Pies are not my forté. This piece of purple perfection was made by Hubs, as are most of the pies in my house. I make one Libby's pumpkin pie, with a Pillsbury pie crust, each Thanksgiving, and that's it.
I really don't even like pie. I mean, I'll definitely eat it if it's offered, but I prefer cakes, cookies and brownies. I only like pecan pie if it's made in cake form.
But I married into a pie family. Let me say, for the record, that I adore my family-in-law. My first indication that they were different from my family came when I was first invited to a family birthday party. They served birthday pie for dessert. I waited for the punchline, but it never came. "Where's the birthday cake?" I asked myself. There was none. Gasp.
At that point, I had never before been to a birthday party without cake. Of course, 12 years later, I've grown accustomed to their birthday pies, but when my birthday rolls around, I always choose cake.
That's all beside the point. Here is my hubby's beautiful cranberry-blueberry pie. It is very tasty. It's quite tart, but that can all be adjusted with sugar. It's actually a nice tartness--would be great in the summer. And if you have a bag of cranberries in the back of your freezer like we did, making this pie in the summer will be a breeze. Just think of all the antioxidants with the blueberries and cranberries.
(But...it will never be cake.)
I'm afraid I don't have an actual recipe for you. Hubs used a combination of recipes and just winged it when it came to adding the cranberries. I'm really quite impressed, because Hubs is a big-time measurer and recipe-follower. As he gains more experience in the kitchen, his confidence is growing and allowing him to step outside the cookbook once in a while.
I can tell you he used a Pillsbury crust. (It's really quite good and takes out so much of the work!) You could probably follow any basic fruit filling directions where you need to cook the fruit and add sugar and a thickener. You'll probably have to add the sugar to taste--definitely do a taste test before filling the pie to make sure you have enough. And Hubs prefers cornstarch as a thickener instead of flour. Just mix a teaspoon or two with some water, stir it into the hot fruit, and let it boil for a minute or two. If it's not thick enough, repeat.
If my vagueness is bothering you, leave a comment or email me and I'll dig up a proper recipe for you. :)
