Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Cranberry Crackle Tart



This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for the Cranberry Crackle Tart. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from this pie and the picture looked interesting. This pie is basically pie pastry filled with cranberry-studded meringue. My friends kept asking me if the pie was cranberry, topped with meringue. No the meringue is the filling for the pie. Interesting! was the verdict. I loved that the recipe was fairly straight-forward and required few ingredients. Make sure you check out what the other TWD bakers thought of this week’s recipes at the Tuesdays with Dorie website.

I used some pie dough that I already had on hand, basically galette dough. I love Dorie’s press in the pan pastry, but I figured I should just use what I already had. You top the pastry with a thin layer of jam; I used some raspberry preserves that a friend at work had made. I’m glad I had read what the other TWD bakers had experienced in making the meringue. They suggested using a hand mixer to make the meringue, since it was a fairly small volume and sometimes the big mixer doesn’t do the best job with small projects.

I mixed my meringue but I’m not sure that I whipped it enough. It seemed a little soft, but I folded in the cranberries and put it in the oven to bake. Mine puffed and cracked a bit, and it’s a very pretty pie. It seems like it shrank a little as it cooled. I think that my pastry got over baked throughout this process, but I had rolled it fairly thin, so maybe that was it. My husband and I tried this and it’s…interesting. Some bites I really liked it, other bites I thought that there were too many cranberries. I liked the meringue combined with the jam, so maybe there is some recipe idea there. This isn’t going to be my favorite pie, but I’m really glad I tried it.

Recipe from Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan, pages 135-137

8 comments:

Golden Life PHX said...

I felt the same way although my husband loved it. Definitely worth trying since it was so unique.

Zosia said...

Sorry it wasn't a hit for you. I had misgivings as well, but my family and I enjoyed it.

Kayte said...

Well it looks really wonderful, you did a very nice job on all of it. I thought it was kind of fun and surprising in taste and the crackly part just made me smile for some reason, a really different and beguiling dessert. :-)

Adriana said...

I like the crimped look for your tart shell. Very pretty.

Karen said...

I love your beautiful crust. My husband, daughter, and I loved this, but the grandkids wouldn't even give it a chance!

Peggy the Baker said...

I liked the combination of sweet and tart and I loved the little bits of crackly meringue that ended up on the plate! Glad you gave it a try!

Cathleen | My Culinary Mission said...

Your end result looks nice. I would have liked this even more if I had addes the whole bag of cranberries.

Anonymous said...

I love the crimp you made on your crust - so pretty with the meringue filling! I'm sorry this one wasn't a favourite for you. I find that making this kind of meringue requires me to keep beating a little past the point I start worrying that I should stop.