It’s Cherry Pie Day . . . The Disney Way

I don’t know about your family, but the Flowers family loves to celebrate holidays. The big holidays throughout the year are wonderful, but there’s so many days between them. That’s why I was thrilled to find the National Day Calendar which gave me so many more days to choose from to celebrate. Did you know there was a National Popcorn Day, Peanut-Butter Lovers Day, even an Awkward Moments Day? I can do all of those! 

When I saw that February 20th was National Cherry Pie Day, I knew that I would have to pull something together to celebrate that. And if I can mix in a little Disney flair with it, even better! 

I’ve really gotten into baking and making things from scratch at home during this pandemic. But of all the things I’ve made, pie crust has not been one of them. That changes today. 

I hear stories about how difficult it is to get pie crust right. It’s either too tough, too dry, or too crumbly. Let’s hope I can get it right today. 

Making a DELICIOUS Pie Crust

For my crust, I’ll be using 5 simple ingredients: 

• • 2.5 cups of AP flour (chilled)
  • 7 Tbs salted butter (cubed and frozen)
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 36 tsp of shortening (0.75 cups) dolloped directly into the flour
  • 0.5 cups of ice cold water
  • 1 egg for brushing onto the crust later
  • 1 21oz can of Cherry Pie filling + 2 Tbs of butter cubed

One thing I saw repeated over and over again was that things need to stay cold as much as possible. All my ingredients, the butter, shortening, flour, and even the mixing bowl went into the freezer for 20 minutes before I started mixing them together. The butter and shortening go into the bowl as great big clumps. 

And using my avocado smasher, I mixed everything together until they were pea-sized. 

Yep, just about like that. This went back into the freezer for another 20 minutes before the next step. 

Using ice-cold water, I drizzled just enough to get everything to come together. I mixed with a wooden spoon because wood is an insulator and won’t conduct heat like a metal spoon might. 

I need two pieces of crust, because my pie is going to have a layer on the bottom and the top. After splitting the dough into two pieces and wrapping them in plastic wrap, these are going into the fridge for the rest of the morning to chill. 

It’s time to roll out my pie dough. I can’t seem to find a pie tin, so this cake pan will have to do. It’ll be fine. Adapting to changes is something you always seem to have to deal with. Rolling this out on parchment makes it easy to transfer into the pie tin. 

Any time I can bring a little bit of Disney into our celebrations I do. All pies need venting to release steam that builds up inside. I have a few 3D printed Mickey cookie cutters in different sizes, so I think that would be perfect for this. 

Filling the Pie

For the cherry pie filling, I cheated and used the canned stuff. It’s not cherry season (why did they pick February for Cherry Pie Day?) so the cherries in the store are expensive, and canned cherry pie filling is easy. I did take the advice from my mother-in-law to add some butter in with the filling. After I topped the pie and trimmed the excess, the pie went back into the freezer to chill again. 

With my oven at 400F, it’s time to bake! Like most breads I’ve baked, I brushed on a little bit of egg on top to give it a shine when it’s done. 

After 30 minutes my crust is starting to turn brown. I read that a pie shield is helpful so the crust doesn’t burn while the center is still cooking. Seeing as how this is my first pie crust ever, I certainly don’t have a pie shield. A sheet of aluminum foil with a hole cut out was helpful.  

Twenty-five minutes later my pie is bubbling and the top has turned a flaky brown. Cherry filling is bubbling out of the vent holes and the whole thing smells delicious. Those Mickey heads are looking great! 

And speaking of Mickey heads, I have a few Disney pins in my collection that are totally appropriate to bring out right now! Way back in 2007, Theresa and I got into pin collecting. We each had our favorites, but Theresa loved collecting the different food series (keep reading for a chance to win them). 

Pie Time

Everyone has been super patient while this pie cooled down. Now it’s time to eat it!

That looks pretty good to me! Probably could have used a little more filling, but I’m sure it’ll taste just fine. 

Time for the critics to weigh in. A thumbs up from the kids was great! My wife and her parents tried it and were impressed. The crust was flaky and flavorful. I thought it was pretty delicious too. I’m definitely going to keep this in my back pocket for recipes in the future. Perhaps I’ll experiment with different fillings. 

With the extra scraps of pie dough, I rolled them out and used a slightly larger cookie cutter to make some extra Mickey shapes. Those are like little pie crust cookies. They’re flaky, buttery, and delicious. 

Alli will regularly try to match her clothing to any of the special things we create. She’s wearing her shirt with Disney Treats on it. Hey Alli, I see there’s cherries on there. Is there any pie? 

Alli, grabbing the Mickey Pie Pin – Daddy, now I have pie on my shirt!  You certainly do. Very clever. 

That’s how my family and I celebrated National Cherry Pie Day! 

Happy National Pie Day everyone. I feel like we should treat it like a real thing. Perhaps Everyone gets a slice of pie . . . and one lucky person gets a pie in the face . . . or something like that. Do you have a favorite Disney pie or baked good? I’d love to hear from you. And good luck in the contest! 

Sharing is caring!