Honey Bourbon Cherry Pie

July 28, 2020 by Madeline Horszt 4,033 Comments

A fresh slice of cherry pie with vanilla ice cream on top

Here at the South Shore Kitchen we count down the days until the tart cherries are ready for picking. The harvest season is short but absolutely delicious. We treat them like precious gems to only be used in the best of the best recipes. This year we have settled on a honey bourbon cherry pie. The tart cherries and the sweetness of the honey bourbon are a match made in heaven. You will definitely be serving up seconds when it comes to honey bourbon cherry pie.

Fresh Cherries are the Pits

When it comes to baking a fresh cherry pie, you have to really want it. Removing the pits from each one of those ruby beauties is tedious. Luckily tart cherries are delicate in comparison to other varieties. To remove the pit, we gently squeeze each cherry until the pit is pushed out. Be sure to remove pits over a bowl to catch any juice that squirts out. Save fruit and juice for baking, discard pits. It is an easy process however it will take some time.

Cooking Up the Filling

Pitted cherries cooking into a delicious pie filling

Our filling is cherries jubilee inspired. There is going to be a whole lot of flavor and even more flames. Using a medium sized cast iron skillet, add orange juice, zest, sugar, and cornstarch. Whisk until all ingredients are combined and sugar is dissolved. Next you will add tart cherries and any juice in the bowl. Continue cooking for approximately, 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat source, pour in honey bourbon, and light. Return skillet to heat source and let the alcohol burn off before stirring. Let cherry mixture cook until it reaches a thick saucy consistency. Let pie filling cool to room temp before filling pie crust.

Flambe WARNING

Just a word of caution, lighting cherries on fire is super fun and 100% dangerous. If you choose to prepare the honey bourbon pie filling this way please know any risk taken is your responsibility. We cannot be responsible for any injuries you may incur but we do have some safety tips to follow.

Do not pour or store alcohol near an open flame. Pour the honey bourbon into a measuring cup in an area away from your burner. Remove skillet from heat source and pour honey bourbon into pan and light with a long handled lighter. Do not pour alcohol near an open flame. Check to ensure do not have any alcohol on your skin or splashed around your workspace before lighting cherries. Pull hair back if you have it, tuck in any loose clothing, remove flammable items from your work area and generally use common sense.

Ok, now you are ready to light your cherries! Once the honey bourbon has been ignited you are ready to return skillet to stovetop and continue cooking.

If you are not comfortable with flambéing the cherries, we suggest turning your heat source off, adding the honey bourbon, stirring mixture and then turning heat source back on. Let mixture cool down and proceed with recipe.

Honey bourbon pie is one of our favorite pie recipes. Comment down below and let us know if you make your cherry pie filling from scratch. If you tried our recipe @thesouthshorekitchen on Instagram. We love to see what you are cooking.

Looking for other pie inspiration? Check out our seasonal fruit pie, Hoosier sugar cream pie or the quick and easy 15 minute no-bake peanut butter pie!