Recipe: Vegan Cherry Pie

This is our first "in-house" recipe. We tested it a couple of days back and we hope you will like it!
It should be mentioned that we tried to keep low in fat since there are two members of our household who are dieting.
However, the recipe is probably best experienced full-fat! For directions on how to obtain better results, read the very bottom.

INGREDIENTS
Pate Brisee Crust:
-250 gr regular flour
-50 gr non-hydrogenated vegan margarine
-a dash of salt
-one glass of warm water
Filling:
-800 grams fresh sweet cherries
-250 grams vegan granulated sugar
-1 tablespoon cornstarch

PREPARATION
Start making the Pate Brisee by putting flour and salt in a bowl. Let the margarine soften at air temperature if needed and cut it into small flakes: add them to the flour. At this point you need to kneed the butter into the flour, so to get some small crumbles of flour and margarine. Make sure not to leave any big pieces of margarine in there: everything hould be pretty small. At this point, when no more flour can be made to stick to the margarine, add the warm water, one tablespoon at the time and just enough to make a non sticky ball out of the flour mix. This ball is supposed to be elastic, resistant and non sticky. Make sure not add too much water or you will have to restart everything over!
At this point roll the ball, over it with plastic foil and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Slowly, boringly and painfully take away all the kernels from the cherries (we promise you it is worth the time and effort!), collecting also all the juice this process may create. Add to the cherries the cornstarch, needed to get the juice out of the cherries and to make a denser syrup, and the sugar. Let sit for at least half an hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into two parts, one double of the other. Take the bigger portion and roll it thinly with a pinroll over some baking paper to make it big enough to spill out of the edges of your cake baking pan about 1 inch (3 cm). Place it inside the pan and fill with the cherries. Roll out what is left of the ball and place it on top of the cherried.
Make sure to glue well together the edges of the two disks, since you do not want syrup to come out from the edges. Cut the excess dough and set aside.
Now you have to create a small hole (many holes also works!) in the centre of your cake: this step is needed in order to allow steam to come out. If you force the steam to stay inside, the syrup will be too runny and potentially the pressure will make the syrup come out from the edges anyway. In the hole, place a cone of paper covered with tinfoil or use directly baking paper.
With the excess of dough, create some leaves to decorate your pie. They are really easy to make and the result is visually really pleasing! Glue the leaves to the pie with some water.
At this point, using your fingers or a cooking paintbrush, brush the entire surface with a thin layer of soymilk.
Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

The cake is best eaten at room temperature or slightly warm. We suggest not to eat it very hot. The slightly saltiness of the crust mixes really well with the sweetness of the filling!

Also, in case you do not have cherries, other fruits work as well: strawberries, blueberries, blueberries and pears, prunes. These fruits instead leave a bitter taste behind, so avoid: kiwis, oranges. We think fruit melanges do not work all that well, but should you find a good combination of fruits, please let us know!

If you want a richer dough, use 100 grams of margarine instead than 50 and less water: the dough will seem dried when handled, but once cooked it will be a lot softer and more deliciously fat in your mouth!