diff --git a/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py b/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
index cb2883f80..c87ec1758 100644
--- a/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
+++ b/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 """
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+import ctypes
 import dis
 from functools import partial
 import imp
@@ -69,6 +70,20 @@
     from io import BytesIO as StringIO
     PY3 = True
 
+pythonapi = None
+try:
+    from ctypes import pythonapi
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+
+PyCell_Set = None
+if pythonapi:
+    try:
+        PyCell_Set = ctypes.PYFUNCTYPE(ctypes.c_int, ctypes.py_object, ctypes.py_object)(
+            ('PyCell_Set', ctypes.pythonapi), ((1, 'cell'), (1, 'value')))
+    except AttributeError:
+        pass
+
 #relevant opcodes
 STORE_GLOBAL = opcode.opmap['STORE_GLOBAL']
 DELETE_GLOBAL = opcode.opmap['DELETE_GLOBAL']
@@ -129,6 +144,10 @@ def _walk_global_ops(code):
                 yield op, instr.arg
 
 
+def _make_cell(value):
+    return (lambda: value).__closure__[0]
+
+
 class CloudPickler(Pickler):
 
     dispatch = Pickler.dispatch.copy()
@@ -333,9 +352,13 @@ def save_function_tuple(self, func):
 
         self._save_subimports(code, set(f_globals.values()) | set(closure))
 
+        closure_cells = closure
+        if closure is not None and PyCell_Set is not None:
+            closure_cells = list(map(lambda _: _make_cell(None), closure))
+
         # create a skeleton function object and memoize it
         save(_make_skel_func)
-        save((code, closure, base_globals))
+        save((code, closure_cells, base_globals))
         write(pickle.REDUCE)
         self.memoize(func)
 
@@ -343,9 +366,20 @@ def save_function_tuple(self, func):
         save(f_globals)
         save(defaults)
         save(dct)
+        save(closure)
         write(pickle.TUPLE)
         write(pickle.REDUCE)  # applies _fill_function on the tuple
 
+    def save_cell(self, obj):
+        save = self.save
+        write = self.write
+
+        save(_make_cell)
+        save((obj.cell_contents,))
+        write(pickle.REDUCE)
+
+    dispatch[_make_cell(None).__class__] = save_cell
+
     _extract_code_globals_cache = (
         weakref.WeakKeyDictionary()
         if sys.version_info >= (2, 7) and not hasattr(sys, "pypy_version_info")
@@ -799,21 +833,20 @@ def _gen_ellipsis():
 def _gen_not_implemented():
     return NotImplemented
 
-def _fill_function(func, globals, defaults, dict):
+def _fill_function(func, globals, defaults, dict, closure=None):
     """ Fills in the rest of function data into the skeleton function object
         that were created via _make_skel_func().
          """
     func.__globals__.update(globals)
     func.__defaults__ = defaults
     func.__dict__ = dict
+    if closure is not None and PyCell_Set:
+        for i, v in enumerate(closure):
+            PyCell_Set(func.__closure__[i], v)
 
     return func
 
 
-def _make_cell(value):
-    return (lambda: value).__closure__[0]
-
-
 def _reconstruct_closure(values):
     return tuple([_make_cell(v) for v in values])
 
diff --git a/tests/cloudpickle_test.py b/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
index 29deb8cdf..afea3077b 100644
--- a/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
+++ b/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 import base64
 import subprocess
 
+try:
+    from ctypes import pythonapi
+except ImportError:
+    pythonapi = None
+
 try:
     # try importing numpy and scipy. These are not hard dependencies and
     # tests should be skipped if these modules are not available
@@ -133,6 +138,20 @@ def test_nested_lambdas(self):
         f2 = lambda x: f1(x) // b
         self.assertEqual(pickle_depickle(f2)(1), 1)
 
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(not pythonapi or not hasattr(pythonapi, 'PyCell_Set'),
+                        reason="missing required Python C API functionality")
+    def test_recursive_nested_function(self):
+        def f1():
+            def g(): return g
+            return g
+        def f2(base):
+            def g(n): return base if n <= 1 else n * g(n - 1)
+            return g
+        g1 = pickle_depickle(f1())
+        self.assertEqual(g1(), g1)
+        g2 = pickle_depickle(f2(2))
+        self.assertEqual(g2(5), 240)
+
     @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.version_info >= (3, 4)
                         and sys.version_info < (3, 4, 3),
                         reason="subprocess has a bug in 3.4.0 to 3.4.2")