Cherry Pie with Oatmeal Crust

For the pastry

Weigh the oatmeal and coconut sugar into a blender and blitz until fine. Tip into a large bowl and add the flour, pinch of salt and the dairy-free butter in cubes. Use your hands to rub the flour, oatmeal and dairy-free butter together until you have crumbs, and knead it into a dough.  Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

On a lightly floured piece of baking paper, roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line/grease a 20cm round pie dish. Roll out the pastry to about 2cm bigger than the pie dish and carefully line the pie dish. Trim off any excess pastry rom around the edge.

Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Place in the oven and blind bake for 15 minutes.

While the base is baking, roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid and set to one side.

Meanwhile, make the cherry pie filling.

For the cherry pie filling

Add 2 tablespoons of corn flour to a bowl with about 4 tablespoons of water and mix until a paste – set to one side.

Add the cherries, vanilla and almond extract to a large saucepan and cook on a low to medium heat for 8-10 minutes until the cherries start to cook and the juices start to run.  Then add the corn flour mix and stir through the cherries and cook for a couple more minutes. Take off the heat.

Remove the pie base from the oven, carefully remove the baking beans and the baking paper and fill with the cherry filling. Carefully lay the pastry lid over the cherry filling and press the edges of the pastry together. Make a little cross in the middle of the pastry to allow the stream to escape while it cooks. Return the pie to the oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and serve the cherry pie warm.