Recipe: Cranberry Cream Pie

Assuming there are any faithful readers out there, I'm letting you down.  I haven't posted the recipe for the Christmas pie, nor have I given the instructions for the really good horseradish sauce I made for the roast beef, etc., etc.  I promise to try to catch up.  So herewith is the cranberry pie.  This is adapted from one given to me by Jacob Herbert, who in turn got it from his great aunt Mina.

Photo courtesy of Miriam Schildkret

CRANBERRY CREAM PIE

6 c. cranberries, pulsed a few times in the food processor to chop VERY roughly 

2 c. sugar

3 T. each flour and cornstarch

1 t. cinnamon

pinch of salt

zest of one large navel orange

1-2/3 c. whipping cream

1 unbaked deep dish pie crust (see below)


Preheat the oven to 450* F.

Combine the cranberries with the sugar, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and orange zest in a large bowl.  Mix thoroughly.  Scoop this into a deep-dish pie pan (preferably glass) that has been lined with pie dough.  Add cream to come just below the surface of the berries.

VERY QUICKLY (or the bottom crust will get too soggy), make a lattice top for the pie.  Brush it with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Put the pie in the oven and reduce the heat to 425*.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350* and bake another 45 minutes more, until the filling is bubbly and the crust is browned.

Photo courtesy of Miriam Schildkret

Cool and serve.  (Serving notes:  I do not recommend reheating the pie:  the filling will turn runny, as I learned from bitter experience at Christmas!  --It was great the next day.  You could serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you want, though this is one fruit pie that I can enjoy without ice cream.)








BASIC PIE CRUST

Here is the formula I generally use for a 2-crust pie like this one.

2-1/2 c. flour
2 sticks cold unsalted butter (or one stick butter and 1/2 c. cold Crisco--this makes a crust that is easier to roll, but a tiny bit less flaky.  If you want the flakiest possible crust, use lard for half of the fat.)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 - 1/2 c. ice water

Combine salt and flour, then cut the fat into the flour.  You could pulse it several times in the food processor (the most reliable method) or cut it in using two knives or a pastry blender.  Either way, there should be pea-sized bits of butter in the dough.  (It is the large bits of melting butter that make the pastry flaky in the end.)  Add water carefully just until the dough forms a ball.  (Again, you could pour the water into the food processor with the motor running until the dough gathers, or you could do it in a bowl, stirring with a fork.)  Beware of adding too much water; it's better if the dough is a tiny bit crumbly, even though it will be harder to roll out.  Do not overmix or knead.  Gather the dough into two flat disks (one slightly larger than the other), wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll the larger of the two disks into a flat crust and line the bottom of a pie plate with it.  Chill for at least 30 minutes before filling.

Once the bottom crust is filled, roll out the top crust, either into a circle, or if making a lattice, into an oblong.  Place the circle on top of the pie and seal.  To make a lattice, cut the dough into 9 strips using a crimped pastry cutter.  Lay five strips vertically across the top of the pie.  Seal the edges nearest you.  Fold back the first, third, and fifth strips towards you and lay a new strip of dough across the others--left to right.  Now bring the folded strips back to a flat position and fold down strips two and four.  Lay another strip of dough across this, left to right.  Repeat this process until you have used all of the dough strips, which will now form a woven pattern on the top of the pie.  Seal all the edges by turning the ends of the strips under the edge of the bottom crust.

Bake according to the recipe instructions.

Further note:

The bottom crust here does tend to be soft, almost no matter how fast you work.  Next time, I'll try one of two tricks:  brush the inside of the bottom crust with a beaten egg white before filling it OR combine a tablespoon each of flour and sugar, and sprinkle this mixture on the bottom of the crust before filling.  (The egg white method seems more likely to me.)  If you try one of these, let me know how it works for you!

I love cranberry pie, because it's so unexpected.  We think of cranberry as a jelly (with or without hunks of stuff in it) that goes with turkey.  But it's a fruit, so why not make it into a pie?  The color of the filling, an outrageous red, is utterly fantastic, and the flavor is a great combination of sweet and slightly tart.  Best of all?  You get to make something really wonderful out of something hard and sour.

A Delicious New Year's Dessert Recipe: Quesillo

My Venezuelan friends insist that quesillo is unique and nothing at all like flan.  They especially point out that quesillo should have tiny holes in it (the way certain cheeses do), and that is probably where the name, which means something like "little cheese," comes from.

Personally, I can't find any difference between quesillo and flan beyond the normal variation in recipes, which can be considerable.  For example,  I have three recipes for quesillo.  One calls for three eggs, another calls for six, and still another requires eight--all for the same amount of milk.  Flan recipes are equally variable.  So are we making flan or quesillo?  Well, I have visited Venezuela and no other Latin-American country, and I love it.  So out of devotion to my friends there, I will call this quesillo.  I hope you enjoy it, no matter what you call it.  And my recipe calls for four eggs.  Go figure.  (For a printer-friendly version of the recipe, with somewhat less detail than is given below, click here.)

To make quesillo, preheat the oven to 350* F.  Stir together 1 cup granulated cane sugar with 1/4 cup water.  Place in a small saucepan over high heat.  Once it is combined, DO NOT STIR IT, or it will crystallize. (I learned this, as you might guess, from bitter experience.  I stirred my first batch of caramel constantly and ended up with a geological formation in the pan.)

Boil the syrup, watching it carefully.  It will caramelize and turn a lovely golden color.  This will take a couple of minutes (remember:  DON'T STIR!  you can swirl the pan gently once in a while).

Once the sugar begins to brown, things happen quickly, so pay attention to keep it from burning.  When it's just short of done, remove it from the heat.

Immediately pour the caramel syrup into a 1-1/2 quart mold.

Swirl it around to coat the bottom and sides of the mold.  (Imagine holding the mold with one hand and the camera with the other.... The things I'll do for you!)

Here's the finished mold, ready to go.

Now, make the batter.  In a blender, whip 4 whole eggs until they are frothy and light.  (If you don't have a blender, you can do this with a whisk.)  Blend in 1 tablespoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon rum.  Some people would say the rum is optional, and you can certainly omit it if you object to alcohol.  But it sure makes it taste good--and not at all boozy.  Whip everything in the blender again so that it's thoroughly frothy.  Pour in 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk, then fill the empty can with whole milk and pour that in, too.  Give everything another go in the blender.

Pour the batter into the prepared mold.  Set the mold in a larger vessel, and pour hot water (from the tea kettle is good) into the larger vessel until the water comes between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way up the side of the quesillo mold.

Cover everything with foil, and place it in the center of the preheated oven.

Baking time will depend on the dimensions of your mold.  Mine takes about 90 minutes.  I take the foil off for the last 10 minutes or so.  The quesillo is done when a knife inserted at the center comes out clean, but don't overcook it.  It should be firm but creamy, not rubbery.

Remove the quesillo mold from the hot water and set it on a rack to cool.

When the quesillo is cool, run a thin knife carefully around the edge of the mold.  Be sure to angle the sharp edge of the blade slightly toward the side of the mold; you are less likely to cut into the side of the quesillo that way.  Now comes a fun moment:  once you've loosened the quesillo from the sides of the dish, it should move when you rotate the mold back and forth a little.  Put the quesillo, mold and all, into the refrigerator for several hours to chill thoroughly.

Once it is good and cold, check to be sure that the quesillo is completely free in the dish, so that it will unmold--it should still move when you rotate the dish.  If it doesn't, put some very hot tap water into the larger vessel you used for baking and set the quesillo mold in it for about 10 minutes.  When you're ready to plate the quesillo, put a serving dish business side down over the mold.

Pick a dish that has sides, or a least a lip, so that you can catch all the good syrup that has formed.  I like a shallow pie plate for this--if the sides are too high, it'll be hard to take the slices of quesillo out when you're serving.  (The one in the photo is gorgeous, but a little too tall.)  Invert the mold and serving dish in one flamboyant movement.  The quesillo should drop onto the dish with a satisfying plop.  Lift away the mold, and you're good to go.  (By the way, you'll have a layer of caramel resembling hard candy left behind in the mold.  That's OK, but it takes patience to get it out of there.  Just fill the mold with very hot tap water and let it stand.  Use a couple of changes of water over several hours until all the caramel is dissolved.)

Cut wedges of the quesillo (you'll get about eight from this recipe) and drizzle each piece with a bit of the syrup.  I like to spritz a little whipped cream onto it, but they don't serve it that way in Venezuela.  So do what you like.

Finished quesillo, after we sampled it.  Note the holes.

The original recipe here came from my good friend Michele Lee, an American who lives in the lovely Venezuelan town of Merida.  I made a few small changes (added an egg and reduced the amount of caramel), but it's basically hers.  I made this for the first time several weeks ago, when another good friend, Noa Botello, was visiting from Venezuela. 

One of the joys of this world is that there are wonderful things in all sorts of places.  Take them where you find them, and use them if they work.  Be willing to learn from others, and give credit where it's due.  Then you can use good ideas (and good recipes) from all over.  That's not stealing, it's appreciation.