Cranberry-Walnut Croustade
Prep: 30 minutes plus chilling and cooling
Bake: 40 minutes • Serves: 8
Cranberry Filling
1/3 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 Bosc pear
1 Honeycrisp apple
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
3/4 cup walnut halves and pieces
Crust
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
1 egg
1.Prepare Cranberry Filling: In medium saucepot, heat sugar and water to boiling over high heat; stir in cinnamon stick, star anise and cranberries. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon stick and star anise.
2.Peel, core and dice pear and apple; place in medium bowl. Add flour, orange juice and zest, and cranberry mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour.
3.Prepare Crust: In large bowl, whisk flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and salt; with pastry cutter or hands, cut in butter until butter is the size of small peas. Sprinkle flour mixture with 1 tablespoon ice water and stir; continue to add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and stir until large clumps form and dough sticks together when pinched with 2 fingers.
4.Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface; gather dough into a ball and flatten into a 6-inch disk. Wrap dough with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
5.Preheat oven to 400°. Line rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly flour work surface and rolling pin; roll dough into 14-inch round about 1/8-inch thick. Carefully roll dough around rolling pin; transfer to center of prepared pan.
6.Leaving 2-inch border, mound cranberry mixture in center of dough round. Leaving the center open, fold and pleat dough edges slightly over fruit. Top cranberry mixture with walnuts. In small bowl, whisk egg; brush dough with egg and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
7.Bake croustade 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake 20 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown, cranberry mixture bubbles and bottom is golden brown. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes before cutting to serve warm.
Approximate nutritional values per serving:
409 Calories, 18g Fat (8g Saturated), 42mg Cholesterol,
136mg Sodium, 59g Carbohydrates, 3g Fiber, 5g Protein
Chef Tip
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Dietitian’s tip:
> This dessert is rustic, so perfection in appearance isn’t needed. To make uniform cranberry slices, cut off the flesh in halves, positioning the knife close to either side of the pit, then cut the halves into wedges.