This brightly colored cranberry pie screams “it’s the holiday season!” My friend Carol made this pie for our annual beach trip this year. The original recipe is from Epicurious. It was the perfect balance of tart and sweet and a great prelude to the holiday season. Think of this pie as a key lime pie dressed up in red for the holidays.
The crust is made with ground gingersnaps and roasted pecans with a little brown sugar and some melted butter. You can also use graham crackers for the crust if you prefer. You will need a food processor or a blender to combine the ingredients for the crust. The cookie crumb and nut crust is pressed into a pie pan or a removable bottom tart pan. The crust needs to bake briefly until set and then allowed to cool.
Next, you will need to slowly simmer either fresh or frozen cranberries with a little sugar and water until the cranberries burst and the sauce becomes thick and congeals just like cranberry sauce. Puree the cranberries in a blender or food processor until smooth. Push the cranberry sauce through a sieve to create a smooth and seedless puree.
The next step is to make the lime and cranberry curd. If you have had experience making a curd, you know that you will need to slowly cook the eggs and lime juice, and sugar until it becomes thick. Then, beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time to achieve a smooth, light curd.
The curd can be spooned into the cooled crust and placed into the refrigerator to set and chill. While the tart is cooling you can create the sugared cranberries and lime zest. Use this sugared cranberry and zest mixture to garnish the top of the pie.
You may wish to make some fresh whipped cream to serve with each slice of pie.
I think that you and your guests will be satisfied with this bold, red, sweet, and tart cranberry pie. This pie will certainly become a staple in our household this holiday season.
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