Some days....

Sometimes when the day leaves you seriously questioning if you have any skills, particularly of the marketable variety, you are left with only one choice.  Bake a delicious fall pie and sing along loudly to In Through the Out Door, especially Fool in the Rain on repeat. Hey, feeding people and being able to quote Zeppelin lyrics on command are marketable skills. I swear.

Another good tip for combating rejection and just overall winter blues-- bake with bourbon and maple sugar.  It also helps if you wear cowboy boots. I am serious, give it a whirl.

Enter Apple Pear Bourbon Pie.

A classic twist on something all too America. And while traditional Apple pie is my one exception to my disdain for the banal, some days just leave you in the mood to twist....


I have never made this before, but I started with my standard pie crust.  Peeled and chopped some JonaGolds and Granny Smith apples and then thought: hey pears, I bet you'd go great with bourbon too.  For my sake, lets pretend I don't really vocalize my thoughts to inanimate objects while baking.


For the filling you will need:
4 peeled and sliced apples (2 red 2 green)
4 peeled and sliced pears
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup bourbon
5 tbl maple sugar (not syrup... granulated maple sugar, ideally from Vermont)

Preheat oven to 425. Pour apple, pear mixture into bottom crust. Seal with lattice top (you could do a double pie crust if you prefer, I however despite an obsession with pie birds, like the crust to filling ration better with a lattice top). Be forewarned-- the lattice is a little harder to make perfect, since this is definitely a rustic, hefty, twisted apple pie.

Brush dough with cream and sprinkle with 1 tbl. of maple sugar. Bake for 45 minutes. You may need to cover the top with a loose piece of aluminum foil if the edges brown too quickly.

Let cool and eat with vanilla ice cream, or not.  Whatever floats your boat.