Best Cherry Pie

Description
Canned Cherries by the US Department of Agriculture, public domain government resource—original source of recipe
 * Serves: 8

Ingredients

 * 1 cup sugar
 * ⅓ cup flour
 * 2 cans red tart cherries, drained, reserving juice
 * ¼ teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
 * ¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
 * 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
 * Pastry for double-crust 9-inch pie

Directions

 * 1) Preheat oven to 425 °F.
 * 2) In a saucepan, combine sugar and flour.
 * 3) Blend in 1 cup reserved cherry juice. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until thickened.
 * 4) Remove from heat and add food coloring (optional), almond extract (optional), and margarine. Cover and refrigerate.
 * 5) Roll out half of pastry and line a 9” pie pan.
 * 6) Roll out other half of pastry into an 11” circle – cut into eight ½” strips.
 * 7) Pour cooled cherry filling into pastry-lined pie pan – lay pastry strips horizontally and then vertically across the top of the pie. Crimp edges with forefinger of one hand pressed into thumb of the other hand, to seal edges.
 * 8) Bake 30–35 minutes until crust is brown and filling is bubbling.