Make Your Own Cherry Pie Filling

This is a great recipe to use all of those fresh picked cherries! I got the idea from the wonderful blog, Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  I like to make a bunch of this recipe and put one pie worth in a mason jar and freeze it.  It is SO nice to go to the freezer when I want to make a pie, or use a recipe that calls for canned cherry pie filling, and grab a mason jar full of fresh cherries and thaw it and dump it in!
Make Your Own Cherry Pie Filling(like the canned version, but much better!)
3C cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted
11/2C sugar
cornstarch for thickening
Combine the cherries with the sugar in a big saucepan(I usually triple the amount to make a few batches at once). Bring this mixture to a boil while stirring.  Mix around 3T cornstarch with 2/3 C water(I like to use 1/3C water and 1/3C cherry juice, leftover from the fresh cherries) and mix this in a cup until well combined. When cherries are boiling add cornstarch mixture a bit at a time while constantly stirring until thickened. You may not need the entire amount of cornstarch mixture, just add a bit at a time while stirring and as soon as it starts thickening up like gel then stop adding it. You want it to resemble the gel like mixture that you would find in a can of cherry pie filling.  Use this right away in a recipe that calls for one 21oz can of cherry pie filling, or freeze in a clean mason jar for later use.
This recipe linked to Totally Tasty Tuesdays!