Starting in November, beautiful cranberries start appearing in the grocery stores. I usually pick up a few bags for cranberry sauce, but there’s no reason to stop there. Since tart cranberries go nicely with sweet juicy pears, I made a few changes to my favorite apple pie recipe to feature the seasonal fruit. If apples are your jam, no worries. This recipe also works well with sliced apples and cranberries.
Pear (or Apple) Cranberry Pie
Pastry for double-crust pie
5 cups peeled and thinly sliced firm pears or apples
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup sweetened, dried cranberries (such as Craisins)
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Milk (optional)
Sugar or cinnamon-sugar blend (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry; set aside.
- In large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add sliced pears, cranberries and dried cranberries. Toss gently to coat. Transfer fruit into the prepared bottom crust.
- Roll out second half of the pastry. Cut slits in the remaining pastry and place on filling, crimping the edges as desired. Or to make the pie as pictured, cut the second half of the pastry into strips and weave a lattice-top crust. There are many tutorials online, but here is one I like from thekitchn.com.
- If desired, brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar or cinnamon sugar. To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack before slicing.
