Cranberry Pear Pie

Hello! I have finally made it out of finals week, so am posting some desserts made just before the storm. I made this pie for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s cranberry pear, which is a bit of a new pie flavor for me — but the taste is tart and yummy. And this pie is vegan! :O I followed the recipe from Chloe Coscarelli’s vegan desserts cookbook, and it turned out great. For the dough, I used her recipe for a double pie crust, and the filling I used her cranberry pear pie filling recipe. Here is the filling before baking. It has a very thick and jelly like consistency. The shape of the pie was inspired by a picture I saw on pintrest a few months back (see here). Someone had used hearts to piece together the top of the pie, and it was so cute I had to try it myself. My version places the hearts underneath the crust border for a flatter pattern, but you can also do it the way it was done originally and let the hearts rest above the crimped edge of the pie for a hump shape on the top of the pie. If you do i that way, I recommend increasing the recipe for the filling so it can provide a solid support for the top crust. To make the hears, I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut hearts out of a flat rolled out pie crust. At the end you’ll have a pie of scraps like this. But you can continue rolling them flat to make more hearts, or into little balls to make baked dough balls. Here’s some great videos on crimping pie: Classic style (the one I used here) Fancier crusts The most important part of crimping was having an overhang in the dough, so you can fold it under itself before you start crimping. This ensures a neat pie crust that also stands up on itself. When you’re baking, the pie crust will get brown faster than the rest of the pie. To make sure everything still looks even colored, put some foil around the crust halfway through baking.

Cranberry Pear Pie

Savoring Spoon

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Ingredients

  

Pie filling

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 pears peeled and diced
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons basalmic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pie Crust

• 2.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegan margarine I used Earth Balance
• 10 tablespoons ice-cold water as needed
• soy milk for brushing
• brown sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

 

Make pie crust

• Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add vegan margarine and cut into the flour mixture until crumbly.
• Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and mix with a spatula until dough holds together. Do not overwork till it's all flat. The crumbly texture has butter bits that will melt to create air pockets during baking.
• Make 2 discs out of the dough, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate till ready to use.

Make filling

• In saucepan, mix cranberries, maple syrup, orange juice, till boiling.
• Reduce heat to simmer for 10 min or until cranberries have popped.
• Add pears, cornstarch, salt, and cook a few more minutes with constant stirring.
• Remove from stove, stir in vinegar and vanilla, and let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or a few hours at least).

Assemble pie

• Take one pie crust (one disc) from refrigerator and let soften to room temperature. Roll out to a circle that fits in the pie container with about a 1-2 inch overhang off the sides. The disc should be about 1/8 inch thick.
• Take out second pie crust and roll out into similar circle. Take heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut hearts out of the second pie crust.
• Fit first crust into the pie pan, and tuck the edge of the pie crust in. Crimp edges following the video above. Pour filling into to pie crust.
• Place hearts on the sauce, starting from the outside and working your way in, overlapping the hearts.
• Brush hearts and crust with soymilk, and sprinkle on brown sugar for added crisp
• Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes, till the crust is well browned. If the edge of the crust browns too fast (compared to the hearts in the center), cover with foil.

Notes

Recipe for filling and pie crust are from Chloe's vegan desserts cookbook by Chloe Coscarelli