Such sayings peppered conversations when I was little, and easy as pie is the first I remember thoroughly understanding. It took me longer to grasp just how tired was plumb tired and what really happened when someone flew off the handle. Idioms like, my foot! or the even better my fanny!, both spoken as fed-up, impassioned versions of “Well, I don’t believe that,” were a little confusing for a while. I had plenty of context clues to help my young mind sort it all out, but easy as pie was a great visual for me and such an apt cliche.
Pies really are . . . a piece of cake. They are known for being the least time consuming to make of all the sweets. One bowl, two at the most, stir a few things together, pop it in the oven or often just refrigerate and you are done. Maybe whip some cream, perhaps make your own crust, but by and large, pies are simple and quick. It is no wonder holiday tables are filled with them.
Armed with the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of hearing and saying, easy as pie, I decided to make a Cranberry Chiffon one for Thanksgiving last month.
As I thought about it, I immediately remembered the color, first and foremost, but also of the clean tang of the cranberries and citrus that made it such a family favorite in the first place, especially after a big, heavy Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
More importantly, though, its particular shade of pink is an homage to my mother. And in the two years since she passed away, I find myself drawn more and more to what she appreciated most about this time of year: making things pretty and incorporating the color pink as much as possible into your holiday decor. Besides, I thought, it has been too long since we included this beloved (yet abandoned) pie in our Thanksgiving or Christmas lineup and I felt like it was time and wondered why we, as a family, ever let this pie — with its adorable little frosted cranberries on top — fall by the wayside in the first place.
I will refrain from stating exactly how long it had been since I, personally, had made a Cranberry Chiffon Pie before this past Thanksgiving — but I was not concerned, not in the least. It is a pie. The fact is, I was in high school (so, okay, several decades ago), but those were the years Mom and I cooked and baked together the most.
Sure, I glanced over the directions as I jotted down the ingredients, but I remembered making it, on more than one occasion, with Mom, so I was not worried . . . easy, peasy. Looking back to where I found myself on Thanksgiving Eve, I absolutely should have studied her recipe more carefully.
Today, in light of my newfound clarity, I realize that I was just Mom’s glorified helper back then. Even though she let me take much of the credit, she did the heavy lifting, which is probably why I do not remember anything we made ever being difficult. Time-consuming? At times, yes. Intimidated or thinking we might fail? Never.
In my mind, we had too much fun for anything to have been all that hard and the mood was always light. Inevitably, some minor slip-up or misspeak would send us into debilitating, tear-filled laughter. Once recovered and breathing properly, one snicker from either of us in remembrance of what had been so funny, and off we would go, falling back into hysterics. Starting projects later than planned was a signature move of ours, which pushed us into the realm of slaphappy and barely able to focus before our finish line was in sight. I imagine, though, only I was giddy from tiredness. Mom was the consummate night owl, accomplishing her best work well after midnight.
Voice-over by Keith Morrison of Dateline fame: What Ms. Hutchings did not remember about this pie was that it is a multi-step endeavor, with one such step being an Italian or Swiss meringue, a ‘cooked’ meringue if you will, and she was unprepared. It was late in the evening and getting later, and she was far from her Alabama home. There in the mountains of western North Carolina, she thought she had everything she needed . . . but she was mistaken.
Right, yes — okay, so, I did not remember the meringue.
In my defense, meringue is not hard, and certainly nothing for which I would need to plan. It is little more than whipped egg whites, but because this pie is not baked, you do make a “cooked” meringue to fold into your cranberry mixture. Again, not difficult. But, I did not have a handy-dandy candy thermometer with me in the mountains and I had never made this kind of meringue without one.
Thankfully, it all worked out. I made do with a very old — possibly even a first generation — meat thermometer that I unearthed from the back of a kitchen drawer and my meringue turned out just as glossy and gorgeous as could be. There is more to the story, and I would love to share all the details of how I managed with this ancient thermometer that only read up to around 200F — but I am afraid I would come across boastful.
I will leave it at this: It was an adventure.
The pie was nothing short of sensational, perhaps even better than my sister and I remembered it being and it more than held its own among the assortment of other offerings. The sugared cranberries on top, of course, stole the show. They are so festive and cute, like little holly berries (not Halle Berrys!).
I am going to repeat my performance, sans the gadget stress, and make another Cranberry Chiffon Pie to have as part of our Christmas Eve dinner, when the whole family will be together at my sister and brother-in-law’s. It will be a red letter day (another cliche from my youth that took me a while to understand) and a first for us all to be under one roof. No one in our group is out of town, no one has a scheduling conflict and no one lives so far away anymore that an afternoon trip to the Gartman house on Fish River is out of the question.
The day will be even more special for my sister and me because our father will be there as well and it has been thirty-four years since he spent Christmas with us in Alabama. Once our parents divorced, we trekked to his house in Hattiesburg, Mississippi after Christmas each year, so having him with us actually on Christmas is exciting.
I guess you could say, she and I are both feeling extra grateful this year and will be happier than a possum up a pant leg on Christmas Eve.
Cranberry Chiffon Pie
Ingredients
For the crust:
Ready made crust or simple homemade pie crust
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Sprinkling of brown or coconut sugar
For the filling:
2 cups cranberries
1/2 cup sugar, divided (plus 1/2 to 2/3 cup for meringue)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 egg yolks at room temperature (whites used in meringue)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk or half-n-half
(a)For an Italian meringue:
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
-OR-
(b)For a Swiss meringue:
2 egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
For the whipped cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered or regular sugar
For the sugared cranberries:
1/2 cup cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
Superfine or additional regular sugar to coat
Directions
-
Sprinkle toasted nuts into bottom of pie crust and then sprinkle with sugar.
- Pre-bake crust 10 to 12 minutes at 375F or until golden. Set aside to cool.
- In a saucepan, bring cranberries, 1/4 cup sugar and orange juice to a boil. Stir to help dissolve sugar and cook 8 to 9 minutes or until all the cranberries pop.
- Place a mesh sieve over a bowl and pour in cooked cranberries. Press through with the back of a spoon. Once pressed, there should be about 1 1/2 cups
- In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons cold water. Stir to hydrate all the gelatin and then set aside.
- In a saucepan, whisk or stir together egg yolk, milk, salt and 1/4 cup sugar. Heat gently at medium-low, stirring constantly. Cook about 7 minutes or until it is batter-like. The lines from your spoon should take a second to disappear.
- Remove from heat and stir in gelatin, then stir in cranberry mixture. Cover with wrap touching the top (so a film does not form) and refrigerate until slightly firm, about half an hour.
-
For Italian meringue:
-Place room temperature egg whites in a clean metal bowl and have cream of tartar, lemon juice and vanilla extract measured and ready.
-In a saucepan, heat 2/3 cup sugar with 1/3 cup water. Stir once it begins to simmer.
-Using a candy thermometer, watch for sugar syrup to reach 230F and at that point begin whipping egg whites. (If you do not have a stand mixer, you will need a buddy to help at this point.)
-In about 5 minutes, (you are still beating the egg whites) the syrup should reach 240F.
-At that point remove from heat and slowly pour, in the tiniest stream you can, the syrup into your egg whites. Do not stop beating. Then add cream of tartar, lemon juice and vanilla and beat an additional 3-5 minutes more or until stiff peaks form and bowl is cool.
For Swiss meringue:
-Whisk together egg whites with 2/3 cup sugar and a pinch of salt.
-Place bowl over simmering water and whisk gently until temperature reaches 160F-165F.
-Remove from heat and beat until stiff peaks and bowl is cool. - Fold meringue into cooled cranberry mixture until uniform in color. Scrape into prepared crust and chill.
- Make the sugared cranberries: In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Once sugar is dissolved, add 2/3 cup cranberries, return to boil and simmer about 1 minute. Do not let the cranberries pop. Remove cranberries with a slotted spoon and roll in extra-fine sugar. Allow them to dry then refrigerate until ready to use.
- Before serving, whip cream with 2 tablespoons regular or powdered sugar.
- Decorate pie with whipped cream and sugared cranberries.
Cook's Notes
Which meringue to make:
You hear the word stability used when discussing meringue and what that refers to is this: The better stabilized the meringue, the less incidence of “weeping,” of your egg whites separating out from your sugar. A Swiss meringue is a little less “stable” than an Italian and has the reputation of being easier. Swiss meringue does not include cream of tartar or lemon juice and secondly, you do not have to time your egg whites being whipped to a certain point with your sugar syrup being heated to a certain temperature.
Overflow filling:
I typically have more filling than will fit into my pie shell. If using a ready made crust with two in a pack, roll out the second one, use a cookie cutter to make rounds to place in an oiled muffin pan for mini pies. You can whip a bit more cream and make a few more sugared cranberries to top each one.
If you do not have time for that, pour into ramekin(s) for a crustless treat.
