Ingredients
Crust
½ cup Crisco
1 Cup of flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons ice cold water
Cream Cheese Layer
12 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of almond flavoring
Cherry filling
3 cups tart cherries, juice reserved
¼ cup cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water to make a slurry
3 Tablespoon butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup of water
Pinch of cinnamon
Crumb Topping
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup old fashioned oats
½ cup brown sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup sliced almonds
6 Tablespoon cold butter
Directions
Crust: Preheat oven to 375. Whisk the flour and the salt together in a large bowl. Add the Crisco and mix with your fingers until combined. Add the ice water and use a fork to combine. Turn pie dough out onto a floured surface and gather into a circular disk. Roll out the dough big enough to fit into a pie plate. Flute edges for decoration. Place into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, use a fork to poke holes in the bottom and sides of the pie crust. Place crust in oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned and dry. After 10-15 minutes of baking, remove the crust from oven and let cool on rack.
Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the vanilla and almond flavoring and whip until incorporated. Spread in the bottom of the cooled pie crust and set aside until later.
Cherry Filling: Combine the juice of the cherries in a large saucepan with the butter, sugars, water, and cinnamon. You should have about 1 to 1 ¼ cups juice. If not, add water to make up the difference. Cook over medium heat until mixture is bubbley. Add the cornstarch slurry and cook until thick, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the cherries. Cool until room temperature.
For the crumb topping and baking the pie: Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the chilled butter and with a fork or fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients. Don€™t over work; you should still see some of the small butter pieces. Place the crumb topping on the cherry mixture and place in the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until topping is browned and crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. Since this cherry pie has cream cheese, I would refrigerate it if any leftover in a
covered pie carrier.