“MegaPind”

So the festivities continue!  I chose cranberries as my final flavor with which to cook; not unlike with the Spiced Bundt, I wanted to vary the traditional Thanksgiving flavors a bit and try something new.  Cranberry Hand Pies sounded like a nice, simple way to tie up the three desserts and end the Thanksgiving Dessert Bonanza.

Megamind kept me company.  Man, I love this movie.  His inability to pronounce anything correctly is adorable.

Of the three recipes I’ve made this week, this was the one easiest to cut corners with.  I am literally the worst at making pie dough, so instead of laboring through something I hate (when I needed to be bathing my dog and packing for my trip), I opted to cheat and buy pie dough at the store.  AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME FEEL BAD ABOUT IT.

This recipe turned out…well…okay.

This shot actually makes them look like they’re good.  And they’re not terrible!  Don’t think that I churned out something not even worth eating – not true at all.  It’s just…they don’t tickle my specific fancy.  Let me explain (no there is too much: let me sum up).

The filling itself sounds like it should be really tasty; it’s basically a simmered pot full of cranberries, orange juice and zest, sugar, and vanilla.  It seems like something that should be really tasty, right?  And like I said, it’s not bad…I just couldn’t get into it.  The smell of cranberries and oranges permeate my apartment now, and whenever I get a whiff I kind of wrinkle my nose.  Have you ever had something flavored cherry that instead of reminding you of delicious cherries, reminds you of cough syrup?  My reaction is a bit like that.

I’m doing a pretty bad job talking up this recipe.

The good news is that I know it’s just me who’s having problems with the flavor.  I took these into work and the people I shared them with really liked them!  This sounds like it’s just one of my predilections.

As far as the cooking itself, this was another great easy-peasy recipe to put together, just a little fussy when it came to assembly (and even then, not as bad as it would’ve been if I’d actually made the crust myself).  It’s my favorite “put everything into a pot and turn on the heat” method of cooking.  All it took was to simmer all the ingredients, let them sit, then plop that filling into circles of pie-crust.  Hey, presto.

The last problem I had with these was that I actually over-cooked them a touch.  They were a little dry and crispy, despite the filling being proportionally appropriate.  One of my coworkers referred to it as a “flying saucer” because of their rounded tops and exceptionally flat bottoms.  Thanks, dude…

All in all, if you like cranberries, you’d probably really like this recipe.  I’d just recommend putting them in for slightly less than the minimum suggested time (which I’m sure many of you pro-bakers already do).  This certainly makes a lot of pies, too…so be prepared to feed many people!

PS: Sorry for the overwhelmingly-yellow tone of all the pictures; I was forced to take these under incandescent light bulb.  Womp womp!

Happy Thanksgiving Dessert Bonanza, everyone!  And for my American friends, have a wonderful holiday!

Cranberry Hand Pies

From Bon Appetit!