Cran-Apple Dream Pie

 The other night we were having friends over for dinner. Hubby was fixing his delicious Chicken Curry with a lot of spice so I decided to create a creamy yet refreshing pie with a holiday flare. although there are several steps, this really is an easy peasy and so yummy pie, well worth the little bit of time put into making it. The cranberries can be rough chopped in the blender or food processor. Save yourself the headache of trying to chop each little cranberry or chasing them around the counter or floor. It's amazing the places you will find them later. ;-)
I used crumbs created from stale doughnuts that I cubed and lightly toasted before turning to crumbs as part of my crust ingredients but there are more possibilities such as crumbed short bread cookies, or the regular graham cracker crust. So I'm stating graham cracker crumbs in the recipe, but be creative! I never let anything go to waste, so if cookies are getting a bit dry or the same with cake, I just cube or crumble them up and dry them in the oven so I can use them for sweet crumb crusts later.
This pie has two main layers, one a creamy dreamy whipped cream cheese and whipped cream layer with a touch of grated orange peel. The other a fresh chopped cranberries and apples in jello. I used cherry jello as I didn't have raspberry, but try either and see which you like better. Cherry was very good, but I really want to try raspberry next time. Okay enough of this nonsense, on to the recipe!

CRAN-APPLE DREAM PIE

Serves 8

CRUST

1 1/2 c. sweet crumbs from graham crackers or shortbread cookies

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

In a 9" pie plate combine ingredients and press onto bottom and up the sides of the dish. In a pre-heated 350 degree oven bake for 5 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

CREAM CHEESE LAYER

1- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream, whipped, buy a pint container of whipping cream so you have some for topping as well.

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1-2 t. greated orange rind

1/2 - 3/4 c. powdered sugar, to taste

In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and orange rind, mix well. Gently fold in whipped cream until fully incorporated. Don't beat heavily as whipped cream will lose it's stiffness and the creamy filling will be too soft. Spread into the cooled crust and let set in the refrigerator while preparing jello layer. 

JELLO LAYER

1- 3 oz. box Cherry or Raspberry Jello

1 c. boiling water

3/4 c. cold water

1 c. each chopped apple and cranberries

1/2 c. sugar

In a medium size bowl combine jello, sugar and boiling water, stirring to dissolve. Add cold water and let soft set in refrigerator. Add fruit and stir gently. Carefully spoon over cream cheese layer in pie plate. Let set until firm, about 1-2 hours.

WHIPPED TOPPING
1 1/2 c. whipping cream
3-4 T. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
In a mixing bowl combine ingredients and whip until soft stiff peaks form. Add a dollup to each piece of pie when served.

Harvest Pumpkin Pie

Comfort food is always a winner when the weather turns cold and a blanket of snow is covering everything. Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. I always like to ask if there's anything they can't or won't eat as well as something they would like to have. The request was for meatloaf, shrimp and pumpkin pie. Who would have thought that a missionary from Mexico City would ask for pumpkin pie, but he had tasted some last year and really wanted to try it again. Far be it from me to deny this industrious young man his wish.
I decided to try a "flaky" crust recipe and a twist on the old favorite. For the crust I started with 2 1/2 c. unsifted all purpose flour and whisked  in 2 T. sugar and 3/4 t. salt. With my pastry blender I cut in 10 T. cold butter and 3 T. lard, but you can use shortening if you prefer. I just happened to have the lard around for tortillas and never have shortening, so there you go. No, this isn't your health conscious recipe. What?! Hey, you don't have to eat the whole pie in one sitting just because it's totally delicious and creamy and wonderfully yummy.... ;-)

After the flour and fats were blended to a crumbly mixture I added 1 large egg, and then sprinkled on 1 T. white vinegar, and about 4 T. ice cold water. I took my trusty fork, and gently folded the wet into the dry. Be careful not to work it too much or your crust will be tough. When the dough sticks together nicely create to balls of dough and then flatten them into disks to wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured board and use your pie pan, a 9" one will do for this pie. The other dough disk can be frozen or used for another pie. Invert your pie pan onto the dough and cut about 1 to 1 1/2" away from the edge, all the way around. Gently pick up the dough by one edge and fold it over to the other, lift this into your pie pan and lay open. DO NOT stretch the dough to get it to fit into the pan otherwise it will shrink away from the sides of the pie plate and you will have a much smaller crust than expected. Fold over and crimp the edges. See how pretty?

Next you lightly prick the bottom of the crust but try not to pierce through to the dish. Heat your oven to 425 degrees as you will be partially baking this crust empty. This helps insure that your crust is nicely cooked from top to bottom.  Now you need a square piece of foil, place that onto the crust, then add  some dry rice or beans to fill the foil about 3/4 of an inch. This keeps your crust from puffing up during the baking process. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove the foil and rice and bake for 3-5 more minutes until the crust is no longer translucent and is just beginning to look golden. Take out the crust and put a flat baking pan in the center oven rack.

Make a glaze with one egg white (save the yolk to use later)  and 1 T. water whisked together. Brush this over the bottom and sides of the crust to help seal it. Cool on a wire rack.

In a mixer bowl combine 2 cups of pureed pumpkin, with 2 eggs plus the saved yolk. Beat well.

I thought this was a cool shot so I added it for fun...

Add 1/2 c. sugar

1 cup cream or canned milk

Now, the yummy part! Add 1/2 cup real maple syrup, or if you must, maple flavored syrup. I used the real deal. To that add 2 t. pumpkin pie spice or a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, as well as 1/2 t. salt. For those of you who like to skip the salt, DON'T!!! Oh sorry, a flash back to my Mommy days.... Now then if you leave out the salt, your pie will not have the fullness of flavor a good pie should have. Just saying...... Okay cooperate blogger! Sheesh, I'm almost done and you have to get fussy! Alrighty then, I guess I will finish up here, above the photo, so into the oven your pie is carefully placed, onto the baking pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and continue to bake the pie for another 45 minutes. To keep the edge of the crust from browning you will want to make a foil cover for the edges, or you can buy a nice metal crust protector at any fine cookware store. Take your pie out and let it cool on a rack before covering and chilling for at least 4 hours before serving. Serve with your favorite topping. Oh yeah, those cute little leaf cutouts I made and took a picture of that you see at the top of these photos never made it on top of the pie. It would have looked wonderful but, well I reached into the cupboard without looking and managed to dust them with seasoning salt instead of cinnamon sugar. They make great crackers, but somehow I don't think the blend of garlic and onions in the seasoning salt goes with pumpkin pie. Maybe I'm wrong....yeah, you're right, I'm not. :-) I hope you give this recipe a try. In the immortal words of the late and great Miss Julia....Bon Appetite!