Cranberries are harvested in September and October, yet their peak-selling season is between Halloween and Christmas! So before cranberry season is over, stock up on extra cranberries so you can bake fresh apple cranberry pies all throughout the holiday season.
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Recipe
Ingredients
• 1 cup cranberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider, apple juice, or orange juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
• 5 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (5 medium apples)
• Pastry for Double-Crust Pie
• Milk
• Sugar
Procedure
1. In a small saucepan combine cranberries, 3/4 cup sugar, apple cider, apple juice, or orange juice, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Bring to boiling. Boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Cool 20 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, the apple pie spice, and orange peel. Add the apples; toss to coat. Stir cooled cranberry mixture into apple mixture.
3. Prepare and roll out pastry as directed. Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Transfer filling to pastry-lined pie plate; trim pastry. Cut slits in top crust or create a cutout lattice. Place crust on filling. Trim, seal, and crimp edge of pastry. Brush top crust with milk; sprinkle with sugar.
4. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 25-30 minutes more, or till top is golden. Cool on a rack.
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2nd Recipe
Apple Cranberry Pie / 2 crust pie
• 1 cup chopped cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups chopped tart apples
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 cup sugar
• dash salt
• pastry for 2-crust pie
Combine cranberries, apples, pineapple, sugar, and salt; cover
and let stand 2 hours. Pour into a 9-inch pastry-lined pie plate.
Cover with top crust, seal, and crimp edges. Cut small vents
in top of pie.
Bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake 30
minutes longer, until nicely browned.
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3rd Recipe
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 1/4 pounds Pippin apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brandy
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) Position oven rack in the bottom third of the oven.
2.In a medium bowl, toss together the dried cranberries, sugar, flour and allspice. Mix in the apples, brandy and vanilla. Place bottom crust into a 9 inch round pie pan so that it hangs 1 inch over the edges. Pour filling into the crust and cover with top crust. Seal and flute the edges. Cut slits in the top using a small knife.
3.Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, or until apples are tender and crust is golden.
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Food Facts & Tips:
No matter what preparation method you choose, cook cranberries only until they pop; overcooking gives them a bitter taste. Since cranberries are almost 90% water, do not thaw frozen cranberries before cooking them. Thawing will cause the fruit to break down, resulting in soft berries. Cranberries may be baked with a sweetener to make a topping or sauce. They are also good chopped with oranges to make a relish.
For baked goods, first slice the cranberries open. Add all sugar from the recipe, and probably quite a bit more. Let this mixture soak in the refrigerator so that the sugar gets into the cranberries.
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