Apple-Cranberry Pie

Have you recovered from Christmas yet?  It took me a couple of days to not feel exhausted.....but man, was it worth it!  We had a fantastic time, both on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day!

As usual, I am in charge of desserts on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day......and in the weeks leading up to the holiday I had a list a mile long of all of the things I wanted to make.  A few days before Christmas Eve I started realizing how much time I needed in the kitchen to do what I wanted to do.......so I made a decision then and there that I had to shrink the list down and spend more time playing with the kiddos and enjoying the season.  So I don't have a million new recipes to show you from Christmas.....most of the things that I ended up making are tried and true recipes that our family loves.  This was the best decision I could have made!  I was completely stress-free, and got to thoroughly enjoy the holiday.  What I ended up making was:

• Apple-Cranberry Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Christmas Tree Cupcakes
• Joanne Chang's Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Graham Cracker Toffee Bark

All of these were repeats except for the Apple-Cranberry Pie, which was delicious!  I was on a cranberry kick and had seen this recipe in an issue of Gourmet.  Looking online, it had gotten great reviews and looked pretty painless to throw together.

All of the cousins, minus my youngest, who was sleeping.

Again, I used refrigerated pie crust.......one of these days I will get comfortable with making my own.  Both the topping and the filling of this pie are pretty fast to throw together.....the only time consuming part being the peeling, coring, and slicing of apples.  After you place the filling in the pie crust you are actually going to bake it without the crumb topping for a bit, until the apples begin to soften.  Then you'll put the crumb topping on and continue baking till bubbly.  You may want to put a baking sheet or some aluminum foil beneath the pie pan.  I experienced a bit of filling spillage while it was baking....which was not too fun to clean up from the bottom of the oven.  Also, keep an eye on the crumb topping once it's on.....the pecan may darken too quickly and you'll have to top with foil.

The pie had the lovely sweetness from the apples and the crumb topping....contrasted with the yummy tartness of the cranberries.  I heard a couple of people mentioned that it tasted like the holidays.  Perfect!!

Go to Epicurious.com for the recipe.....and Enjoy!

My little monkeys....yep, I dressed them matchy-matchy!

This post is linked to:
Full Plate Thursday - Turning the Table Thursday - Bake with Bizzy - It's a Keeper Thursday - Sweet Tooth Friday - Friday Favorites - Anything Goes Linky - Show Off Your Stuff - I'm Lovin' It - Friday Food - Sweets for a Saturday - Sweet Indulgences Sunday - Tuesday Talent Show - Link Party - Crazy Sweet Tuesday - Tea Party Tuesday - Tasty Tuesday - T Time - These Chicks Cooked - Link It Up Wednesday - Cast Party Wednesday - This Week's Cravings