Papa Del’s Cherry Pie

My sweet father-in-law passed away this week. He was a good ‘ol boy from Iowa who loved fishing, baseball and sweets. (You know he and I bonded over our mutual love of sugar.)

I’m still a little shocked that he died. Even though he was on hospice, Del had survived numerous heart attacks (the first in his 40s!), strokes, cancer, and serious diabetes. We have always joked that nothing would take him short of an apocalypse, and even that was questionable.

He was suffering in the end though, so it’s best that he closed his eyes and let go of the pain. But even so, we miss him very much. He always had a story to tell and my three kiddos were the light of his life.

(Here’s Papa with little Lauren on one of our favorite beaches on Seabrook Island.)

papa del

And speaking of Lauren (who’s a little older now), look what she wrote in Papa’s memory book last night:
lauren letter to papa

Papa and I did love our cakes, cookies, pies and confections. At Christmas a few years ago, my mom made her traditional cherry pie. Our family dies over this pie — it’s that good. We lick our plates. We lick our fingers. We even lick between our teeth to get one last morsel. So you can imagine, when Papa announced he’d take the last piece of cherry pie home I almost flipped my lid. My sisters say that the room got silent and my eyes popped out of my head. I don’t remember because I wasn’t present in that moment because SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO TAKE THE LAST PIECE OF PIE, DADGUMMIT!

I let him take it. I think. (I’m still a little fuzzy due to the trauma.)

But we’ve never forgotten The Cherry Pie Incident of 2012.

Papa, I hope you’re eating lots of cherry pie in heaven.

Papa Del’s Cherry Pie

Ingredients

Pie crust for 8-inch lattice top pie (homemade or storebought)

3 cups pitted fresh ripe tart red cherries

1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cups flour

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Prepare your favorite pie crust (homemade or storebought) for an 8-inch lattice top pie. Line the bottom of an 8-inch pie plate with bottom crust.

Combine 3 cups pitted fresh ripe tart red cherries, 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3/4 cup flour, and a pinch of salt. Place in pie plate and dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Create lattice top and seal. Place on a large cookie sheet lined with foil (to catch overflow) and bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Cover top loosely with foil as needed if crust is browning too quickly.

http://sugarmamacooks.com/papa-dels-cherry-pie/

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Comments

  1. loved reading this post – thanks for the great read + recipe.. can never go past a cherry pie!

  2. Irishmama7 says:

    Our family will keep you in thought and prayer. What a lovely post and story. Lauren’s note was so touching! God Bless~
    As always the recipe looks amazing!

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