Five Holiday Pies on PBS Food

I was very excited when the writers of PBS Food asked if I would contribute a piece. All those years developing my part-Julia Child part-Mrs. Doubtfire cooking show host alter-ego Emily Pothole (pronounced poth-ole) finally paid off! Their request though, however unfortunately, was not for a prime-time TV spot between Martha Stewart and Mark Bittman, but instead for a written piece on their blog, to accompany their other "Five Ideas" holiday features. Though ENJOYING LIFE with Emily Pothole and Ms. Amanda Deitermeyer will have to be put on the back burner (so to speak), I was happy to oblige.

Five Ideas for Holiday Pies, though nothing especially new for Nothing-in-the-House readers, is a round-up of some of my favorite mostly seasonal and rather simple pie recipes for your winter celebration.  Check it out for blurbs on Shaker Orange Tarts, Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie, a Cranberry Lime Galette, Nutella Pie, and Apple Pie with Salted Caramel Glaze. And stay right here for all the recipes.

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