At Home: Cranberry-Apple Pilgrim Pie

As a curator for Kitchen Daily, I was asked to come up with my own creative twist on a holiday dessert using JELL-O products.  I looked through the various options and decided to try to make Cranberry-Apple Pilgrim Pie for my next installment of What Micky Eats...At Home. This rustic dessert recalls the French-inspired galette, with its free-form crust, and is perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  Check out my step-by-step slideshow on Kitchen Daily.



Cranberry-Apple Pilgrim Pie (Makes 8 servings)

• 1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (½ of 14.1-oz. pkg.)
• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• ½ teasp ground cinnamon
• 3 baking apples*, chopped
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup chopped PLANTERS pecans
• 3 Tbsp water, divided
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp coarse sugar

View the Slideshow

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Unroll pie crust onto parchment-covered baking sheet; roll to 12-inch circle.
- Mix dry pudding mix and cinnamon in large bowl.
- Add fruit, nuts and 2 Tbsp water; toss to evenly coat.
- Spoon onto center of crust; fold edge of pastry over fruit mixture. (Fruit in center will remain uncovered.)
- Beat egg and remaining water with fork until blended; brush onto crust. (Discard any remaining egg wash.)
- Sprinkle crust with sugar.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until fruit is tender and crust is golden brown. (Check after 25 minutes. If the crust is becoming too brown, cover the edge loosely with foil for the remainder of the baking time.)
- Cool completely.
- Serve topped with thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping or vanilla ice cream.

*Apples that are good for both cooking and eating raw are called all-purpose apples. Varieties include Braeburn, Cortland, Empire, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Jonathan, McIntosh, Northern Spy and Winesap.  For this dessert I used two Honeycrisp and one Granny Smith apple.  Some people do not like the apple skins, as they can get tough when cooked.  Feel free to peel the skins off before chopping, but I left them on to add to the rustic quality of this pie and give pops of color.  I also used walnuts in place of pecans, as I prefer the taste and texture better, and find walnuts go great with cranberries.  Almonds might be another complimentary nut to use in this pie.  The crust came out so pretty and the taste reminded me of my apple cobbler, but with a twist.  Using the JELL-O vanilla pudding mix is such a great shortcut to replace the traditional ingredients of sugar, flour, and vanilla extract.  And Keith was really shocked to learn that JELL-O pudding mix could be used for something other than good 'ole pudding.  Try this rustic dessert out for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. For more recipes using JELL-O, check out their recipe page.