Harvest Pie

Harvest Pie

1/2 cup whole almonds
2 Granny Smith Apples
2 ripe Bartlett pears
1 cup fresh cranberries
2 cups granulated sugar
1 TBSP peeled and grated ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 recipe Sesame Almond Streusel

1. Place pie dough of your choosing into pie dish, crimp, and chill 1/2 hour in refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Line the chilled pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake on center rack of oven for 25 or 30 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights, set aside pie shell to cool, leave oven on.
4. Scatter almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast on center rack of oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool, then chop coarsely and set aside.
5. Peel and core apples and pears and cut into 1 inch chunks. In a large bowl combine apples, pears, almonds, cranberries, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon juice. Toss well with your hands, then pour the filling into a large colander. Set the colander inside the mixing bowl and let the filling set at room temperature for 1 hour to drain excess liquid from the fruit.
6. Remove the colander from the bowl and pour the drained pie filling into another large bowl. Pour the collected fruit juices in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until thick and syrupy (about 15 to 20 minutes). Transfer to a small bowl and let cool slightly.
7. Add the cooled, thickened fruit juices and the cornstarch to the bowl of pie filling. Mix well with a spoon, then scoop into pie shell. Mound the filling with your hands, making sure there are no air pockets. Top with an even layer of Sesame Almond Streusel Topping and place pie on a lined baking sheet.
8. Place baking sheet on center rack of the oven and bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours. The topping will be golden brown and the filling will be bubbling around the edges. Let cool on wire rack at least one hour before serving.


Sesame Almond Streusel Topping

3/4 cup whole almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
8 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spread almonds and sesame seeds on seperate rimmed baking sheets and toast on center rack of oven until golden brown, about ten minutes. Let cool, then chop almonds to medium fine.
3. Combine almonds, sesame seeds, butter, flour, oats, sugar, and almond extract in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is coarse and crumbly.
4. At this point the topping is ready to use.
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This pie also has a recipe for Almond-Sesame Seed pie crust but I thought that it would have been just as good, if not better, with regular pie crust. It's from Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook and very unusual and tasty! If anyone makes it please let me know, I had a "soup" issue with this pie (and every other fruit pie I've ever made...I blame the oven seriously) so am curious as to how someone else fares!