Dried Fruit Pie Filling Recipes

APPLE AND DRIED FRUIT LATTICE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Ease into a 9-inch pie plate; chill until ready to use.
• Make the filling: Peel and chop the apples. Pulse the apples, raisins, and dried plums, figs and cherries in a food processor until chunky. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with the sugar, tapioca, orange liqueur, lemon zest, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Spoon into the crust and dot with the butter.
• Roll out the second piece of dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips with a knife. Arrange half of the strips in parallel rows over the filling, about 1/2 inch apart. Working with 1 strip at a time, arrange the remaining strips perpendicular to the first ones, weaving the strips over and under, to form a lattice. Fold the overhanging dough under itself and crimp the edge with your fingers. Brush the lattice crust with the beaten egg.
• Put the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to the oven; bake until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly, about 1 hour. (Cover the edge with foil if it is browning too quickly.) Transfer to a rack and let cool until set, about 3 hours.

DRIED APRICOT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• Slice the dried apricots in half. Rinse them with water. Place them in a sauce pan with the water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
• Combine the cornstarch with the orange liqueur and about 1 tablespoon of the apricots' cooking liquid. Mix until smooth then stir into the cooked apricots. Add the white sugar and combine. Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell and seal with the top crust. Brush milk over top crust for color, if desired.
• Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 1 hour.

DRIED-FRUIT MINCEMEAT PIE

Steps:

• Make mincemeat:
• In a food processor coarsely chop mixed dried fruit and dates with spices, salt, and sugar. In a heavy saucepan combine dried-fruit mixture, cranberries, and 2 cups water and cook at a bare simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, or until fruit is tender (mixture will be very thick). In a small bowl stir together cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water until combined well. Stir cornstarch mixture into dried-fruit mixture and simmer, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Stir in brandy and cool mincemeat. Mincemeat may be used immediately but will improve in flavor if kept, covered and chilled, at least 1 day and up to 1 week. Bring mincemeat to room temperature before proceeding.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Keeping remaining dough chilled, on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out half of dough into a 13-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Fit round into a 9-inch (1-quart) glass pie plate and trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Chill shell, covered, 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Coarsely chop pecans and in a shallow baking pan toast in middle of oven until a shade darker, about 4 minutes. Stir pecans into mincemeat and spoon into shell, smoothing top. Roll out remaining dough 1/8 inch thick and arrange over filling. Trim dough, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang, and fold overhang under edge of bottom shell, pressing to seal. Crimp edge decoratively.
• In a small bowl whisk together 1/2 tablespoon water and yolk and lightly brush crust with egg wash. Sprinkle crust with sugar and with a knife cut several steam vents.
• Bake pie in middle of oven until crust is golden, 30 to 35 minutes, and transfer to a rack to cool. Pie may be made 8 hours ahead and kept at room temperature. Serve pie warm or at room temperature.

FRIED FRUIT PIES

Steps:

• Mix together the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender, fork, your hands, or whatever method works best for you, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Stir together the beaten egg with the water and sprinkle over flour mixture. Sprinkle in the vinegar, mixing lightly, until ingredients are well combined.
• Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
• In a nonreactive pan on very low heat, simmer the dried fruit in the water for 30 to 45 minutes, or until very tender. Add water if necessary to prevent scorching. Allow to cool; mash fruit slightly.
• Stir in the sugar and spices. This step of the preparation may be done in advance and refrigerated; however, warm up the fruit (microwave is fine) enough to take the chill off and make it workable before filling your pies.
• Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and cut it into four equal pieces. You can then cut each of the four pieces into three equal pieces, leaving you with 12 golf-ball-size dough balls.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 5- to 6-inch circle. Your circles don't have to be perfect, and ragged edges are okay.
• Put about 2 generous tablespoons of filling onto one side of the circle of dough. Seal the pie by wetting the inside edge of the dough with water (use your finger) and then fold over the dough, making the familiar half-moon shaped pie. Make sure the edges of the dough are even, and press and crimp to insure a good seal. You can use a fork to give you a bit of a decorative edge if you like. You can also correct the more ragged edges during this step because the dough is pliable. Just make sure the filling is sealed in and that any holes in the dough are crimped.
• Using a deep fryer set at 350, carefully lower the pies into the oil, one at a time. Cook until they turn a nice even golden brown in 3 or 4 minutes. You don't have to worry about cooking the filling -- it's already cooked. The frying process is merely cooking the dough.
• Drain on paper towels.

DRIED AND FRIED FRUIT PIES

Steps:

• In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the apricots with the water. Simmer over low heat until the fruit is plump and soft and most of the water has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Add more water if needed.
• Drain the apricots and chop them. Mix the apricots in a small bowl with the jam or preserves, and the nuts or bread crumbs. Refrigerate the filling, if you wish, for as long as 24 hours.
• Roll the pie dough out 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut it into rounds with the top of a coffee can or with a large round biscuit or cookie cutter. Spread equal portions of filling on each round, moisten the dough edges lightly, and fold the rounds over into half moon shapes. Crimp the edges with a fork.
• In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, heat at least 4 inches of shortening to 350°F Fry the pies in batches, turning them over midway through the cooking, after they rise to the surface. Remove them when they are golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes. Drain them, and sprinkle them with sugar. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before eating. Makes 8 pies.
• Variations: The pies can be baked rather than fried. Place them on a greased baking sheet, brush them with a little beaten egg (1 egg is enough for this batch of pies), sprinkle them with sugar, and bake them at 375°F for about 20 minutes, or until they are lightly browned.
• Experiment with other dried fruit or jam fillings. Try dried peaches simmered in peach nectar with a touch of jalapeno jam, or dried apples with cider, a splash of applejack, and cinnamon.
• FOR THE PIE CRUST: Using a food processor, a bowl with a pastry blender, or your fingers, cut the lard, butter and vegetable shortening into the flour and salt. Whatever method you choose, be careful not to overwork the dough, which would reduce flakiness. Add the water a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough just holds together. Divide the dough into two mounds, wrap them in plastic, and refrigerate them at least 30 minutes (or wrap one mound for the freezer, if you don't plan to use it in the next couple of days).
• If the pie crust is to be baked, preheat the oven to 400°F
• On a floured board or pastry cloth, roll out the dough in a circle a couple of inches larger than the pie pan. To avoid stretching the dough excessively, roll it from the center outwards, lifting the rolling pin after each stroke rather than rolling back over the dough in the opposite direction. Loosen the dough, drape it around the rolling pin, and center the crust over the pan, dropping it gently into place.
• If you're making a one crust pie, crimp the edges decoratively. If your pie is to have two crusts, roll out the second mound of dough, too.
• For a single pre-baked crust, prick the dough in several spots. Cover the pie shell with foil, and weight the foil with dried beans or pie weights. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or follow the directions in your pie recipe.
• One cowboy commented that a chuck wagon cook "is a sort of human that was kicked in the head by a brindle cow or a cross-grained mule when very young...They're temperamental as wimmin too; an' like the bosses, don't need no sleep neither." -Quoted in Ramon Adams, Come and Get It.
• Texas Home Cooking.

FRUIT-FILLED PIE

Steps:

• Place the cranberries in a large bowl; cover with boiling water. Let stand for 5 minutes; drain well and set aside. In a large bowl, toss the apples, peach and pear with lemon juice. Stir in the sugars, apple pie spice and vanilla. Add tapioca; let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the cranberries. , Line a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate with one sheet of pastry; trim even with edge of plate. Add filling. Unroll second sheet of pastry; cut slits in pastry. , Place over filling; seal and flute edges. Brush with butter. Bake at 375° for 50-55 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.