While not actually made of Christmas Cookies, the crust has a festive holiday party vibe with the cookie cut-out shapes and confetti sprinkles. The same concept works great as a birthday pie too. I came up with the idea because we were hosting a holiday party and I wanted to make something different to challenge myself technically and creatively.

The crust recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen, and they had also separately done a sour cherry taste test for determining the best brand for sour cherries for pie filling – Dark Morello Cherries from Trader Joe’s. The crust is fully their recipe and the filling follows general pie filling guidelines.

 

“FOOL PROOF” PIE CRUST

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour separated plus extra for rolling out

1 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoon sugar

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch slices

½ cup vegetable shortening, cold, cut into 4 pieces

¼ cup vodka, cold from freezer

¼ cup cold water from tap

1 egg

1 teaspoon cold water

sprinkles

DIRECTIONS

Pulse 1 1/2 cup flour, salt and sugar in food processor until mixed. Add butter and vegetable shortening and pulse for 15 seconds until everything begins to combine in uneven clumps (like cottage cheese)… When I listened to it instead of watching it the results were better. I counted to 15 and waited for it to change sound a little – like a more wet batter instead of dry. Redistribute batter and scrape sides then add rest of flour, pulsing another 4 to 5 times until evenly coated in flour. Empty batter into bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Do not handle. Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

 

SOUR CHERRY AND TART APPLE PIE FILLING

INGREDIENTS

2 jars dark morello cherries, drained

2 apples, peeled and grated

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons nutmeg

1 teaspoon cardamom

2 tablespoon quick start tapioca, ground into powder

1 tablespoon lemon

1 lemon zest

2 inches butter, cut into small cubes

DIRECTIONS

Make sure cherries are well drained. Put grated apple pieces in a clean towel and wring out to remove all the liquid. In a bowl combine cherries, shredded apples, sugar, nutmeg and cardamom into a bowl and stir. There will be some liquid in the bowl drain some more out if necessary. Add ground tapioca, lemon juice and lemon zest, toss some more and taste. You may want to add nutmeg, it really compliments the sour cherries. Put it in the fridge for about an hour to let it set up.

 

PIE ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS

Position oven rack on the lowest level and place a pie stone or baking sheet on it. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss flour on a clean surface large enough for rolling out dough. Remove one disk from refrigerator and roll it out on the floured surface using a floured rolling pin until it is 1/8 inch thick. Reverse roll the dough onto the rolling pin and lift it over the pie pan and place it on it so the dough hangs roughly one inch over the sides. Spoon filling mixture in the pie dough so you can control the amount of liquid in the pie. Some is ok because the tapioca and pectin from the apple thickens it up. Pinch the sides of the pie crust to make a decorative ridge intended to trap liquids and filling when in the oven. Sprinkle the small butter cubes on the top of the filling.

Roll out the second disk the same as the first. Using a cookie cutter cut out desired shapes and create a pattern on parchment paper. Whisk the egg and 1 teaspoon of cold water then brush the mixture on the pie crust decorative boarder and cut out shapes. Sprinkle the shapes and crust border with sprinkles. Then place the cut-outs on top of the pie. Put it on the bottom rack in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. After 30 minutes lower the temperature to 350 and bake until the crust is a deep golden brown, about 30 – 40 minutes. Let the pie cool on a cooling rack for about 3 hours or more.

 

Enjoy 🙂