A Classic // Homemade Cherry Pie With Vegan Crust

This pie just happened. It wasn't planned. It wasn't thought out. It really seemed as if it had just appeared like a miracle baby.
This is how it happened:

Our cherry tree was dripping with small, red fruit just waiting to be picked. So, naturally, I was inspired.

I started to pick as many little fruits as I could. It was actually quite therapeutic ;)

I ended up with a pretty good amount! And there were still some little guys left on the tree.
Then came the fun part....pitting the cherries.
Once I got the hang of it it wasn't too bad. I just looked up "how to pit cherries" on google and really nice article on about.com came up! Very helpful.

This crust was heavenly. Oh wow was it amazing because of its secret ingredient :) And the best part is that its totally vegan! It was a bit hard to get into the dish but with a little love and kneeding it was fine. I really liked how it looked so homey with my finger marks.

The filling was so very easy to make and it turned out so well.

The finished product had a few over-carmalized pieces but it really added nice depth of flavor.

What You'll Need For the Crust: 

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut 
• 1/2 cup coconut oil 
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbls. sugar
• 1/3 cup water (may need more depending on your dough)

To prepare:  
Add oats and coconut to the food processor and pulse until blended into a flour-like consistency. Next add the sugar and salt and pulse again. Then add the coconut oil and pulse until the ingredients start to come together. Lastly, add the water until the dough really starts to form and take shape. Adding more if needed. Cover in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

What You'll Need For the Filling: 

• 4 cups of fresh pitted cherries (tart is best)
• 2/3 cup sugar 
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbls. lemon juice 

To prepare: 
Add the cherries and water into a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the sugar and lemon juice and stir to combine. Add the salt and cornstarch and stir. Bring mixture to a boil and allow it to thicken.

For the Pie: 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll the dough out as best you can and lay it into a 9 inch pie plate. You're going to want to kneed it out once in the pan to smooth it over. Next, add the cherry mixture to the crust. Place in the oven a let cook for 20 minutes with the edges covered over with foil. Then bake for another 15 minutes after removing the foil.

After baking the pie, the whole house smelled like fruity coconut. The crust tasted like a perfectly balanced cookie and no one in my family could tell that it was vegan.

 Are you a pie person or a cake person?