I woke up this morning in a horrible mood. Well, I am not sure that “waking up” was actually part of the equation as I had been awake for the most of the night. There were some bad dreams and the weather was horrible, with pelting rain and thunder and lighting. The cats were none too pleased about the whole thing and I just didn’t get a good night’s rest. I felt completely discombobulated.
But for me there is something about being in the kitchen that allows me to reset. So I did just that, even though it was a busy morning with my “real life”. I love pie but didn’t really have enough apples for just a regular apple pie, but I did have a jar of tart cherries. I steeped them in some whiskey as I was making the pastry and voila: Apple Pie with Whiskey Soaked Tart Cherries. The flowers are intended to be cherry blossoms, because it is, in theory, that time of year. Oh, and it stopped raining, and my mood has improved.
Ingredients
for the pastry crust
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
2 cup jarred tart cherries, pitted and drained of juice
1/4 cup whiskey
2 1/2 cups (about 3) baking apples, peeled, halved, cored and diced (I used Honey Crisp)
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 egg beaten with a little bit of milk, for egg wash
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball, divide, then flatten into two disks. Wrap in plastic; chill 2 hours.
Immediately after finishing the dough, combine the cherries and whiskey in a bowl so that the cherries can soak up the whiskey. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside (no need to refrigerate).
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9 inch pie plate with baking spray.
In a medium work bowl, combine the diced apples, brown sugar, corn starch and cinnamon. Set aside for 10-15 minutes before adding the cherries. Combine well.
Roll out one of the dough disks to a 12 inch circle. Place in pie plate and crimp edges. Dock the pastry with a fork a few times, all the way to the edges. Spoon apple-cherry mixture onto the pie plate don’t worry about getting all of the juice if the mixture is extremely loose — but you do want quite a bit of that flavorful liquid! Roll out the other dough disk and using small flower cookie cutters, cut out different sized flowers and leaves. Lightly brush each cut out with the beaten egg wash and then decorate the top of the pie, anchoring some flowers to the side of the crust, some to each other and leaving some loose. The pie should be about 60-70% covered with flowers. Place on a baking sheet (in case it boils over) and place on the center rack in the oven.
Bake until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden, 55 minutes to an hour. If the top gets too brown before the hour, cover with aluminum foil. Cool slightly on baking sheet on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Ice cream is always good.
