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Mock Cherry Pie
1 cup cranberries 1/2 cup seeded raisins 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon almond extract 1 teaspoon butter Line a pie-pan with crust. Fill with cranberries, washed and cut in halves, mixed with chopped raisins. Sprinkle with mixture of sugar and flour, add almond extract, and dot with butter. Cover with a second crust, and bake.
A two-crust pie with a very small quantity of filling by modern standards, and no oven temperature or time given. Both are easily supplied.
- Oven and timeBake at 425F for about 15 minutes to set and colour the bottom crust, then reduce to 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the juices bubble thickly through the vents. A cranberry filling needs the hot start or the base stays pale and soft.
- Pan sizeOne cup of cranberries and half a cup of raisins is only enough for a small pan, roughly 6 to 7 inches; for a standard 9-inch pie you will want to about double the filling, or the top crust sinks onto the bottom.
- Vent the top crustCranberries throw a lot of steam and the sugar-flour mixture turns to syrup. Cut slashes or a centre hole, and set the pie on a rimmed sheet to catch boil-over.
- Cutting the berriesHalving each cranberry is not fussiness. Whole berries burst late and unevenly and leave hollow pockets under the crust; halved, they collapse into a jammy filling.
- Almond extractA full teaspoon is assertive with modern extracts. Half a teaspoon reads as cherry; a full teaspoon reads as marzipan.
- ThickeningOne tablespoon of flour per cup of berries gives a loose, spoonable filling rather than a sliceable one. If you want clean wedges, use a scant tablespoon of cornstarch in its place and let the pie cool completely before cutting.
- The butterOne teaspoon dotted over the fruit is a gloss, not a fat for the filling. Use it, but do not expect it to do anything structural.
- YieldSix modest slices from a 7-inch pie; the doubled version serves eight.