Christmas Pie Ideas

My trip home for Christmas has been delayed by a pesky migraine, but the upshot is that this extra recovery time offers me chance to squeeze in a little post before the holiday. Things have been busy for me, with a new city and job and all, and I realize my previous post was of a similar bent, just for Thanksgiving, but I'm looking forward to digging back in to some regular posts in the new year. In the meantime, enjoy your winter holiday celebrations, whatever they may be, and hope there's some sweetness to go with it. 

Chocolate
Chocolate Orange Pie with Mascarpone Cream
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie with Nabs Crust, pictured top left
Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Peppermint Pattie Tart

Fruit & Nut
Bourbon Ginger Pecan Pie
Cranberry Pie, pictured bottom right
Fig-Pistachio Tarte Tatin
Shaker Orange Tarts

Preserves & Icebox
Almond & Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata
Bakewell Tart with Apple Rosemary Jelly, pictured bottom left
Meyer Lemon Honey Marmalade Linzer Torte
Speculoos Icebox Pie

Cookies & Cakes
Pea & Corn Cookies
Sandy Spring Sand Tarts, pictured top right
Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

Savory
Corn and Black Pepper Crackers
Ham, Gruyère & Caramelized Onion Galette with Fried Egg
Red & Golden Beet & Goat Cheese Tart
Tri-color Potato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Rosemary Galette

As always, you can find many more recipes, via the Recipe Index.

Thanksgiving Pie Ideas

This is the first time in ten years I'll have spent Thanksgiving with my family. This past decade of Friendsgivings, celebrated from Maine to Maryland, have always been a rowdy delight and have taught me about how to do holidays at the grown-ups table right-- I hope there are many more in store. But this year I'm looking forward to spending the day at home in Indiana. In the past few years, my family has become particularly fond of Hoosier Mama's Cranberry Chess Pie, so I expect to fulfill a request for one of those, but I'll also likely venture in to new territory-- a Pumpkin-Pecan Pie, Aurora Tart, or Apple Cider Cheesecake, perhaps? If you're also still deciding, here are a few suggestions for your Thanksgiving table-- both savory and sweet. If you don't find quite what you're looking for, check out the Recipe Index, as well as past guides from 2014, 2013, and 2012.

Pumpkin, Squash & Sweet Potato
Delicata Squash Pie (pictured, top right)
Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Pie with Mascarpone Cream
Pumpkin & Chai Spice Nut Butter Pie
Sweet Potato Pie with Cornmeal Crust
Sweet Potato Speculoos Pie

Fall Fruits
Apple Pie with Salted Caramel Glaze
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Pie
Red Wine-Poached Seckel Pear Tartlets (pictured, top left)
Persimmon Pie

Chocolate & Nuts
Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie
Bourbon Ginger Pecan Pie
Chocolate Chess Pie
Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie (pictured, bottom left)
Pine Nut & Honey Tart

Custard & Cheese
Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
Kentucky Lemon Chess Pie
Maple Bourbon Buttermilk Pie with Apple Syrup
Pumpkin-Ginger Cheesecake Pie
Salty Honey Pie

Savory
Celery Ham Tart aka Pissaladière
Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread Galette
Pear, Gruyere & Caramelized Onion Hand Pies 
Puff Pastry Hand Pies with Goat Cheese & Hot Pepper Jelly (pictured, bottom right)
Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Galette

And whether from this list or not, I'd love to hear what you'll be making this Thanksgiving-- I may even have to borrow your idea. 

Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie

HELLO FEBRUARY! Though I went on two long-weekend adventures during the first month of 2015-- one to a cabin in Virginia for New Year's and another cross-country skiing in West Virginia-- the rest of my free time has largely been spent at home-- reading and writing, knitting and watching movies, listening to podcasts and making food. I've really been feeling the winter nesting alone time vibes; honoring those feelings has felt both productive and relaxing. I'm not sure if February will prompt a changing tide, but I'm open to whatever it sends my way.

In the first few years after I graduated college, my friends and I self-published a collaborative literary journal/zine called The Dovetail Collective. The theme and concept was constantly changing, but each issue had a regular column where members shared what they were currently reading, watching, and listening to. In what were largely pre-social media days (most of us had Myspace pages, but that's about it), it was a good way to get reliable book, movie, and music recommendations. In the spirit of that and my especially bookwormish tendencies as of late, here's what I've been reading/watching/listening:

Reading: Carolyn Chute's Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Carolyn the past few years through NELP. She writes about a side of Maine-- her side-- that's not regularly depicted in the coastal tourist paradise stereotype we're often fed and her stories are raw and real and complicated. I also just started Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven and am totally enthralled.

Watching: Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yep, when I finally finish the sweater I'm knitting, there will be many hours of TNG invested in those stitches. Also, Broad City. For movies I recently enjoyed Selma and Iranian vampire movie, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.

Listening: Serial and the new NPR podcast Invisibilia (one of the producers, Lulu Miller, was actually a member of The Dovetail Collective). Still blasting D'Angelo's Black Messiah in the work headphones and have been spinning Jake Xerxes Fussell's new self-titled album on Paradise of Bachelors.

What have I been baking? Along with MAV's Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, you're seeing it right here. Hoosier Mama Pie Company's Cranberry Chess Pie has become a go-to favorite, as I've said before and I was planning to make it for Christmas. When I got home, though, I learned that my mom had already made it for Thanksgiving, so I considered how I might alter the recipe for something new. I thought cranberries would pair well with a bittersweet chocolate and it turns out, they do-- resembling cherry cordials in flavor (another family holiday standby). The recipe whips up pretty quickly and is a good pick for Valentine's Day or for just sittin' at home watching Star Trek and knitting a sweater on a Sunday afternoon.

Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie
Inspired by Hoosier Mama's Cranberry Chess Pie

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60% or higher)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon yellow cornmeal
2 large eggs, beaten well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups fresh cranberries, halved

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Let chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until both butter and chocolate are melted into a smooth chocolate sauce, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a medium bowl.

3. Add the sugar and cornmeal to the chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Then add the eggs, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed. Gently fold in the cranberries.

4. Pour the batter into the pie shell and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating pie 180 degrees halfway through. When done, filling will be puffed and set and crust will be golden brown. Remove pie from oven and let cool until warm, at least 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with chocolate shavings, if desired.



Related recipes:
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Hand Pies
Cranberry Pie
Chocolate Chess Pie

Cranberry Pie

Cranberries, along with Concord grapes and blueberries, are fruits uniquely native to North America. Native Americans harvested the tart red berries in what is now Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon, where they ate them fresh and used them in cooking and baking, as well as in dyes and poultices. Early settlers to North America began cultivating cranberries as well, and their production continues to be an important part of the culture and economy in the regions in which they grow.



In 1983, Mary Hufford and a team of other folklorists worked on a American Folklife Center (AFC) project which documented the "interplay of natural and cultural resources in the agricultural regions, woodlands, and wetlands," in the Pinelands of Southern New Jersey. Their fieldwork focused particularly on the laborlore, foodways, and traditional culture surrounding the area's cranberry production in the area-- one of the last places to harvest the berries by hand.



As part of that project, the AFC produced the booklet Cranberries (pictured in the top photo), including photos, background information, and recipes collected from consultants in the area. The recipes, shared by women home cooks, feature dishes ranging from Cranberry-Mincemeat Sweet Sour Bread to Cranberry Wine. This Thanksgiving, I adapted Helen Zimmer's recipe for Cranberry Pie, adding just a little zest and spice. I searched the AFC archive to see if I could find out a little more about Ms. Zimmer-- I didn't turn up much (though did come across this related song), but I'd say this pie enough is quite a thing to be known for.

Cranberry Pie
Adapted from Helen Zimmer via Cranberries: Pinelands Folklife Project

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
1 quart cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup maple syrup (you can also use molasses, sorghum, or any other sweet syrup)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 beaten egg + 1 Tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash
Turbinado sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions. After chilling the dough for at least 1 hour, roll out half of the crust and fit into a 9-inch greased and floured pie pan. Place pan and unrolled crust back into the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together cranberries and maple syrup and set aside. In a separate medium-sized bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, and orange zest, then add it to the cranberry mixture. Pour the filling into the chilled pie shell.

3. Remove the remaining crust from the fridge and roll it out on a clean, floured surface. Cut any crust designs desired. Dot cranberry filling with butter, then place top crust on top, fluting the edges decoratively.

4. Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbling. Let cool and enjoy just warm with a dollop of maple whipped cream.

Related recipes:
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
Cranberry Hand Pies
Cranberry-Lime Galette
Cranberry Sage Pie

Cranberry Hand Pies

As I've said before, I don't really believe in Valentine's Day. I do, however, always believe in telling the people you care for that you love them. I also believe in heart-shaped sweet treats. February 14th then, does present a good opportunity for both of those things to occur. Growing up, my grandma and mom always made heart-shaped sugar cookies this time of year, decorated with pink and red frosting. I still take guilty pleasure in that childhood treat, and decided to re-envision it in pie-form. 

These cranberry hand pies use a quick homemade cranberry-orange jam filling. If you don't favor cranberries or have any on hand, you could substitute them with your favorite jam. The heart-shaped pies are all cranberry-filled, but for the circular pies, I spread a thin layer of goat cheese on half for a bit of savory flavor. Those cran-goat cheese pockets would make wonderful snacks or appetizers, while the pure cranberry hand pies are better suited for breakfast or dessert. No matter the time of day, slip these little pies in your pocket and pass them out to the ones you love-- a Valentine's Day celebration I can believe in.

Cranberry Hand Pies

Makes about 1-2 dozen, depending on size

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
Juice of 1 medium naval orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier, if desired
1 egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk (for egg wash)
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
4 oz. goat cheese (for savory pies, if desired)

Directions
1. Prepare Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Once chilled, roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut into circles or hearts of equal size. Place cut crust on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and return to chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, stir and simmer cranberries, orange juice, zest, sugar, and Grand Marnier, if using. Stir occasionally until cranberries begin to burst, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 5-7 minutes more, until a thick sauce is formed. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool. 

3. Remove cut dough from fridge and mound cranberry mixture into the center of half of the circles or heart. If using goat cheese, spread it on the other half of the pie. Brush edges of dough with water and place a matching piece of dough on top. Press the edges with a fork to seal. Brush hand pies with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and cut a steam vent in the top of each.

3. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake hand pies for 35-45 minutes, rotating cookie sheet half-way through. Filling will be bubbling and crust will be golden brown when done. Transfer pies to a wire rack and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thanks to Food52 for featuring these in their #F52grams!

Related Recipes:

Apple Fried Pies

Blueberry Hand Pies

Cranberry Sage Pie

Peach-Bourbon-Ginger Hand Pies

Illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber

Cranberry Sage Pie

Braided edges, abstract lattices, and golden brown sugared tops, Four & Twenty Blackbirds pies are real visual stunners and the women who make them-- sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen-- are pioneers of beautiful and creative crust designs.

But equally as innovative are the recipes the two dream up, which spiral out from the classics into new flavor combinations like Maple Lime Custard, Rosemary Honey Shoefly, and the drink-turned-pie Buttered Rum Cream. They call the recipes in their new The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book "uncommon" and it's true-- while the book does offer an ample selection of old standbys, their puissance lies in their knack for creative innovation, both in visual design and flavor.

This talent makes sense considering their background-- Emily is an art school graduate and the two sisters grew up in a family restaurant run by their mother and aunts in a small town in the midwest. Their grandmother baked the pies.

The sisters started their own food business in 2009-- a pie-to-order start-up run out of their Brooklyn apartment-- and by 2010 they had opened the doors of their brick and mortar pie shop in Gowanus. Though their pie recipes have been featured in numerous magazines and sites, at the end of last year they put out their first (I'm thinking there might eventually be another?) cookbook to much acclaim.



Though I'd made a few of their recipes before (see their Salty Honey Pie and Rhubarb Pie) I was was excitedly waiting for their cookbook for months, knowing it would become a resource I'd return to again and again, to bake my way through the recipes and to provide creative inspiration for my own crust designs and flavor combinations.

I stared off with something fairly basic but really good--their Cranberry Sage Pie-- which I made for Christmas dinner this past year. Aside from my everlasting love for cranberries, it was the perfect pie for the occasion with it's holiday-appropriate red hue and sage which adds a savory note that mimicks some of the other flavors of the dinner. We ate ours (along with Pecan Pie and a Dark Chocolate Whiskey-Soaked Bundt Cake) around the fire after opening presents and while highly anticipating the posting of the Downton Abbey Season 4 Christmas Special by the generous Brits.

Cranberry Sage Pie
Adapted from The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon fresh sage, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons arrowroot (cornstarch also works)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
4 cups whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 small baking apple (I used a Northern Spy)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Egg wash (1 large egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water and a pinch of salt)
Demerara sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Chill dough at least 1 hour. Once chilled, roll out 1/2 of pie crust and fit into a 9-inch greased and floured pie pan. You can choose to roll out the top-crust now and refrigerate it flat, or roll it out once you've prepared the filling. Either way, you should put both the remaining crust and the pie pan in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Reserve half-egg yolk for the egg wash.

2. In a heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over the dried cranberries to cover by about 1 inch. Allow them to plump while you prepare the rest of the filling.

3. In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine the chopped sage, granulated and brown sugars, salt, arrowroot (or cornstarch), cinnamon, and allspice. Process until the sage is fully blended. Pour the sugar mixture into a large bowl and set aside.

4. Use the same food processor bowl to briefly process 2 cups of the whole cranberries until they are roughly chopped. Add them, along with the remaining 2 cups of whole cranberries, to the sugar mixture.

5. Peel the apple and shred on the large holes of a box grater. In a colander, drain the plumped dried cranberries of excess water, but do not press or squeeze them out. Add the shredded apple and the drained dried cranberries to the bowl with the rest of the filling and stir to combine. Stir in the vanilla extract and egg and mix well. Pour the filling into the refrigerated pie shell and top with the remaining rolled pastry, using a lattice design if desired. Flute and seal edges.

6. Chill the pie in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set the pastry. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Brush the pastry with the egg wash to coat. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

7. Place pie on the lowest rack of the oven on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is set and beginning to brown. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, move the pie to the center rack and continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling, 35-45 minutes longer.

8. Let cool completely on a wire rack 2-3 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Related recipes:
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
Cranberry-Lime Galette
Rhubarb Pie
Salty Honey Pie

For more on Four & Twenty Blackbirds, read my interview with Emily & Melissa here.

Cranberry Chess Pie

I consider cranberries to be the ultimate winter fruit, the edible counterpart of the seasonally ubiquitous holly berry. Cranberries are harvested in the fall, and are part of the evergreen family, cousins to the other plant we welcome into our homes at this time of year.

I like them for their bright red festive color and especially for their tartness, which make them a dream to bake with and an ideal fruit for pairing with others--apples, pears, pomegranates, or summer berries you've stockpiled in the freezer.



Cranberry pie in all of its forms is one of my favorites, but this Cranberry Chess Pie from The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie may just top them all. It's sour and sweet, fruity and creamy, with a smooth buttery consistency peppered with flecks of tart berry. It's perfection. I usually only eat just a sliver of the pies I bake, but with this one I could not stop. In it I may just have found the answer to that ever-so-difficult "what's your favorite pie" question. Make it for Christmas, make if for Thanksgiving 2014, freeze some cranberries and make it all year.

Cranberry Chess Pie

Adapted from The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Zest of 1 orange
3 large eggs
7 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cornmeal
Pinch kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vanilla paste (can substitute vanilla extract)
2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Let chill for 15 more minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and butter. Zest the orange into the bowl and cream together the ingredients until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, and salt. In a separate small bowl or pitcher, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla paste.

4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until combined. With the stand mixer set to low, add half of the buttermilk mixture and mix to combine. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Add the rest of the buttermilk mixture, mixing to combine, and then the final third of the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate any unmixed ingredients and gently fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pie shell, smoothing the filling with a rubber spatula.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating 180 degrees half-way through. The pie is done when the top is golden brown and slightly puffed. Cool to room temperature. Serve pie at room temperature or slightly chilled.



Related recipes:
Cranberry-Lime Galette
Grapefruit Chess Pie
Lemon Chess Pie

Cranberry-Lime Galette

We went to see Spielberg's Lincoln this weekend. Though my personal Civil War historian had some issues with the costuming of the soldiers, any problems were totally eclipsed by Daniel Day Lewis' impeccable Lincoln portrayal. Though we've never seen Lincoln in moving pictures, obviously, based on photographs, words, and stories of the Great Emancipator, Lewis seems to have captured the vision of Lincoln that exists in our collective imagination.

Inspired by the work of that British-Irish method actor, *I* set out to capture the vision of Lincoln's Thanksgiving dessert. After all, the 16th president is the one who proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. Though my source is not necessarily the most academic, one of the desserts that apparently graced Lincoln's first official Thanksgiving table was cranberry tarts.

This version of a cranberry tart, a cranberry-lime galette (aka rustic tart aka free-form tart) was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's. I simplified it a bit, taking out the nuts and bread crumbs, and swapping out the raspberry jam for homemade apple butter & jelly. It's a new favorite, tart and sweet and festive with the bright red cranberries and specks of green apple.



Cranberry-Lime Galette
Adapted significantly from Dorie Greenspan via Celestial Confections

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved for a small galette, full for a large galette
2 c. cranberries, fresh or frozen & thawed (I used fresh)
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tblsp. apple butter or apple jelly (homemade apple butter recipe here)
Turbinado sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare the pie crust as per the directions here. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out into a 10-11 inch circle for a small galette (or 13-14 inch circle for a large galette) on a sheet of parchment paper. Put the rolled crust and parchment on a cookie sheet and return it to the fridge while you prepare the filling. 

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine cranberries, apple chunks, brown sugar, lime zest and juice, and apple butter or jelly.

3. Remove crust from the fridge and scoop the cranberry filling into the middle of the crust, leaving a 1-1 1/2 inch edge. Fold the edge of the crust over the filling, pleating at the corners. Brush on an egg wash to seal the crust, and sprinkle Turbinado sugar over the entire galette.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden brown and cranberry filling is bubbling. Let cool slightly and serve warm, with whipped cream.

Related recipe:

Cranberry Chess Pie

Mini Pies Multi Plies/Multipies Miniplies, or A Pie for Everyone!

For the NELP graduation banquet (a totally delicious and beautiful feast featuring homemade ginger ale, almond shakes, delicious salads, portabello caps, homemade chips and salsa, crepes...so much I can't even remember it all) I made 75 miniature pies (and stayed up until 4am doing it). There was a pie for everyone plus some seconds! I made 3 different varieties: cranberry, apple, and pumpkin (there were also raspberry, but they burned!)

To make them I made the crust and filling as per usual (use any favorite regular pie recipe), and then cut small circlular top and bottom crusts using the rim of a glass. I greased and floured each cupcake mold of a cupcake pan and put in the bottom crust, forming it to the cup. Then I added about 2 Tblsp. of filling (as much as the bottom crust would allow and still be able to close). Then I added the top crust, and pinched the sides shut as best as possible, sometimes using my fingers and sometimes using a fork. I pricked holes in the top crust of each pie, and baked them for about 20-30 min. at 375. They popped out of the pan easier than I thought.

beautiful pie pics by Helen!

Voila! Petite pies...the personal pleasure of your own personal pie!

Creative Crust on a Cranberry Pie

Freestyle-folking with Talya!(notice amazing appetizer spread, as well as pumpkin and blueberry pies)

For the second year in a row I spent Thanksgiving (the best ever!) at Robert and Tayla's in South Portland, Maine. There were drinks and folk freestyling (a very special song about Nicholas Cage), walks on the beach and to the local record store, exquisite corpse poetry and rap performances, art projects and pie-making, and an art project and pie-making combined: I made a cranberry pie (see here for recipe--the only adjustment I made was the addition of finely chopped fresh ginger) and Clark designed and created the abstract lattice crust which I then brushed with egg and sprinkled with sugar. The result was fantastic! Not only was the color of the cranberries and cool-shape crust beautiful, but it tasted delicious--and many of us didn't even think we were that crazy for cranberries!

Here are some photos of the process (by Chiara):

Flouring the rolling pin to roll out the top crust. notice sweet apron--a gift from Robert & Talya. This step of the process is what prompted Sayid to say "I didn't know pie-making could be so erotic."

Clark and cranberry pie

Designing the crust

Ready for the oven!

Thanksgiving= Pie Day NOT Turkey Day.

Because of my love of pies and distaste for meat, Thanksgiving is Pie Day, not Turkey Day. I would even go so far to say that it's probably the biggest pie day of the year!! It's such a big day that I'm having trouble deciding what to make. The friends with whom I will be sitting around the Thanksgiving table have reported that they will be making an apple pie and a pecan pie, so that leaves me with either a pumpkin/winter squash pie option or some other fruit...and what's local this time-o-year? cranberries.

Angela passed on a Cranberry Pie recipe from the localvores(below), but I also found a delicious-sounding recipe for cranberry lime galette (a pie with one crust folded over) on the npr website. It cound be found here.

I may try to combine the two recipes so that I can still be making a traditional pie (with a lattice top!!) but have the extra zest that the cranberry-lime galette filling has to offer.

Cranberry Pie 

Ingredients:
4 cups cranberries (fresh or thawed)
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
pastry for a 1 or 2 crust 9-inch pie (I always make with just a bottom crust, but the recipe technically recommends a lattice top crust).


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash and pick over cranberries; drain thoroughly. Chop cranberries and mix with maple syrup and flour. Mix in egg. Line a 9-inch pie pastry plate with pastry bottom. Add cranberry mixtures. If you want, cover with strips of pastry arranged in a lattice and seal edges. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 35 minutes or until cranberries are soft and pastry is brown.

What will you be making this Pie Day? Share your recipes!