Award Winner!!

Last night was John's squadron's holiday party. We had such a blast!

There was a dessert contest, so OF COURSE, I entered. I am usually a little baking challenged, especially since we aren't at sea level. But, hey, pie's are altitude safe! So, I asked John, "What sort of pie should I make? One of my usual's?" He came right back with a cranberry-apple pie. Umm... YUM! I knew there was a reason I married him! Anyway, I searched allrecipes.com for a few recipes, and decided to combine a few I had found to make the best pie ever. It was super easy, although the crust I made gave me a bit of hassle. I apparently didn't add enough water, so I had to keep going back and adding more. Unfortuantely, I have NO pictures, I was stressed out over getting ready and having 2 screaming/misbehaving children to even care about pictures. It wasn't until I got home from the holiday party that I said "OMG! I didn't even take a picture of my pie!!!" Guess I'll just have to make another one of these days... bummer. ;)
Anyway, as usual, I've typed out the recipe and saved it to my file, and thought some of you may want to make your own award winning pie!! I won a giant gift basket filled with pampered chef things! And if you make it, feel free to take all the credit! I won't know! ;)

Here it is!

Cranberry-Apple Pie

(AWARD WINNING!)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cranberries
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 5 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 4 9 inch pie crusts - unbaked

• extra pie crust - cut into leaves
• few extra cranberries, for decorating, if desired
• corn syrup or honey
• sugar for dusting
• 1 egg white

•  
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large saucepan, mix together white sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and salt. Stir in cranberries and maple syrup. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir apples into simmering mixture, and continue to cook for 5 minutes, or until apples are tender. Remove from heat, and stir in walnuts. Pour apple mixture into pie shell; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, 3/4 cup flour, brown sugar, and melted butter. Mix well, and sprinkle over apple filling.
5. Take second crust and make a lattice top. Any extra crust, roll out, and use cookie cutters to make holly leaves. Bake separately
6. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until topping is golden brown. Serve warm.
7. Glue the leaves on to pie with egg whites for last couple minutes. Also, roll few extra cranberries in honey or corn syrup, and roll in sugar to give crystalized look. Glue those in-between leaves to look like bunches.

I hope you are all enjoying your holidays this season! Thank you all for reading and supporting me!

XOXO