For the oven-dried cherries:

1. In a large bowl, combine cherries and sugar. Toss and let sit until cherries release their juices, about 1/2 hour.
2. Preheat oven to its lowest setting, 170F-200F (76C-93C). Spread out berries on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until cherries are slightly shriveled but still pliable and juicy, around 2 hours. Let cool on baking sheet and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

For the Benne Crust:

1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter, both flours, and salt. Mix on low speed until it resembles a coarse meal. Slowly pour ice water into the mixture until dough is just formed, about 30 seconds.
2. Turn dough onto clean surface and lightly kneed into a large ball, 2-3 turns. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes so the gluten can hydrate.
3. Preheat your oven to 400F (205C). Remove dough from refrigerator and rest on the counter for 3-4 minutes. Line a clean surface with wax paper and transfer dough ball onto it. Roll out to a large pancake shape, 2-3 inches thick. Cover dough with more wax paper and roll until 1-1.5 inches thick and is large enough to cover a 9” pie dish.
4. Remove top wax paper and place a 9” pie dish topside-down on top of dough. Invert dough into pie dish and peel off the remaining wax paper.Return pie dish to refrigerator for an additional 10 minutes to let form.
5. Remove from refrigerator and crimp edges. Line crust with a circular piece of parchment. Fill with pie weights and put back in refrigerator for five minutes.
6. Transfer directly to middle rack of oven and blind bake crust for 10 minutes.
7. Remove from over and transfer to cooling rack until room temperature.

For the pie filling:

1. Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Place butter, sugar and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar and butter dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large bowl and hand mixer, combine eggs, vanilla, salt and bourbon.
3. On medium-low speed, slowly add sugar/butter mixture to your egg mixture. Remove from mixer and fold in the cherries, chocolate chips and smoked pecans. 
4. Pour mixture into pie shell until it it is almost full, leaving 1/2 inch space at the top.
5. Bake on middle rack for 50-55 minutes. If you crust starts to prematurely brown around 25 minute mark, cover with crust shield or tinfoil to make sure it doesn’t burn.
6. Remove pie from oven and transfer to cooling rack until room temperature.

For the Marshmallow Meringue & Assembly:

1. Add egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the egg whites into soft peaks on high speed, 2-3 minutes.
2. Set a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add water, sugar, and corn syrup and stir to combine.
3. Insert a candy thermometer or check mixture frequently with an instant read thermometer. Let simmer undisturbed until syrup reaches the soft ball stage at 240F. To test without a thermometer, spoon a few drops of the hot candy mixture into a small bowl of very cold water. Remove syrup ball from the water. If properly cooked, the candy will be pliable, sticky and can be molded in your fingers easily.
4. Once soft ball stage has been reached, remove saucepan from heat. Turn mixer to medium-low and slowly pour the sugar syrup into the whites in a thin, steady stream.
5. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until meringue is thick and glossy, 5-6 minutes. Add vanilla and whip an additional minute.
6. Spoon meringue over pecan pie or fill a pipping bag and pipe decoratively. Flame with a kitchen torch or bake at 450F (232C) until meringue is toasted, 3-5 minutes.