Dried Fruit Pie

In case you haven't noticed, it's winter here in North America. Frankly, I don't know HOW you could have missed it. Up here in New England, the old-timers are talking about this winter as one for the history books.

Winter isn't a good time for us fruit lovers--other than citrus, of course. But I do yearn for the occasional pie this time of year. Sure, you can use frozen berries and such--or cash out your IRA for a container of blackberries. But the pickings get a little thin.

Unless you remember an old-fashioned favorite: dried fruit pie. And it's one of my all-time favorites. Bruce whipped one up the other day. Mostly to beat back the doldrums. Mostly. So I thought I'd share this recipe with you in the hopes we'd revive the old tradition of dried fruit pies.

By the way, this recipe is adapted from the one in THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK--which you can find here. In that 900-recipe tome, the dried fruit pie comes with crème anglaise. A word to the wise is sufficient.

For now, let's get to it.

First, you'll need to make the dough for a double-crust pie. For the complete operation on how to do that, click on my blog entry about it here. It tells you how to make a single crust--so double it up!

Now, on to the filling. Put all this in a large saucepan: 12 ounces (340 grams) dried pears, 6 ounces (170 grams) dried apricots, 5 ounces (140 grams) dried cranberries, and 2 ounces (60 grams) dried apples. (I adjusted the grams a bit so their measurements would come out in rounded numbers but kept the overall weight the same.)

Cover the dried fruit with water and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the fruit in a colander set in the sink and cool for 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Roll out half the pie crust and line it into a 9-inch pie plate.

Transfer the cooked dried fruit to a cutting board. Coarsely chop it into pieces and slide these into a large bowl. Stir in all of this: 3/4 cup (135 grams) packed dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup (75 grams) chopped sliced almonds, 4 tablespoons (60 grams) melted and cooled butter, 1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract, a good pinch (1/2 teaspoon, maybe) of ground cinnamon, and a small pinch of salt. Stir it up well and pour it into the crust-lined pie plate, then roll out a top crust and place it on top. Seal the edges well--and cut two of three vent slits in the crust.

Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350F (175 C) and continue baking until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing and diving in. What a treat. Those old-timers were on to something. Now if they could just do something about the snow.

Comments

[JenniferA]

Wow, that picture of the unbaked filling alone makes me want to dive right in! I beat the winter blues with peanut butter pie this weekend. No fruit needed. :-)