Cherry Crumble Pie

I bought myself a new cookbook for Christmas called "The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen". It not only has great recipes but also lots of neat stories and ideas. It's a "must have" in my opinion. Also, I love to follow their blog. While cooking black-eyed peas today for the New Year (a tradition at our home), I tried the Farm Chicks Cherry Crumble Pie. I want to share the recipe with you because it is a keeper. In January I am on the look out for pies or desserts made with cherries because I think it is perfect for a Valentine treat. So here's the recipe:

1 29-oz jar tart pie cherries in water

3/4 c. sugar

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 c. flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 c. walnuts, chopped

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 baked pie shell

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Drain the cherries, and reserve 1/3 cup of the liquid. Stir the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and reserved cherry liquid together in a medium bowl. Toss the flour, brown sugar, oats, walnuts and cinnamon together in another medium bowl. Mix the butter, using a pastry blender or your fingers until a crumbly mixture forms. Pour the cherry mixture into the baked pie shell. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cherries. Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until the topping is a deep golden brown-30 to 35 minutes more. Serve warm.

I could not find the jar of tart cherries in water so I used sweet cherries in syrup. The taste is wonderful so I don't think it is a problem if you have to substitute. Also, I started working the butter into the crumb mixture with a pastry blender, changed to using a fork and then used my hands......hands worked the best. I baked my pie crust as I was mixing the pie. My finished pie was not a pretty as the Farm Chicks' pie but oh it is sooooooo yummy! Enjoy! My pictures are not in the right order so start with last picture and work your way up to the first. Sorry