Gran’s Cranberry Sauce…not jellied.
A hand-cranked meat grinder works better than a blender, but either will do. (Blender gets things too ‘same’ and too fine.) Back off and use blender very slightly. You want chunks, not a puree.
2 packets cranberries. Discard green ones.
2-3 large sweet oranges
1 pkg pecan pieces.
Sugar if needed: taste as you go, but oranges should do it.
Grind berries, oranges, pecans, mix, chill.
If you wanted it gelled, cherry Jell-o might do it. But it’s better without. Us kids used to ask for this stuff as a before-dinner bribe and then again as post-dinner dessert, even with the lure of pies on the table.
Last one – best pumpkin pie ever (thanks to cooking the canned pumpkin and adding sweet potatoes for depth of flavour:
If candied yams are unavailable, regular canned yams can be substituted. The best way to judge doneness is with an instant-read thermometer. The center 2 inches of the pie should look firm but jiggle slightly. The pie finishes cooking with residual heat; to ensure that the filling sets, cool it at room temperature and not in the refrigerator. To ensure accurate cooking times and a crisp crust, the filling should be added to the prebaked crust when both the crust and filling are warm. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream. Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor; do not substitute.
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold, cut into two pieces
2 tablespoons vodka, cold (see note)
2 tablespoons cold water
Filling
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs plus 2 large yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup drained candied yams from 15-ounce can (see note)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon table salt
Instructions
1. For the Crust: Process 3/4 cup flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds; dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
4. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Using thumb and forefinger, flute edge of dough. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Remove pie pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake on rimmed baking sheet 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake 5 to 10 additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp. Remove pie plate and baking sheet from oven.
6. For the Filling: While pie shell is baking, whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks, and vanilla together in medium bowl. Combine pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in large heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, 5 to 7 minutes. Continue to simmer pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly and mashing yams against sides of pot, until thick and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Remove pan from heat and whisk in cream mixture until fully incorporated. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl, using back of ladle or spatula to press solids through strainer. Rewhisk mixture and transfer to warm prebaked pie shell. Return pie plate with baking sheet to oven and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking until edges of pie are set (instant-read thermometer inserted in center registers 175 degrees), 20 to 35 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature, 2 to 3 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.
Swedish Apple Pie…
Oh so simple and oh so yummy! This one I got from my aunt, no idea where she found it, but the first Turkey Day out here with in-laws, out-laws, and assorted no-laws, I told peeps I wanted to make a funky apple pie and got poo-pood because the fan-dambily only like regular apple pie. NEXT time I got told skip the regular pie, make 3 funky ones!
Anyway, its
-mound pie pan 2/3 of the way up with pealed and cut apples- I use mixed, heavy on Braeburns and Granny smiths
-Sprinkle apples with a mix of 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream together
-3/4 cup soft butter
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup flour
-1 egg
-1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
-pinch salt
glop batter over apple slices and bake at 350deg F for 45 minutes or until golden brown. I always manage to spill this one over, so for sanity sake I bake it over a cooky tin
Well heck, it ate this the first time so it must be good! Blame any duplication on the vagaries of computer programming.
I got this from my Aunt, not sure where she got it originally, but its been making the trek around the world with my family for years. When I first moved out here and did Turkey day with assorted in-laws, out-laws, and no-laws I volunteered to make Apple Pie. When I mentioned ‘funky apple pie’ I got poopood because the whole fan-dambily ONLY likes regular apple pie. So, I made one funky and a couple traditional apple pies. NEXT holiday to roll around though, I was ASKED to make a bunch of ‘funky apple pies.’ Oh, and skip the regular apple pie! Its easy and oohh so yummy either hot or cold!
**Swedish Apple Pie**
(aka ‘Funky Apple Pie’ and probably as Swedish as I am, which is to say NOT)
-Fill a pie pan about 2/3 full mounded with sliced and pealed apples. I like a mix, usually with Braeburn and Granny Smith, or other good baking apples.
-Sprinkle apples with a mix of 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Cream together
-3/4 cup softened butter
-1 cup flour
-1 cup sugar
-1 egg
-1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but the crunch is goooood)
-pinch salt
Glop batter over apples (original recipe calls for ‘pour’ but I like to do it with the batter thicker)and bake at 350deg F for 45 minutes or until golden brown. I always manage to make it so it overflows the pie pan, so I bake it with a cookie sheet underneath!
Sounds like “apple cobbler” to me.
“Cobbler refers to a variety of dishes, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, consisting of a fruit or savoury filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit, or pie crust before being baked.” Wikipedia.
Most cobblers I’ve had were more goopy and used a batter that was less sweet than this one comes out! When its baked correctly, allowed to cool a bit, and has the right varieties of apples, this actually holds together in slices. The batter is also more cookie dough than biscuit mix!
It usually doesn’t get a chance to cool though… 🙂
Well, you are adding a cup of sugar to the “crust”. 😉 When I used to make rhubarb cobbler (before that much sugar became off-limits), I used Bisquick for the crust, but only added enough water to make it between pancake batter and bisquit dough consistancy, i.e. spreadable, not pourable. It soaked up some of the juice. I suppose I could have added sugar to it to, but I rather liked the overall tartness. (I like gooseberry pies too. 😉 )
We use Splenda, and you can actually cook with it. Might work, if we could even have the fruit (the one thing we really get to miss on our diet). It’s quite tempting, however.
Interesting—and clever! You could adapt this one for Atkins by using Splenda, and you’d be illegal, but not quite that illegal.
Seems like a variation on Betty Crocker’s Impossibly Easy Pies which use Bisquick.