Day 289: Cherry Apricot Oregon Trail Pie

Yield: 1 9 inch pie
Time (Start to Finish): 2 hours

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups flour (plus some for rolling)
¾ cup shortening
4-6 Tbsp ICE cold water
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Filling:
4 cups fresh cherries, unpitted
2 cups fresh apricots
1 ½ cups sugar
3 ½ Tbsp corn starch
4 Tbsp fresh orange juice

Top of Pie:
1 egg
splash milk
brown sugar

Directions:
1. Begin with the pie crust!
2. In a bowl, combine the flour and the sugar
3. Take the shortening and flake it into the flour as you would making scones so that is resembles corn meal. You want little pieces of shortening and the mixture to not come together yet
4. Add about 4 Tbsp of the water and mix with hand just until it comes together. If it is too dry, add another Tbsp of water.
5. Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten them and wrap them in plastic. Place in the fridge for at least an hour
6. Take the cherries and pit them (this took me awhile but is so worth it) and measure out 4 cups. Also cut up the apricots to the same size pieces and place all in a pot
7. Add the sugar, orange juice and corn starch and cook on med until boiling
8. Let the mixture boil while stirring it until it thickens up. Should take about 15 min. turn off the heat and let cool so that it is warm
9. Preheat oven to 425F
10. Take the pie crust and roll out. Fill with the mixture, and make a lattice crust for the top. You can look up how to do this, but as you can see, mine isn’t perfect
11. Take the egg and mix it with a little milk and brush the lattice top
12. Sprinkle with sugar and place on a sheet pan (pies tend to leak)
13. Bake for about 20 min until the crust browns and the filling begins to bubble.

Rating: 5 strawberries
Notes: This is the first successful pie I have EVER made!! The crust was unbelievably flakey, the filling was fresh and thick, and everything I could ever want was perfect! Today was Bay to Breakers, which in case you didn’t know is a huge race/crazy party in San Francisco. I went as part of the Oregon Trail, and my role was the only positive part of the game, Finds Wild Fruit. I tapped fresh cherries, grapes, apricots, small bananas all over my body and carried a bag of fruit I passed out to people. It was awesome, but I had leftovers. What a better thing to do on the Oregon trail than make a pie!!! You really must try it, but only use fresh good fruit. You can sub any fruit you like really, as long as it totals 6 cups, and this recipe will work. If you have any crust questions, feel free to ask me, I am so excited about it!!