Imagine this: you’ve been assigned “dessert” for Thanksgiving dinner. You ask around and get a recommendation for a good fall pie (Thanks, Michelle!). You send the recipe to your mom so she can have all the ingredients ready for you when you get to the house. You should have plenty of time – the train gets in at 8:15am and guests don’t arrive until 11am.

And then, the night before Thanksgiving, you double check the train schedule…

And the train doesn’t leave Boston until 8:30am.

Enter store-bought pie crust, and you still have plenty of time to make this pie before the meal!

That’s what happened to me, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the filling comes together super fast, meaning my train mishap wouldn’t result in no pie. As long as you can accept the convenience of a grocery store pie dough, you can have this pie ready in less than an hour.

First, mix together all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Then, roll one piece of the pie dough into a pie plate and pour the filling into the shell. Next, roll the second piece of dough over the top and enlist a sous chef to use a fork to crimp the edges together. Madelyn did a great job on this step, really working hard to seal together the edges! Cut a couple of slits in the top so steam can escape.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put the pie in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°F. I’ve never done this with a pie before, but it worked great! Bake for around 40 minutes, until the apples are fork-tender and the crust is nicely browned.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool. And that’s it! Slice into it for all the fall flavors you want. And if you just can’t stand dessert without pumpkin flavor, too, serve the pie with Chunky Pumpkin Ice Cream.

What do you do with your extra cranberries? Check back next week for Lemon Cranberry Scones!

Enjoy! 

Harvest Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 store-bought pie dough (or enough pie dough for a double-crusted pie)
• 3 cups apples, peeled and diced
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• zest from 1 orange
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together apples, cranberries, raisins, walnuts, orange zest, butter, orange juice, flour, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
3. Roll pie dough out into pie pan. Fill with filling.
4. Roll second dough over top, sealing sides with a fork. Cut 5 slits to allow steam to escape.
5. Place in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 350°F. Bake for about 40 minutes, until apples are fork-tender and crust is browned.
6. Remove from oven and cool in pie plate on wire rack.