Cranberry Pie

Have you ever thought of how much we tend to associate certain foods with specific seasons or holidays, often serving them only during a limited time period?

Cranberries are like that. Make some cranberry relish to go with the Thanksgiving feast, maybe make a cranberry dessert during the Thanksgiving to Christmas festive season, but then, except for the dried ones substituting for raisins, cranberries pretty much drop out of sight the rest of the year. 

Because of this seasonality, however, I learned long ago that fresh cranberries are often on sale at really low prices after Thanksgiving and, sometimes, after Christmas as well.

This year was no exception. I found the standard 12 ounce bags of cranberries at one store for only 35 cents each. Grabbing up several bags, I brought them home, froze some, and put the rest in the produce drawer of my refrigerator. (If purchased in good condition, the berries will last for more than a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.)

One of the reasons I like to stock up on cranberries has to do with another seasonal food: cherry pie is often featured around Presidents' Day, in honor of the George Washington cherry tree myth, and sometimes Valentines Day,  just because of the all-things-red kinds of menus.





The recipe that follows is one that will substitute very well for cherry pie, at a much lower price. Don't skimp on the almond flavoring, and do try my daughter-in-law's innovation of a graham cracker crust instead of the standard pie crust. In order to enhance the almond flavor that enhances the cherry-like flavor, I have subbed in some ground almonds for part of the graham crackers.  Of course, if you want the pie to really look like a classic cherry pie, you can spend lots of time making a lattice crust, but why bother when you can so much more quickly make this one that will taste just as good--or even better.

Cranberry Pie

12 oz bag cranberries--about 3 cups
1 3/4 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
3/4 c water
1 t. almond extract
graham cracker crust for 9" pie

1. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a large saucepan and stir until all the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

2.  Meanwhile, wash the cranberries, sorting out any that may have spots. Drain and add to the boiling sugar mixture. Continue cooking until all the berries have popped, about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir often.

3.  Remove from heat and add the almond extract. Pour into the prepared crust and place the pan on to a pizza pan or cookie sheet.

4.  Put the pie and the pan beneath it, in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until the filling is bubbly all around the edges. If the edges of the crust begin to darken, place a ring of aluminum foil loosely over the edges.

Graham Cracker Crust

 1/3 c butter, melted
1 c graham cracker crumbs (about half a 12 oz package)
1/2 c ground almonds (approximately 2 to 2/12 oz)
3 to 4 T sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

1.  Prepare the crumbs by whirling in a blender or food processor. You may also place the crackers in a heavy plastic bag and roll over the bag with a rolling pin. Try to get the crumbs as even as possible.

2.  Melt the butter and pour into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. If using a glass pan, you can just melt the butter right in the pan in the microwave.

3.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and, using a fork or your fingers, toss the ingredients together until they are well blended. Press the crumbs firmly against the bottom and up the sides of the pan.


 (If desired, you can reserve a few crumbs for the top of the pie. However, I don't do that because, as soon as the pie is cut, I always manage to have some of the crumbs "migrate" to the top of each slice anyway, as seen in the photo below.)

Cranberry Pie, aka Mock Cherry

The stores are full of fresh cranberries from mid-November through December, often at loss-leader prices. This year, on the day before Thanksgiving, I found a store that had already marked these down to less than half the price of most places. Knowing how well these bright berries keep in the refrigerator and how easy they are to freeze,  I took advantage of the sale and brought home a lot of bags. There was of course the usual cranberry relish for Thanksgiving and then an apple pie made with a cup of cranberries added to the mix. 

But now, with this wonderful stash, it was time to go back to a recipe I found many years ago, Mock Cherry Pie. This is so easy, and so much less expensive than the real thing, I'm not sure why I haven't made it for so long.  We may associate cherry pie with the February holidays, but the bright red color certainly goes well with so many of the red and green color themes of the season too.

I "tested" this recipe on some friends by calling it cherry pie, waiting for the real title until they had all sampled it. When the reveal came, a couple said that the texture did seem different but that the flavor is wonderful, whether it is called cherry or cranberry. The real secret is in the almond flavoring, a pretty standard ingredient in cherry pie recipes too.

As you can see in this picture of the full pie below, I tried my hand at what seems to be fairly traditional for cherry pies, a lattice top. Not such an easy thing to do, but, by the time it was cut, the appearance didn't seem to be a problem. I know there are some gadgets that allow you to make a lattice-looking top more easily, but I'd rather not clutter up the kitchen drawers with more of these single-function items. Besides, the "hand-crafted" look says "I made this just for you" very well, don't you think?

Cranberry (aka Mock Cherry) Pie

12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen (about 3 c)
1 2/3 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
3/4 c water
1 t pure almond extract

1. Combine the sugar and cornstarch, stirring to blend well. Gradually pour in the water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the cranberries to the hot sugar mixture. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes (longer if cranberries are frozen), until all the berries have popped. Stir frequently.
3. Remove from heat and add the almond extract. pour into a prepared 9 inch pie shell. Add a top crust or cover with a lattice crust.
4. Bake about 25 to 30 minutes at 375, until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden.

Variation:
Reduce the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and add 1 c finely chopped apples with the cranberries. 

 

A few lattice pie topping hints

If using purchased pie crusts, just slice a crust into 1 inch widths. Some will be quite short, but you should more than enough crust for the top of your pie because of all the gaps.

If you make your own crust, you can roll the dough out into a rectangle, resulting in more long strips that are much easier to work with.

The really hard part for a pie like this is that the pie filling will be very hot, softening the dough strips as soon as you lay them on the filling. You might find it easier to roll and cut the strips and then freeze them for an hour or so.

When making a lattice top, you should prepare the bottom crust as if it were going to be just a one-crust pie, crimping the edges accordingly. 

Each strip needs to be well-anchored to the edge of the bottom crust to avoid having the ends pull away from the edge and sink into the pie. You can see an example of this in the lower left part of the pictured pie.

If you plan to weave the lattice, you will need to start with two strips at right angles, laying one over the other, folding each back on itself a bit. Then you add another strip parallel to one of these and arrange the cross strip as with any weaving. Go back and forth with the two sets of strips, weaving them slowly. This is hard to explain but not too hard to understand by just doing. However, as the dough softens, it can get a bit messy.

There are two ways to make the job easier. The first is to just lay the strips in a criss cross fashion without trying to weave them. The other is to use only one set of parallel strips, twisting them slightly as you place them, ending up with something like large rotini pasta. 

Or, you can just make a regular double crust pie. Since the cranberry filling is such a beautiful color, plan to cut several large designs out of the center (use a small star or bell cookie cutter for a Christmas pie) so that the filling shows through.