Cranberry Apple Pie

adapted from A Bountiful Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

7 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup fresh cranberries, washed
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
dash salt

2 9-inch pie crusts

Egg wash

Sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rack on bottom third of oven.
Place bottom crust onto 9-inch pie plate. Set aside.
Place apples in large bowl and mix with cranberries. Add rest of filling ingredients and mix well. Fill bottom crust with apple cranberry mixture.

Place other half of dough on top of filling in pie plate. Crimp edges. Make slits on top of pie for steam to escape.

Brush with egg wash if desired, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.
Place pie onto foil lined cookie sheet (important, this usually bubbles over a bit.
Bake for about 60 minutes. Cover loosely with foil if pie is getting too brown.
Continue baking for about 10-15 minutes or until pie is bubbly and golden.

Remove from oven and let sit for at least four hours. This will prevent the pie from becoming a gooey mess, and help to keep it's shape when cutting and serving.

Pecan Pie Bars

adapted from Sugar Apron

INGREDIENTS

Package of pre made pie crust
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/4 cup pecans
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough for a 2-inch overhang on all sides.
Unroll dough, and cut to fit into sheet pan; press over bottom and up sides to form crust.
Whisk together sugar, vanilla and eggs until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Slowly add in the melted butter while whisking vigorously to prevent cooking the eggs. Mix until sugar is completely dissolved, then add corn syrup and whisk until homogenous.

Add pecans.*
Spread filling evenly over crust.
Bake 22 to 27 minutes or until filling is set and golden brown.
Cool for about an hour; cut into bars.

*I left my pecans as halves, because I prefer big chunks of nut, and they cooked well. You can definitely chop them up if that's your jam. It's really a play it by ear kind of thing.

I had a craving for turkey dinner, and so I convinced my family to make a full thanksgiving dinner "in honor of the pioneers that came and stole our homeland." In Utah, on July 24th, we celebrate Brigham Young coming to the Salt Lake Valley, and deciding that Utah was Zion. Of course, my people were already here, which is something I like to remind all of my friends when they get all pioneer on me. So we had thanksgiving in July, and so to shake things up, I decided to make some Pecan Pie Bars. Pecan Pie is one of my favorite pies in the world! so to have it so portable, and easy to make was definitely a plus! This is a recipe that I'll be making for years to come!