Cheerwine Pie

Cheerwine is a regional cherry soda out of NC, and my favorite soda. It also can be tasty to cook with. This version of Cheerwine pie (Which I've seen others that are entirely different) is a custard pie same as a key lime pie (I based it off of conglomeration of a few that I saw) and modified it. I also think this recipe is very easy to do.

Ingredients

1x 9" Graham Cracker Pie Crust (Premade or Homemade)

1 14oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

4 Large Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup Tart Cherry Juice

1-2 12oz Cans of Cheerwine (or 1/2 Cup of Cheerwine Syrup)

1oz of lemon juice (Half a lemon)

Whipped Cream or Cool Whip (Optional)

Tools

None

For the crust, I used a pre-made, but you can make your own (and it will probably be better). However, I appreciated that it came with its own pie pan and lid too. You should be able to find your own recipe online for a pre-made graham cracker crust.

Note the Egg yolks, you'll need to separate them. I don't think it matters if its super precise and can't have any egg whites in it, and you can look online for techniques, though I do the one where you dump it back and forth between the shell parts. My one big recommendation is if you don't have some full-proof method, use 3 bowls, One bowl for the egg yolks, one bowl for the egg whites, and one for working over. Work over the one, then dump the egg bits into their respective bowls. Less likely to mess it up.

Tart Cherry juice helped a lot than pure Cheerwine. Brings down the sugary-ness.

For the Cheerwine Syrup, see below in my instructions. Your end goal is 1/2 cup of cheerwine syrup.

Instructions

Syrup

I have 1-2 cans because its hard to tell exactly when its done. Its easier to aim for two and overdo it a bit (without burning) than with one. You are aiming to reduce it down by 1/3. If you think of it, op

1. Optional: Open your Cheerwine cans and let them sit for 5 minutes. You can pour them into the pot too, they are very carbonated and the carbonation will cause an alarming amount of bubbling initially if you start heating it immediately.

2. Pour your Cheerwine into a pot over medium heat. Let it cook until its reduced by 2/3 or so. This takes about 30-40 minutes. Because every pot and stove is different, this is a big guess. You can save the liquid for later.

3. Let cool to room temp.

Pie

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer), add the condensed milk, Cheerwine Syrup, Tart Cherry Juice, Lemon Juice, and Egg Yolks. Mix thoroughly so you have a smooth texture.

3. Pour the filling into the pie crust.

4. Bake in the oven for for 20 minutes. When you pull it out it will jiggle a little but should be pretty firm.

5. Let cool and then chill over night. Serve with whipped cream or cool whip.

I was surprised how well this turned out. Its still very much on the sweet side, but was quite nice.