A Sweet Christmas Treat

Are you ready to start bake holiday sweet holiday treats?!  Looking for an unforgettable dessert that will have your family and friends singing your praises and telling you that you’ve missed your calling as a pastry chef?  Well, I’ve got just the recipe for you!

Not only do I have first-hand, taste-bud knowledge of this magnificent treat but, I also have witnessed a cluster of southern women fawning and begging for the recipe just a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving, where there had been an assortment of pies and cakes, but none took the limelight away from this pie!

The story of this pie starts in Jackson, Wyoming.  My boyfriend and I had gone on a hiking trip.  About to set off on my first hiking expedition, we decided to stop for lunch at the Snake River Brewery.  It turns out they have the most amazing food menu.  Included in it was a fantastic football-size calzone that I devoured in its entirety to my boyfriend’s amazement.  We took dessert to go as there was no way I could have eaten one more bite.

Marcela on the boat going across Jenny Lake

Convinced by my novice pleas to shorten the route, we took the last boat of the day across the lake to the south end of Jenny Lake.   We trekked through the cool forest to Hidden Falls and up another steep half-mile to Inspiration Point.  From a black shale perch we looked upon the awe-inspiring view of the cobalt blue lake and the glacial moraine that formed it. Resting out feet, we sat down to savor dessert.

Marcela loving the view on Inspiration Point

It was there that I tasted the most amazing combination of flavors I have ever encountered in a dessert.  The piquant cranberries balanced the sweet richness of apple and cream, the streusel topping was a lovely crumble of dusty sweetness to the moist filling.  It was heavenly.  So amazed I was with this dessert that I proposed we go back to the same place for dinner and have it again.  It was even more delicious with the ice cream gently melting into the warm treat.

So my boyfriend, being the culinary genius that he is, replicated the dessert turning it from a fruit cobbler to an apple-strawberry-cranberry pie with streusel topping.  Now I am going to share this delectable dessert with you!

This pie is based on the Dutch Apple pie in America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (a great addition to any kitchen library, full reliable and excellent recipes.) The pie takes two kinds of apples, one firm to retain distinct shape during cooking and the other that cooks down to a sweet applesauce. Granny Smith and Fuji fit the firm-and-soft bill, respectively. While hand-made crust is best, using a ready-to-bake frozen crust cuts kitchen time in half. Make sure to pre-bake the pie crust according to the package directions, erring a bit on the undercooked side as the pie goes back in the oven to cook the streusel.

Prick the ready to bake frozen crust before first baking it

Place oven rack at lowest position and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients:

Streusel

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon fine-ground cornmeal
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

  Mix the flour, sugars, and cornmeal together in a medium bowl, then drizzle with the butter.

  Stir the streusel with a fork until roughly combined.

Stir the streusal with a fork

Streusal roughly combined

Ingredients:

For Pie

• 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
• Fuji Apples, (3-5) peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
• Granny Smith Apples (4-5), peeled, cored and sliced into ½ inch cubes

Peeled, cored and cut apples

Apples cut into 1/2 inch cubes

• 1 Cup Whole Frozen Strawberries (thawed, according to package directions)
• 1 cup of Fresh Cranberries (in a pinch you can use ¼ cup of Craisins)
• ¼ cup of granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup heavy cream

Directions:

  For the filling: Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Stir in the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the cranberries and continue to cook, covered, until some of the apples have begun to break down, about 7 minutes longer.  Add the cream and strawberries to the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook until the cream is thick and sticky and has reduced by half, about 3 minutes.

Cook until the cream is thick and sticky

  Spread the apple filling in the warm, partially baked pie crust.  Sprinkle with the streusel.  Place pie on a cookie sheet and bake until the crust and streusel have browned, about 25 minutes.  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

Apple-strawberry-cranberry pie

Enjoy! I know I did!