Our regular guests know that Friday is Pie-day at the Bear! Guests at the Inn enjoy fresh house-baked treats daily in our living room. However, Friday is reserved for pies at our Santa Fe bed and breakfast. A guest favorite is our Cranberry Chess Pie with an all butter crust. Buttermilk and cranberries make this pie tart and creamy. It was Innkeeper Dan’s Mom’s favorite and a great way to use frozen cranberries still in the freezer from the holidays. It is an easy dessert recipe, only taking minutes to put together (once you have the crust made and prepped). Very handy to use a stand mixer because you can simply add the ingredients one at time to the running mixer. Enjoy one of our Friday favorites!
Ingredients
- 1 single pie crust
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 orange, for zesting
- 2 teaspoons orange extract (optional)
- 3 large eggs
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine sugar and softened butter in bowl of stand mixer, zest orange over the bowl, add orange extract and cream together with paddle attachment until creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the side and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, and salt together in a small bowl or measuring cup.
- Stir the buttermilk and vanilla together in a small bowl or measuring cup.
- Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix to combine. With the stand mixer on low, add half of the buttermilk mixture and mix to combine. Then add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add the rest of the buttermilk mixture, then the remaining dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl and gently fold in the cranberries.
- Pour batter into prepared pie shell and smooth the top with spatula.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Pie is done when the top is slightly puffed and has turned a light golden brown.
- Cool to room temperature before serving.
