Some flavours are classic and timeless like orange and lemon, banana and caramel, cheese and onion the list goes on, one of my favourites especially this time of year when the ingredients are in season is apple and cranberry.















Pie

Pie is a great food; it can be enjoyed hot or cold, sweet or savoury.















I love a good fruit pie fresh, sweet and actually not all that bad for you, especially the pies I make. I never have the pastry crust very thick and rarely do I put a full pie lid on.

Pie lids

As you can see from these images I haven’t given my pie a full pastry lid.















I have nothing against a full pie lid, but I wanted to leave a few of the calories out! Well it is January and I guess it’s always good to watch a few calories now and again, at least show willing 😉















Having only a little pastry on top keeps the pie a little lighter but still gives you that little extra crunch when eating. It’s up to you, I have made this pie with a full pie lid, I have made this pie with no lid I have made this pie with a lattice effect and as you can see now I have used heart shapes.

Pastry















The pastry for this pie is my go to sweet vanilla pastry . It’s a simple basic short crust pastry infused with a little vanilla. You don’t have to add the vanilla it’s a personal choice. I just love vanilla so much even in my pastry.















The case is blind baked for a short period of time, before you add your fruit filling. If you want to save time you can always buy a ready-made sweet short crust pastry.

Fruit Filling

As they are in season and I think they cook better than dessert apples I used bramley cooking apples and fresh cranberries. But in summer months I have used dessert apples with great success. I basically just chopped up the apples added some water, a small amount of sugar a squeeze of lemon juice and once cooked down a bit I tossed in some fresh cranberries after I had pierced the skin of each one with a pin to allow them to sweeten up a bit.















Thicken it with a touch of cornflour and water mixed (cornstarch) and hey presto you have your fruit filling. The reason I add the cornflour to thicken it is because I find it stops your pastry crust getting a soggy bottom!!!















And none of us want a soggy bottom!

Your favourite pie?

Apple and cranberry pie is a classic combination perfect together and timelessly classic. But what’s your favourite pie filling?