

If you’re a die hard cherry lover, you’ll love my cherry cobbler, black forest cupcakes, cherry pop tarts, white forest cake, and cherry cheesecake!

In case you didn’t know, I have this fabulous pie filling ice cream recipe that I can send you, just sign up below. It would be great if you chose to use frozen cherries instead because when they thaw, they’ll leave leftover liquid you’ll need to discard. You could use that discarded liquid to make this ice cream and top the cobbler with the ice cream… phenomenal.

Ingredients

Cherries: I used fresh sweet cherries because we went cherry picking. I don’t recommend sour cherries as I’m not sure how it would taste – you may need more sugar if you were to use those.
- You can use frozen cherries but I recommend thawing it, discarding the liquid and slicing them. See sign up above if you want my pie filling ice cream, you could use the discarded cherry juice for that or you could use it in cocktails, etc.
Sugar: I used granulated sugar in the cherry filling and light brown sugar in the streusel. I don’t recommend reducing them as it will affect the texture. You could use just one or the other for both parts but just expect the streusel to be lighter in color if you’re using granulated sugar, etc.
- If you reduce the sugar in the filling, it won’t be as jammy but you could increase it slightly if your cherries aren’t very sweet to start with. .
Cornstarch: thickens the cherry filling – it’s best to weigh this with a digital scale as well.
Flour: I used all-purpose flour and I highly recommend using a digital scale when measuring ingredients, especially flour. I haven’t tested this with other flours so I don’t recommend swapping it.
Lemon: I just used a little lemon juice in the filling but I also saved the zest to make the lemon sweet cream.
Almond Extract: Almond extract is popular in cherry pies because it pairs phenomenally with the cherries.
Butter: I love baking with salted butter but unsalted is fine as well, I would just add an extra ¼ tsp of fine sea salt. Make sure the butter is cold when cubing it to mix in with the flour for the crust.
- I browned the butter for the streusel topping and TRUST, it’s so good. If you skip browning, use the same amount as I have listed after browning. So you won’t need 113g if you’re not browning, use just 93g.
Cinnamon: cinnamon is never optional in streusel lol it is superb. .
Almonds: I added some sliced almonds in the streusel to give it a little nutty flavor and because almonds are besties with cherries. I just got a small bag of sliced almonds and squashed it in my hand before opening it to make them even smaller chunks.
Water: make sure the water is ice cold for the crust.

slice of cherry pie on a plate with sweet cream and fresh cherries on top

Step-by-Step Instructions

Pie Crust

Prepare the pie crust by placing the flour, sugar and cold butter in a food processor. Pulse until pea size chunks form. Then add the cold water (and alcohol if using), mixing just until the dough comes together.
Wrap two separate discs of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. You’ll only need one for this recipe so you can freeze the other one. Place in a freezer bag and freeze for 3-6 months. *you can skip the streusel (don’t recommend though cuz it’s my favorite part) and use the other disc as the top pie crust, if you desire so.
Roll the chilled pie dough out into a large circle (larger than your pie dish so you can have some leeway) and place it into the pie dish and freeze for 20 minutes while the oven preheats.
Crumple up a parchment paper, place it on top of the chilled dough and then fill the pie with pie weights (or dry rice or dry beans) and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and bake for about 10 more minutes, until it’s golden brown. Allow to cool while you finish making the filling and streusel.

add cold cubed butter to food processor — flour and sugar combined for crust

Cherry Filling

Pit all the cherries – you can do this a day in advance to save time – and place them into a large bowl.
Slice all the cherries in half and and then slice about half of them into quarters so some of them are even smaller.
Add the sugar and lemon juice (zest this lemon in a separate bowl first to mix with the sugar for the sweet cream), cornstarch and almond extract to the mixture and toss until they’re all completely combined.
Puree about ⅓ of the mixture in a food processor and then return the puree to the bowl, mixing until they’re well combined. Set aside.

part of the cherry mixture pulsed in the food processor — cherries pitted and sliced

Almond Streusel

Prepare the streusel by browning the butter. Place the butter in a medium light colored saucepan and cook over low-medium heat for a few minutes until it starts to foam. Once it’s foaming, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir it, making sure to scrape the bottom so none of it burns. While you’re stirring, look to see if there are browned solids floating around, once they’ve browned to a deep amber color pour the butter into a heat proof bowl.
Let the butter cool for a few minutes before mixing it with the sugar, flour and cinnamon until they’re pea size chunks. Add the almonds and mix just until they’re evenly distributed.
Once everything is complete, pour the cherry filling on top of the par-baked pie crust and then top with the streusel – make sure to spread it out evenly, don’t stack it all on top in the center or it won’t bake well in the center.
Bake the pie uncovered on the bottom rack in a conventional (no fan) oven for about 75 minutes. Feel free to add more time if needed. The juices should be bubbling through the top sides of the streusel. Feel free to also cover the edges/top with foil if they’re browning too quickly.
Allow the pie to cool for a few hours before serving with ice cream or the lemon sweet cream.
Once it’s cooled, dust it with powdered sugar. I like the kind that doesn’t melt but if you don’t get that, dust it fresh before serving so it doesn’t dissolve before serving.

Lemon Vanilla Sweet Cream

Zest a lemon on top of the granulated sugar and use your fingers to rub them together.
Add the beans from one vanilla bean pod (or a tsp of vanilla bean paste or just vanilla extract).
Pour in the heavy cream and whisk aggressively until the cream has thickened. You can also place it in a medium-large mason jar and shake it until it’s thickened or use a frother or hand mixer. I chose to get my workout in for this and it took forever lol. I like to leave it a little loose so it runs down on the pie.

sweet cream - can whip thicker too if you want — sweet cream – can whip thicker too if you want

Tips for getting the pie crust just right

Temperature matters: to create a flaky crust, you want the butter to be cold so it doesn’t melt into the other ingredients. To keep the butter as cold as possible I like to put my flour and sugar in the food processor bowl and then freeze the whole bowl while I cube my cold butter.
- Add the butter to the bowl and freeze while you measure the ice cold water. For ice water, measure the water and freeze it for a few minutes.
Temperature matters again: Refrigerate the pie dough after you’ve made it and once it feels a little more firm, about 60 minutes later, you can roll it out.
Temperature matters one more time: You want the pie crust to be firm and cold before baking so that it holds its shape so after shaping it in the pie dish, freeze it for another 20 minutes before baking. Can also refrigerate for longer, even overnight at this stage.

Pro Tips for making this cherry pie

Prepare the pie crust in advance to save some time. Make the cherry pie filling and the streusel topping while the pie crust is baking and cooling.
Make it hours in advance or the day before serving because it is much easier to serve once it’s cooled and it takes a few hours to cool.
10/10 recommend a 7 at once cherry pitter to make all your summer baking 7x quicker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of cherries to use for cherry pie?

I used a mix of sweet cherries – black and rainier. I like the black cherries better but I just didn’t have enough at the time.
Frozen cherries also work, but you can’t slice them frozen and I didn’t prefer the filling with whole cherries so it would be a lot less jammy and just chunky.
If you do use frozen cherries, I recommend thawing them so that you can slice them like you would fresh cherries. Then discard the excess juice (from thawing) for something else (or keep some of the cherry juice and forget the lemon juice in the recipe.

Can I use store bought pie crust?

Yes you can use store bought pie crust but I don’t know if it’s just me, I always feel like store bought pie crusts have a slightly bitter taste? But it will definitely work for this recipe. However I always recommend a homemade pie crust.

Can I make these dairy free?

Yup, you can use a dairy free butter or shortening to make the pie crust and the streusel. I’ve never browned dairy free butter but I know other people have done it successfully.

Can I make these gluten-free?

I haven’t tested it but I’m sure a 1:1 gluten-free flour would work fine for the streusel and the pie crust.

What kind of ice cream to serve with pie?

Most people opt for simple vanilla ice cream. If you’re feeling fancy, you can make my super delicious cinnamon roll ice cream or just use the lemon sweet cream in the recipe.

close up of cherry pie with slices cut out

How to serve and store cherry pie

I recommend allowing the pie to cool for a few hours before serving. It should still be pretty warm and then top it with the sweet cream or ice cream after you’ve sliced it into plates.

Store the leftover pie covered in the refrigerator and then bake for 10-15 minutes at 325F (or just microwave) before serving again.

I don’t recommend freezing as the crust gets all soggy when it defrosts.

Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.

If you try this cherry pie recipe, I’d love it if you left a star rating or a review for me.

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B

Cherry Pie Recipe

Bernice Baran

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 45

Cook Time 1

Additional Time 3

Total Time 4 45

Course Pies & Tarts

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Calories 559 kcal

Equipment