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During the holidays, Thanksgiving included, many people crave familiar flavours, not cutting-edge cuisine. The recipes that follow do have a twist – they get most of their sweetness from fruit – but this apparent novelty is arguably rooted in tradition. The idea of looking beyond cane sugar, honey and maple syrup to sweeten desserts may sound newfangled, but, as Michael Pollan explained in his 2002 book The Botany of Desire, fruit is what often satisfied the sweet tooth before the broad accessibility of purer sugars. In addition to fruits in fresh, dried and pureed forms, the pastries below are suffused with unexpected sweetness from miso paste, bourbon, pecans, and spices.
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Derby date pie (pictured top)
My partner, Ben, is from Kentucky, home state of the Derby, so I had to get this pie right. It’s a pecan pie with a dash of bourbon and some chopped chocolate over the bottom crust – two slightly bitter elements that counterbalance the intense sweetness of the date filling. What makes it sweet? Plump, sticky medjool dates are the obvious choice and an ideal swap for the traditional brown-sugar filling. They elevate the pie from one that is essentially filled with gooey sugar to one that is filled with fruit – still sweet, but not cloyingly so.
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 ½ hr
Serves 8-12
180g pecans
375g medjool dates, pitted and chopped
70g unsalted butter
3 large eggs
¼ tsp salt
1½ tbsp bourbon
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
85g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
For the pastry
60g cold water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 ice cubes
160g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp salt
114g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes, very cold
Start with the pastry. In a spouted cup, combine the water, vinegar and ice cubes.
In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt to combine, then add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Pulse as you slowly add the liquid (but not the ice!), until combined but still loose (about 20 quick pulses). The dough should not form a mass until you compress it together with your hands; squeeze a bit of dough between your fingers to test whether it forms a mass. If it’s too dry, add more water a tablespoon at a time.
Tip the dough into a large bowl, and shape it into a ball with a couple of swift squeezes between your hands. Wrap tightly with parchment, pat it firmly into a disc, and refrigerate in an airtight container for at least one hour (and up to 24 hours), until firm and chilled.
Lightly flour the work surface and a rolling pin, and roll the dough out to a 3mm-thick disc. Press this into a 23-25cm glass pie dish, then trim the edges to leave a 3cm overhang. Fold the overhang into the underside of the edge and press lightly to secure an even rim around the shell. Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight to chill. (At this point it can be stored in the fridge for up to one day or in the freezer for up to two weeks. Just make sure to keep it in an airtight container.)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 220C/425F/gas 7 (don’t use a fan oven).
Cover the chilled pie shell with a sheet of parchment and fill it with dried beans (or baking beans). Bake until the crust is pale golden around the edge – 15-20 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment, and let the pie shell cool. Turn down the oven to 160C/325F/gas 3 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread a third of the pecans on the baking sheet and bake until fragrant and toasted – five to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool, and leave the oven on.
In a food processor, combine the dates, butter and eggs, and puree until very smooth – two to three minutes. Add the salt, bourbon, vanilla and vinegar, and pulse to mix. In a medium bowl, use a flexible spatula to combine the puree with the toasted nuts.
Sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly over the bottom of the pie shell. Scrape the filling from the bowl into the crust and even the top with a spatula. Spread the remaining raw pecans in an even layer over the filling and lightly press them in to secure. Bake until the pecans are toasted and fragrant, and the crust is deep golden – 40-45 minutes.
Cool on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Store well wrapped in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Apple pie
This doubles down on its namesake fruit by including dried apples along with the usual fresh slices within its buttery, flaky crust. As it bakes, the dried soaks up the fresh fruit’s juices, making for a reliably unsloppy filling, and the concentrated sweetness of the dried apples means there’s no need for additional sugar – plus, there’s no shortage of apple flavour. There are two types of dried apples: soft-and-chewy and crunchy (the latter is baked or freeze-dried). Either is acceptable – just make sure whichever you choose has only one ingredient: apples.
Prep 25 min
Chill 1 hr
Cook 1 hr 35 min, plus cooling
Serves 8
For the crust
120g cold water
30g (2 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
2 ice cubes
320g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
228g very cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-in (1.3cm) cubes
For the filling
30g unsalted butter, melted
25g (5 tsp) white miso, or generous ¼ tsp salt
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
900g apples (4 medium apples), peeled, cored, sliced into 3mm slices
220g dried apples or 150g baked apple chips
20g (2 generous tbsp) plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
In a spouted cup, combine the water, vinegar, and ice cubes.
In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt to combine, then add the butter and pulse again until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Pulse as you slowly add the liquid (but not the ice!) until combined but still loose (about 20 quick pulses). The dough should not form a mass until you compress it together with your hands; squeeze a bit of dough between your fingers to test whether it will form a mass. If it’s too dry, add more cold water a tablespoon at a time.
Tip the dough into a large bowl, and compact and shape it into a ball with a couple of swift squeezes between your hands. Wrap tightly with parchment, pat it firmly in to a disc, and refrigerate it in an airtight container for at least an hour (and up to 24 hours), until firm and chilled.
Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin, and roll each piece out in to 3mm-thick rounds. Chill one round (this will be the top crust) and press the other into a 23-25cm deep glass pie dish. Trim the edges to leave a 3cm overhang, then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight. If you want to freeze the crust for future use, do so at this point, in an airtight container. Wrapped well, the dough can be stored in the fridge for up to one day or in the freezer for up to two weeks.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 190C (180C fan)/375F/gas 6.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, miso, lemon juice, and vanilla. (If you’re using crunchy baked apple chips, add 60g water.) Add the fresh and dried apples, and toss to coat them evenly. Sprinkle over the flour, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, and toss again.
Transfer the filling to the pie shell and press down lightly to form a slightly mounded mass of apples. Top with the second round of dough, then use scissors to trim both pieces of dough, so that they both extend 2.5cm beyond the edge of the dish. Fold/roll the perimeter of the dough so that the edge is enclosed and sits on the rim of the dish. Press all around the edges with a fork (or crimp with your fingers) to seal, then pierce a few vents in the top with a paring knife for steam to escape.
Bake for an hour and 20 minutes to and hour and 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and puffed, firm and dry to the touch, and some fruit juice has maybe bubbled up through the vents. Cool on a rack for at least two hours before serving, preferably with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream. Once completely cool, wrap the pie with foil and store at room temperature for up to a day or in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Bourbon apple slab tart
As any slab tart should be, this is rustic and simple: buttery, flaky puff pastry slathered with bourbon apple butter and topped with apple slices. It’s even simpler if you take the shortcut of buying good frozen puff pastry, and jarred apple butter.
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 10-12
1 sheet puff pastry (28cm x 40cm x 3mm), preferably all-butter, thawed but cold
150g bourbon apple butter (see below), or store-bought fruit-sweetened apple butter
1-2 sweet red apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 3mm slices (220g whole; 165g peeled and cored)
Apricot jam, for glazing
For the bourbon apple butter (makes 245g)
200g unsweetened apple sauce
30g golden raisins
1 tbsp bourbon
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
To make the apple butter, puree the apple sauce, raisins, bourbon and cinnamon in a food processor, until the mixture is very smooth – about two minutes.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Line a 33 x 45cm half-sheet pan with parchment paper.
Lay the puff pastry in the centre of the prepared baking sheet. Use a fork to pierce the dough all over and blind bake until puffed and pale golden – about 25 minutes – then take out of the oven.
Spread the apple butter evenly on the hot pastry and arrange the apple slices on top. Bake again until the pastry is golden and the apples have some dark brown spots – another 20-25 minutes.
Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and brush the apples with apricot jam (heated, if necessary) to glaze. Once cooled, store well-wrapped at room temperature for up to a day. To reheat, warm the tart in a 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 oven for five to 10 minutes.
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The slab tart and derby date pie are edited extracts from Good & Sweet by Brian Levy (£35.99, Avery). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
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You can also view these recipes and many more in the new Feast app, which has a cups calculator for US users
