Colonial Times Apple-cranberry Pie With Cornmeal Crust

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening, plus
• 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
• 6 tablespoons buttermilk (about)
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 3 lbs tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (i like to use either granny smith or braeburn)
• 1/2 cup dried currant
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• buttermilk

Recipe

• 1 for crust:.
• 2 mix first 5 ingredients in a food processor.
• 3 add shortening and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• 4 blend in enough buttermilk by tablespoons to form dough that clumps together.
• 5 gather dough into a ball;divide in half.
• 6 flatten each half into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap; chill 45 minutes.
• 7 (can make 1 day ahead).
• 8 for filling:.
• 9 position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
• 10 coarsely chop cranberries with sugar and pumpkin pie spice in food processor;transfer mixture to a large bowl.
• 11 add apples.currants, and flour and toss well.
• 12 roll out 1 dough disk between sheets of waxed paper to a 13 inch round, peel off top sheet of paper and invert dough into a 9 1/2 inch diameter deep-dish glass pie dish;peel off paper.
• 13 fold under overhanging dough to form a double-thick edge;crimp edges.
• 14 using acorn, leaf or shape of your choice cookie cutters, cut out shapes.
• 15 using a knife, mark veins in leaves or add other decorative touches.
• 16 slightly mound filling in pie dish.
• 17 arrange dough shapes around edges of pie and all over top, overlapping decoratively.
• 18 brush pastry all over with buttermilk.
• 19 place pie on baking sheet (i line it with heavy-duty foil for ease in clean up).
• 20 bake for 45 minutes.
• 21 cover pie with foil and continue baking until juices bubble thickly and crust browns, about 35 minutes more.
• 22 transfer pie to rack and cool 1 hour.
• 23 serve warm or at room temperature.