Apple-Cranberry Pie with Cornmeal Crust
Crust:2 c. flour
3/4 c. cornmeal
5 Tb sugar
1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c. plus 2Tb solid vegetable shortening
6 Tb (approx) buttermilk
Filling:
1 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. plus 2Tb suagr
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 lbs Pippen apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2in thick slices
1/2 c. dried currants
5 Tb flour
Buttermilk
Rum raisin ice cream
Crust: Mix first 5 ingredients in food processor. Add shortening and cut into mixture until resembles coarse meal. Blend in enough buttermilk by the tablespoonful to form dough that begins to clump together. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Flatten each half into disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill 45min (Can be made 1 day ahead)
Filling: Position oven rack in the lowest third of the oven and preheat to 375*. Coarsely chop cranberries with sugar and pie spice in food processor. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Add apples, currants and flour. Toss well. Roll out one disk of dough between sheets of waxed paper to 13in round. Peel off top sheet of paper. invert dough into 9in deep dish pie tin. Peel off wax paper. fold under overhanging dough to form a double thick edge. Crimp edge. Roll out remaining dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8in thick round. Cut out leaf patterns using 3in leaf cookie cutter. Use a knife to mark veins in the "leaves". Slightly mound filling in pie. Arrange leaves around edge of pie and all over top, overlapping decoratively. Brush pastry with buttermilk. Place pie on baking sheet. Bake 45 minutes. cover pie with foil and continue baking until juices bubble thickly and crust browns, about 35 minutes more. Transfer to pie rack to cool for 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temp with ice cream.