Place in a pan with the lemon juice and maple syrup
Cook on a medium heat for around 20 minutes until cherries have become soft and all the juices have been released
Dissolve the cornflour in a tiny splash of water in a small bowl
Once the cherries have cooked completely, add the cornflour and water mixture and mix well
Once the cherries have thickened (takes about 30 seconds), turn off the heat
Leave to cool completely before using for the pie filling
For the pastry:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl along until it forms a firm dough - add the water a few tablespoons at a time so that you don’t add too much!
Place roughly two thirds of the pastry in a greased pie dish. Use your fingers to carefully press it across the bottom and up the sides of the dish (I used a 9inch/22.5cm pie dish)
You can use a fork or your fingers to create a pretty pattern around the edge if you like
Making sure the cherry filling has cooled completely (otherwise it will melt the pastry!), transfer it into the pie crust
Lay out a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a counter. Sprinkle the surface of the paper and a rolling pin with a generous amount of flour and roll out the remaining pastry dough as thin as you can without it breaking**
Use any shaped cookie/pastry cutter to cut shapes out of the pastry dough
Arrange the pastry shapes on top of the cherry filling
Sprinkle over coconut sugar, if desired
Bake in oven for around 30 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown
Leave to cool a little before cutting, but tastes best served warm from the oven!
Keeps covered in the fridge for a couple of days
Notes
*You can alternatively use almond flour*If you’d prefer to completely cover the top of the pie, see instructions for doing this in my Apple Pie recipe. If you’d rather have less pastry, just halve the recipe and just use the crust for the bottom of the pie. You can use frozen or tinned cherries if you like - they will require a slightly shorter cooking time and may require you to use extra cornflour (cornstarch) depending on how much water they release.
What type of cherries should you use?
You can use any cherries you want - the naturally softer and juicier they are the quicker they will cook and the filling will be more jammy.