Flooded Cran Apple Pie

Hey all.

So I've been mostly silent here for the past...uh month? I have a lot going on in my life right now. Mostly good things.

I also am working toward a new small tomatoes website. So to simplify my life, and not be AWOL on this blog, this is the last post for smalltomatoes.blogspot.com. It's been a good - well, mostly novice and shakey- run with blogger, but I'm ready to take this to the next level.

So, for my last post, at the request of a friend, I'll talk about the Flooded Cran/Apple Pie.

As usual, I claim that the tastiness of this pie comes from the integrity of the ingredients. I went to the Philly Fair Food stand in Reading Terminal one day, and saw some fresh cranberries. I'd never had a fresh cranberry before. When I went back, they only had frozen, but it's all the same for pies.

I discovered that I LOVE non-dried cranberries. While most pucker and spit, I enjoy the wild and tart flavor. I mean cmon, it's like a sourpatch kid, but hippy.

These crans are from the Pine Barrens in NJ... and I've actually stumbled upon the area on a strange and unusual summer trip to the Pine Barrens. It's the third-largest producer of cranberries in the country! And it was pretty crazy. This map shows the region. All the green squares are empty pools that that are filled with water and cranberries when the time is ripe.

The apples were from a PA farm. I used Fugi and something else... they were all bruised aka "for making pies". I made this first for a party, so to save time, I cheated and bought a whole wheat crust from Whole Foods.


Alright, this pie goes against my grain in one very particular way. I used the standard tricks of the trade to get food to taste good... I added salt and fat. I was baking for other people, and the pressure got to me.

Anyway, it was devoured in about 10 minutes, so I guess it works.

In the pie:

• about 5 apples sliced medium thin
• about 2 handfuls of FROZEN cranberries (you can use fresh, but don't thaw frozen)
• 1 Tbs of flour
• 1 cup of organic sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Baking the pie:

1. thaw the pre-made crusts so that they're pliable
2. line the bottom with crust, fill with filling, duh.
3. dot in some places with butter
4. invert the other pie crust over top
5. wet your fingers, rub the bottom outer crust so that it's slightly wet
6. press the two crusts together
7. Brush with milk, egg, or cooled-off melted butter
8. Bake at 350 for 30 mins, then bake for 30 more mins with a crust shield on so the edges don't burn ( i use crumpled aluminum foil b/c I don't have one of those!
9. Take out of the oven and let cool

I originally intended to top this with drizzled salted caramel. I messed up, but the effect was pretty cool.

The flooded topping:

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• salt

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan
2. Heat on medium heat until sugar dissolves
3. Add butter in chunks, let them melt
4. Continue stirring continuously as mixture begins to turn brown
5. Let mixture darken, and reduce in volume as some water burns off about 10 minutes
6. To stop the browning process, add a splash or two of heavy cream
7. turn off heat immediately
8. Let the mixture cool slightly, and then pour all over the top of the pie
9. Top off with some sprinkles of coarse sea salt

It's sweet, it's fruity, tart, occasionally savory, buttery, and flakey. But as my partner put it, "it looks like you just flooded your pie." And that's how the story goes.



So long for now. I'll be back in a month, and it's going to be real legit (fingers crossed).

Thanks for reading smalltomatoes!