Dried Cherry Apple Pie

This is apple pie with a serious upgrade. Dried tart cherries get tossed in with the sliced apples before the sugar and cinnamon go on, and as the pie bakes those cherries rehydrate in the apple juices, plumping back into little jewel-red pockets of tartness that cut through the sweet apple filling.

Letting the fruit sit with sugar and flour for 15 minutes before filling the crust is the step most bakers rush. That rest draws out apple juices and the dried cherries drink them right back up, so you don’t end up with a pie that’s watery at the bottom and dry at the top. The flour in the mix thickens those released juices into proper pie filling.

Use tart cherries (Montmorency) rather than sweet Bings. The whole point of adding cherries to apple pie is the acid balance; sweet cherries just compound sweetness and lose the pop. If you can only find sweet dried cherries, skip a couple tablespoons of sugar.

Dotting the top of the fruit with butter before sealing the crust is old-school for a reason. It melts into the filling and enriches the juices while also browning the underside of the top crust from the inside.

A slashed top crust lets steam escape and keeps the crust from ballooning off the fruit.

Pro Tips

• Firm tart apples like Granny Smith or Honeycrisp hold their shape; apples like Gala turn to applesauce.
• If the crust browns too fast, tent with foil during the last 15 minutes.
• Cool at least an hour before slicing so the filling sets.
• Brush the top crust with cream and coarse sugar for a bakery-style finish.

Variations

• Swap dried cherries for dried cranberries for a more seasonal winter pie.
• Add a pinch of ground cardamom or allspice alongside the cinnamon.
• Stir a tablespoon of bourbon into the fruit mix for grown-up depth.