Morrin Family Missouri Fruit Pie

 My friend Becca is from Louisville, Kentucky, home of the famous bourbon-chocolate-pecan concoction, Derby pie. Her father, though, hails from St. Louis, Missouri, where they apparently have a Derby pie variation known as Missouri fruit pie. While Derby pie generally denotes the bourbon-chocolate-and pecan trinity, Missouri fruit pie, at least the Morrin family recipe, generally doesn't use chocolate chips, but opts for dates and raisins instead.

I went to visit Becca and her boyfriend Justin in Baltimore last weekend, and they were raving about the Missouri fruit pie they made over the holidays. With a potluck on the list of our evening plans, along with a bike ride and another party, we decided to make two of them--one for the potluck, and one for us to eat late-night (and for breakfast the next morning). Our version veers back towards Derby pie, with the subtraction of raisins and addition of chocolate chips and bourbon. We also contributed our own variation by using walnuts instead of pecans.

Morrin Family Missouri Fruit Pie
adapted from the Morrin family recipe

Ingredients:
Nothing-in-the-house pie crust
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 c. raisins (we omitted these)
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 c. chocolate chips (not traditionally used, but we opted to and were glad!)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. bourbon (optional)


Directions:
Prepare pie crust using the Nothing-in-the-House recipe and after chilled, roll and fit into a greased and floured 9 or 10-inch pie plate. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (yes, 275 is correct). Cream butter until soft. Add sugar and gradually beat until fluffy. Beat egg yolks and add mixture with fruit, nuts, chocolate chips (if using) vanilla, and bourbon (if using). Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into other mixture. Put into shell and bake for 70 minutes.

The result was a deliciously gooey filling, that tasted quite like chocolate chip cookie dough in a pie crust. Though we aren't sticking exactly to the tradition, this Derby pie/Missouri fruit pie recipe is great for tweaking--use walnuts or pecans, raisins or chocolate chips, or all of the above. I imagine it's quite forgiving and still delicious.