A Recipe for Making the Most of Fresh Cranberries

Above: Cranberry filling (with cooked apple pieces), on egg wash-brushed pastry. Above: A cold New Year’s beach and a cranberry hand pie.

Cranberry Hand Pies

Most fresh cranberries: a concise orientation before we get practical.

Most fresh cranberries: Quick notes

Makes 14 x 3 ¾-inch round pies (or 16 x 4-inch, half-moon pies)

Butter and half-and-half make the pastry meltingly tender—embrace them. Chilling the pastry is essential for a crisp texture, so do not skip this step. For the filling’s seasonal flavorings, pair the orange zest with juniper or fir. Spicebush works beautifully instead of the zest.

Pastry

• 10 oz (2½  sticks) unsalted butter, cold
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 cups/8.8 oz all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the rolling surface
• 6 Tablespoons half-and-half

Filling

• 12 oz fresh cranberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon packed, microplaned orange zest or 2 teaspoons ground spicebush
• 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
• 8 juniper berries, ground finely (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground fir needles (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons sugar for dusting

For the pastry: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Using the coarse side of a box grater, grate the cold butter into the flour (no grater? Cut it into small cubes). Work the butter and flour between your fingertips until the mixture resembles evenly coarse crumbs (with a few larger pieces allowed). Yes, you can also toss it all into a food processor and spin.

Pour in the half-and-half and work with a wooden spoon a few times. Bring the pastry together with your hands, taking care to use as few motions as possible (the more you work it the less tender will become when baking). Now divide the pastry into two equal pieces. Wrap and chill the pastry until solid—at least 2 hours, and as long as 24 (or freeze for later use). You can do this ahead.

For the filling: Place the cranberries with the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water in a pot over medium-high heat. Stir, and cover. You’ll hear some popping noises as some of the cranberries split in the heat. Gradually their juices will be drawn out. When their liquid is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the fruit is soft and saucy, about 8 minutes. Stir in the orange zest (or spicebush), and the juniper or fir, if using.

In a cup stir the cornstarch into 2 more tablespoons of water. When it is smooth, pour this slurry into the hot cranberry mixture and stir until it is thick—about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Spoon the filling into a bowl, and transfer to the fridge to chill.

To make: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cover a large baking sheet in parchment paper.

Roll out the Pastry: Remove the pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll your first pastry ball out to approximately 1/8 inch. Press out as many 3 ¾-inch shapes as you can. Lay them on a baking sheet and move to the fridge while you work on the second pastry ball. Gather up remaining pastry fragments, work those inot a ball with your hands, and return to the fridge to chill. Roll and press out extra shapes from your second ball. Now use your saved trimmings to make some extras. Lay all the additional pressed-out circles on the baking sheet (or on two, if they don’t fit) and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Beat the egg in a small bowl.

To assemble: Remove the baking sheet/s from the fridge. Place a heaped tablespoonful of filling into the center of half the pastry rounds. Using a pastry brush, swipe a border of water around the edges of the unfilled rounds that will become lids. Carefully place the lids over the filled rounds, pressing down firmly on the edges to make them stick. When all have been covered and pressed, crimp the edges of the cranberry hand pies tightly closed with the tines of fork.

(For making half-moon hand pies, fill just one side of the pastry circle and fold the empty half over the filling, pressing down as above.)

Return to the fridge and chill for 10 minutes.

Just before baking, brush the pies with egg wash. Cut a slit in the top of each, and dust them all with the 2 Tablespoons of sugar.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pastry is dark golden and the pies are lightly puffed. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

N.B.: This post was first published December 2023.

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We reference Most fresh cranberries briefly to keep the thread coherent.