Tambra’s Stevia-Sweetened Cherry Pie

If you love cherry pie like I do, and it’s your all-time favorite pie that you could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner, how about having your pie and eating it too?  No reason to feel guilty from loads of refined, white sugar that a typical cherry pie has, because this one is sweetened with a hint of Stevia and just a touch of agave nectar.  Now you can taste the natural sweetness of the actual cherries instead of the dreaded processed sugar.  It’s so easy!  Grab a couple of store bought crusts (I like the organic whole wheat ones from Whole Foods) and simply follow the below directions on making the filling.  And if you happen to indulge in the whole pie in one night, don’t blame it on me!

What you’ll need:

• 3 bags frozen organic cherries
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 Tablespoons arrowroot
• 1 teaspoon liquid stevia extract
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar (it’s like honey, only from a cactus)
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2 store bought crusts (or your own recipe if you wish)

How to make the pie filling:

1. Empty the bags of cherries into a large pot and place on medium heat.
2. In a tiny bowl, mix together the lemon juice, almond extract, agave nectar, and stevia extract.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Stir the cherries, while gradually adding the arrowroot, sprinkling it evenly over the cherries so they are well-coated.  Raise heat to high.
5. Add in the lemon juice mixture while constantly stirring the cherries.  Bring to a boil.  The cherries will cook down a little bit and there will be more liquid once they heat up.
6. Constantly keep stirring until the mixture thickens (this will happen from the arrowroot being activated).
7. Oil a glass pie pan so the bottom crust doesn’t stick.  Put in the bottom crust.
8. Once the cherry mix is thick and pudding-like, turn off the heat and pour into the pie shell, placing the other shell on top.  Slice 5 holes for ventilation and bake for 35 minutes.