Welcome to Week Two of the Foxfire Bake Along! This fruit stack pie is a variation of an Appalachian classic. Get creative with your fruit flavors, and, if you’re feeling adventurous, make more pastry to make your stack pie taller! Don’t forget to share your photo below or tag #FoxfireBakeAlong on social media!

Stack cake with apples and fig preserves.

Fruit Stack Pie with Gingerbread Pastry

Adapted from The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar*
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup molasses or sorghum syrup
• Any canned fruit in thick sweetened syrup**

*The original recipe calls for 1 full cup sugar + 1/2 cup molasses. We found this was too sweet and reduced it.

**We recommend making your own filling; any pie filling will do, so long as the juices are cooked to a thick syrup. Check out our post on half-moon pies for instructions on making apple pie filling.

Sift together dry ingredients in separate bowl. Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Mix in molasses/sorghum. Slowly mix the flour mixture into egg moisture. Divide dough into 3 or 4 balls. Lay out 3-4 squares of parchment paper. Trace a 9″ circular cake pan on each parchment sheet then flip over. Roll out dough (one on each parchment sheet) to 1/4-inch thick and bake each circle about 5-8 minutes in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven (watch these closely!). Let pastry cool completely, then spread fruit between each layer of pastry and stack. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

For more stacking layers, double the recipe! If you find your layers are too dry, add a little buttermilk to get the consistency you want. But remember, after it sits overnight, the layers will soften from the fruit juices.