Cranberry Apple Pie and Thanksgiving Table

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

As mentioned in my previous entry, Metropolitan Market provided a pumpkin pie with our meal so I decided against baking pumpkin pie this year. I opted instead to make Cranberry Apple Pie. I hold very special childhood memories of my mom making apple pies from scratch. She had a pie crust recipe that even I loved (that is saying a lot because I am not a traditional pie crust kind of gal). It was rich, buttery and flaky; everything a pie crust should be. I have never tried to recreate her pies because she had such a gift for baking that I don't even want to make an attempt. As my cooking and baking confidence grows, I may change my mind but for now, I will stick with alternate recipes such as the following:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup orange juice

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (I freshly grated mine)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp apple pie spice

1/4 tsp lemon juice

2 cups fresh cranberries (I purchased gorgeous fresh cranberries from our Farmer's Market)

4 cups peeled and sliced tart apples

pastry for double-crust 9-inch pie (I used a local, all-natural pie pastry from Met Market)

2 Tbsp butter

In large bowl, combine first seven ingredients. Add apples and cranberries; toss gently.

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

Line 9-inch pie plate with bottom pastry. Add filling; dot with butter. Roll remaining pastry to fit top of pie. Cut vents in pastry, using small apple cutter if desired. Place over filling; seal and flute edges.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake 50 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

I was unfortunately, a bit disappointed in the end result. The pie was aesthetically pleasing but the inside was watery, which I believe was due to the addition of orange juice. I was a bit skeptical when I saw that the recipe called for orange juice and I should have gone with my gut. The pie flavors were nice; the texture was just off.

Instead of placing a full crust on top of the pie, I opted to use my Williams-Sonoma pie shape-cutters to create a montage of leaves and acorns. The top of the pie turned out very pretty so at least it added to the beauty of my Thanksgiving table.

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

As you can see in the photo above, I used cranberries and Satsuma oranges as the central theme for the table. I borrowed the idea from a photo of a centerpiece bowl filled with pears that I saw years ago. The cranberry idea came from a table decorating presentation I attended two weeks ago with my mother-in-law. I tend to prefer simple decorations that allow our guests to see each other across the table and my decorating scheme worked well for this purpose. We invited our friends, the Matzens, for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, the kids played while Brad, Tom, Heidi and I played music and talked. Our house was full of activity and love, which is exactly what Thanksgiving is about. What a perfect day.

Recipe Source:

tasteofhome.com