Pie! What would a 4th of July BBQ be without pie?!? Every year, I make one and this year, it ended up being Vanilla Bourbon Cherry Blueberry Pie … Cherries from from Washington State, Blueberries from Maine, Bourbon from Kentucky. That pretty much covers it. Celebrate well this weekend, folks, and Happy Independence Day!
Ingredients
for the pastry
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
1/3 cup (or more) ice water
for the filling
3 pounds fresh cherries, pitted
1 1/2 pounds fresh blueberries
3/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup bourbon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
zest from 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten
demerara sugar or granulated sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
This is enough for a “quarter sheet” pan (12 x 9 inches), and for both a top and bottom crust. You will also need a star shaped cookie cutter.
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using purses 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 flat rectangles. Wrap in plastic; chill 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Lightly spray a quarter sheet baking pan. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the first chilled dough rectangle, with a 1 inch or so overhang. Fit the dough inside the sheet. Place in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling. Roll out your second pie crust for the top crust, again making it a little bigger than the pie plate. Place on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Using your cookie cutter, cut out a star formation. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400F.
In a large bowl toss together the cherries. blueberries, brown sugar, cornstarch, bourbon, vanilla extract, vanilla paste and lemon zest. Toss well to coat making sure everything is well mixed. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie plate. Make sure to scrape in all the good juices left in the bowl.
Carefully place the top crust right over top of the pie (I do this my gently rolling onto the rolling pin, and the “unrolling”/sliding it onto the pie. Push the edges of the top crust into the pie plate and then crimp the edges of the bottom crust together with the top crust. You can crimp fancy or crimp simple. Brush the top crust with egg and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Place pie on a bigger baking sheet and bake until crust is golden, about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake until juices are bubbling and crust is deep golden brown, about 45-50 minutes longer. If the crust is getting too brown, tent with foil. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 4 hours before slicing.
