Save your fork, there's pie

We do like pie at this house. but even we did not eat both of these pies on the same day.  I made a cherry pie for Thanksgiving and the Pilgrim Pie the next week.    Both of these pies are so good  so I want to share them with you all. 

To make a cherry pie in the fall in Oklahoma, you need a frozen bag of tart cherries.  They sell sweet cherries too but they won't give your pie that tangy sweet and sour taste.   I found mine at IGA for $3.65 for a 20 ounce bag.

Aren't the frozen cherries pretty?  So nice and red!

In a saucepan, combine a bag of  cherries, 1 cup sugar and 3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring almost constantly.

Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the juices thicken and become translucent.

 Remove from heat and stir in the 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

Mix thoroughly and let cool.   Then pour into unbaked pie shell.  Top with a top crust. 

Bake in the preheated 375 oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.  It will bubble alot so you might want to put something under the pie to catch any drips.

This  is Pilgrim Pie. I first made this easy and low-cost pie when we had 4 hungry children to feed.  It is kind of like pecan pie but with coconut and oatmeal instead of the nuts. 

If you click on the recipe, it will enlarge it.  You can see where I penciled in the increased amounts needed to make 3 and 4 pies from this recipe - I don't remember why I made so many but back then,  I seemed to always be cooking for a group at church or teenagers. 

It really is a good pie  and very easy.  I prefer to eat whole oats and you can use them in this recipe, but I think quick oats are the best to use for this recipe.