A winter pie calls for something dark, heavy in flavor and of course a little boozie; apples, nuts, dried fruit and rum encased in a nut and butter rich crust.
Winter Fruits
All summer long we indulge in strawberries, peaches, melons and a huge variety of farmer’s market fruits grown throughout America.
Winter arrives and the pickings are slim. Apples hang around long into the winter but the real fruit to incorporate into winter cooking is dried fruits.
Dried fruits are loaded with natural sugars, which mean less sugar is needed in the recipes we put them in.
Dried Fruits
Coming from a Mediterranean heritage, dried fruits are used in both our sweet and savory cooking.
A Lamb Tajine wouldn’t be as flavorful or tender without the addition of dried apricots, raisins or dates. Of course a luscious spiced Moroccan Rice definitely calls for dried fruits.
While cookies, cakes and pies often have dried fruits, I have created new and different dried fruit treats from the ones I grew up with. Healthy treats and to-go snacks that are loaded with protein, vitamins and nourishment. No Bake Energy Bites are a must try!
Winter Fruit Pie With Booze
Alcohol has a unique way of extracting the essence of flavors from whatever is soaked in it.
Herbal tinctures are made from soaking herbs, seeds and other plant flavors in a flavorless alcohol, like vodka, for about 2 weeks. The flavor and essence is then imparted into the vodka and used for cooking or medicine.
Dried fruits, when soaked for a short time in alcohol, plump the dried fruit back to life, and extract its sugar and flavor.
In this winter fruit pie, soaking the dried fruit in rum brings a luscious flavor to the pie so that the apples in it, take a backseat to the dried fruit and are there primarily for their juice.
Passion For Pie
While I love to bake so many different types of desserts, I will admit that pies are my favorite to eat and to bake.
Pie pastry can be as easy as a crushed mixture of nuts, grain and binder (egg white), pressed into a pie pan, or an elaborately rolled out pie crust with very fancy designs cut out of the crust to lay on top.
For this winter fruit pie I covered the top of the pie with cut-outs from the scraps of pie crust. So easy and you really can’t make a mistake.
Best Pie Crusts
While you can use a store-bought pie crust, phyllo dough or puff pastry as your pie crust, I have provided the recipe for the crust I prefer with this winter fruit pie. It is stable enough to press out shapes to lay across the top of a pie.
Don’t be intimidated at making your own crust, simply toss all the ingredients into a food processor and let the machine do all the work.
Pie crusts are easy to patch together, even if it doesn’t roll out into one uniform piece of dough, and rather than suffer twice to roll out a top, I cheat and use the scraps of pie dough to press small shapes (with a cookie cutter), to cover the top. It actually looks more festive than the old-fashion cover and not as difficult as a lattice.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Flour
- Nuts
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Apples
- Dried fruit – of your choice
- Lemon
- Brown sugar
- Cornstarch or potato starch
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Ginger
- Allspice
- Salt
- Rum
Equipment Needed
- Food processor
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Spatula
- Rolling pin
- Baking dish
- Mixing bowl
- Oven
WARM WINTER FRUIT PIE
Course: Dessert, PiesCuisine: Mediterranean8
servingsA winter pie calls for something dark, heavy in flavor and of course a little boozie; apples, nuts, dried fruit and rum encased in a nut and butter rich crust.
Ingredients
Butter – 1 stick of cold butter, 8 tbsp
Flour – 1 3/4 cups, more for dusting
Nuts – 1/4 cup of your favorite nuts, crushed
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Egg – 1
Egg wash – 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water, to glaze the dough
Apples – 5, peeled, cored and cut into tiny pieces or shredded in the food processor
Dried Fruit – 3 cups, any of your liking. (roughly pulsed in food processor) I used dried cranberries and a medley of raisins
Lemon juice and zest – 1 lemon
Egg – 1 for batter
Brown sugar – 1/2 cup, more for top
Cornstarch or potato starch – 1/4 cup
Cinnamon – 1 tbsp
Nutmeg – 1/4 tsp
Cloves – 1/4 tsp
Ginger – 1/2 tsp
Allspice – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Rum – 1/4 cup
Directions
- Crush the nuts first in the processor and then remove. Place the butter, flour and sugar into the processor and whisk together until all have incorporated. Add the nuts and pulse a few times. In a pourable cup, whisk the egg and the liquid together and with machine running, slowly pour the egg mixture in. Let it run a few seconds until the dough comes together into a ball.
- If it still looks dry, then add a few drops at a time (while machine runs) until it comes together. The opposite if it looks too wet to form a ball, add a few pinches of flour at a time until it comes together.
- Roll out the crust on a floured surface until it is between 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. Gather it around the rolling pin and place it in the pie pan. Cut off excess, press neatly into the pan and crimp the edges.
- Toss the scrapes back into the processor, turn it on and add just a drop or two of the liquid until it comes together into a ball again. Roll that out and make cookie press shapes. Place those on a parchment paper and pop into the fridge until ready to use. Now let’s make the filling!
- Preheat oven to 350 and place a parchment paper on a cookie sheet (drips)
- Soak the dried fruit in rum while peeling and chopping or shredding the apples.
- In a large bowl combine shredded apples, lemon juice, lightly whisked egg, dried fruit with rum, sugar, and spices and toss well.
- Sprinkle cornstarch across the top and mix well. Really mix well.
- Pour filling into prepared crust. Add the presses cut-out dough pieces. Brush a little egg wash across the cut-outs and sprinkle a little sugar across. Makes the cut-outs really pop, when baked.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Take pie out and place cutouts on top and continue baking until pie juices look firm and crust looks golden.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
