Caramel Apple-Cran-Orange-Cherry Pie!

My mom says I need sponsors, and I should blog more. So she is baking a pie RIGHT NOW that takes LOTS of preparation, and I am going to blog about it!

I haven't really done a "recipe" style blog before, so I'm going to give it a shot! You know, the kind everyone always repins on pinterest. Where the blogger shares tidbits about his/her life between photos and instructions.

The pie is called Caramel Apple-Cherry Pie.  Prep time is 2 hrs. Bake time is 1 hr. 15 mins. Chill time is 40 mins. She found the pie in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Of course, the recipe tells you how to make the pie crust, but my mom isn't all about making pie crust. She's all about unrolling pie crust from Pillsbury!

It does the trick. In fact, I didn't even know she didn't make it until I was a teenager, and I wanted to know how to make pie.

So there's your recipe for pie crust from me: go buy one! Until I learn how to make one, if even then, that's how I make mine. :)

To prepare the crust for the filling, you have to bake it at 375 for 20 minutes. With no filling... so weigh it down with beans. You are right, that sounds silly. First you have prick the bottom and sides of it with a fork, refrigerate it for 20 minutes, then line it with parchment. THEN you can fill the parchment with dried beans or pie weights and put it in the oven.

So it's called "Caramel Apple-Cherry Pie," but the "Cherry" portion is actually "Cran-Orange-Cherry." Actually, they call that part of the recipe the "Cranberry Compote:"

1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (Mom squeezed fresh mandarin oranges!)
2 tsp. finely shredded orange peel
20 fresh sweet cherries, pitted, or 1 cup frozen unsweetened pitted dark sweet cherries. (We used canned ones, juice drained). 

Basically, you put the cranberries, sugar, juice, and peel and a little salt into a pot. Cook it over medium heat until the cranberries pop, stirring occasionally. Then, gently stir in the cherries when it begins to thicken. Then you need to remove it from heat so it can cool.


The Caramel Apple Filling, which by the way is DELICIOUS just by itself, has the following ingredients.

8 tart baking apples such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4" thick. (2 pounds or so)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flower
1tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup whipping cream (Mom didn't have whipping cream, so she used 1/4 cup evaporated milk.)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
1 egg
and 2 to 3 tbsp coarse sugar.

For the apple part, toss together apples, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a large bowl. Then in a little bowl put brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix that together and then sprinkle it over the apples, stirring gently to coat them.
Melt some butter in a large pot (to fit your apples) over medium heat. Add your apple mixture and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring it frequently. Add whipping cream (evaporated milk) and vanilla. Continue cooking, & stirring until the juices thicken and the apples are tender- about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Then take a freaking bite cuz it's delicious.

So you should also cut your top pie crust into cute little shapes. BH&G used leaves, but we used trees and moons.

Then you are ready to fill up your pie!!

So after you made the crust golden brown and you got your fillings cool, you layer them inside like lasagna. 1/3 of your cherries, half your apples, 1/3 of your cherries, half your apples, then dollop the rest of the cherries on.

Then put brush the crust edge with egg wash, and put your shapes on there (connect the edge ones to the edge), and brush those, too.

When that's done, you are supposed to sprinkle the pie with coarse sugar. Well we didn't have any, so Mom decided on pink sprinkles! :)

 

That's it! Stick it in the oven and bake it for 40 minutes. Cover edges with foil and bake 10-15 minutes more.  You may want to put a pan below the pie to catch the drippings. Mom put a piece of parchment paper on the pan.