Both the pie dough and cranberry filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to use.
Cranberry-Lemon Chess Pie
Yields: 1 (9-inch) pie
Ingredients
- Lemon Pie Dough (recipe follows)
- Cranberry Filling (recipe follows)
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon plain yellow cornmeal
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, rinsed and drained but still damp
- Garnish: confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Let Lemon Pie Dough stand at room temperature until slightly softened, about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate, pressing into bottom and up sides. Fold edges under, and crimp as desired. Top with a piece of parchment paper, letting ends extend over edges of plate. Add pie weights. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove paper and weights. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
- Spread Cranberry Filing in cooled crust.
- In a large bowl, beat ¾ cup granulated sugar, butter, flour, cornmeal, and eggs with a mixer at medium speed until almost smooth. Stir in buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Pour over Cranberry Filling.
- Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes, loosely covering with foil during last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning, if necessary. Let cool completely. Refrigerate until cold.
- Just before serving, toss cranberries with remaining ½ cup granulated sugar. Top pie with sugared cranberries. Garnish with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Lemon Pie Dough
Yields: 1 (9-inch) piecrust
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 5 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt, and zest. Using a pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and a few pea-size pieces of butter remain. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and shape into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
Cranberry Filling
Yields: 1¼ Cups
Ingredients
- 1 (10-ounce) bag fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring all ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook, pressing with the back of a spoon, until cranberries burst and
mixture is very thick, 8 to 10 minutes. Spoon into a bowl; let cool completely, stirring occasionally.
