Bourbon Cherry Pie Recipe

By Richard Thomas

Bourbon cherry pie
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

A simple idea for a whiskey-based desert is the bourbon cherry pie. The simplest version of this recipe requires little more than some ready-made sheets of pie crust dough or pie crust mix, a few cans of cherry pie filling (about 45 oz. in total), some bourbon and some butter. Once you have the idea down, you can spin this recipe out into countless variations on the whiskey and fruit pie theme.

Ingredients
Pie crust mix or sheets ready-made pie dough
45 oz. of canned cherry pie filling
Bourbon whiskey
Melted butter

Pre-heat your oven to 400F (200C) and grease the pie pan. Lay out the dough for the bottom of the pie shell.

Pour out the cherry pie filling into a mixing bowl, add two to four tablespoons of bourbon whiskey, and stir well. Transfer the pie filling into the pie pan, cover the top with a second sheet of pie dough, and knead the two sheets of pie dough together around the edges to join and seal them. Cut a small round hole in the center of the top of the pie, so the liquid can bubble up while baking.

Brush a little melted butter on the top of the pie, and place it in the oven. Bake for one hour.

This recipe can easily be altered into almost innumerable variations. For example, you don’t necessarily need to use bourbon as the whiskey of choice. Irish whiskey can do the job just as well, although you might impart toffee flavors into your pie if you go that route. Another variation is to use different fruits for the pie. Instead of cherry, you could use strawberry, blueberry, peach, apple or even a combination therein. The way to go here is to experiment with what you like, and if you are worried about your choice of whiskey ruining the pie, just add two tablespoons instead of four.