The holidays are fast approaching and I’ve got a cream-licious pie for you. Working with one of my favorite fruits, the cranberry, I’ve teamed them with a gingersnap cookie crust for a mouthwatering treat, my Gingersnap Cranberry Lime Pie!
This beauty of a pie is like a Key Lime Pie that married the fresh and tangy cranberry. This is my adaption from Ann Redding & Matt Danzer’s recipe at Bon Appetit/Epicurious.
A fantastic holiday dessert table treat to wow the family. I also have made these in little mini muffin form for that bite sized treat, too.
But a pie is great for the family dinner table, to bring as a gift for the host or hostess, and if you’re like me, anytime of the year. I purposely buy several extra bags of cranberries and pop them in the freezer for when the time hits during the rest of the year and they’re out of season.
This Cranberry Lime Pie is amazingly sweet and the walnuts ground in with the gingersnap cookie and butter crust is THE perfect combination of flavors to offset the tangy cranberries.
If time is not your friend on these busy holidays and oven time is limited, the crust can get baked and made up to 1 day in advance, too. The crust reminds me of a shortbread. As you pierce the crust with your fork you’ll feel a slight snap and the flavorful crumbs are delicious.
Ingredients
Crust:
- 4 oz gingersnap cookies (about 18 cookies)
- 1 cup walnuts
- 4 tbsp butter melted
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
Filling:
- 1 12-ounce package fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups sugar divided
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp finely grated lime zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/8 tsp of salt
- 3/4 cup butter room temperature, cut into small cubes
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Pulse cookies in a food processor until finely ground, should be about 1 cup. Add the walnuts and pulse until finely ground. Add butter and brown sugar and pulse to combine.
- Transfer crumb mixture to a non-stick deep 9″ pie dish. Press firmly onto bottom and up sides of dish. Bake until firm and slightly darkened in color, 12–15 minutes. If crust slides down sides, gently press back up. Let cool.
Filling:
- Remove 12 cranberries and set aside. Bring remaining cranberries, 1 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until cranberries burst and most of the liquid evaporates, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Purée in a blender until smooth.
- Cook purée, eggs, egg yolks, lime juice, salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and lime zest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water), stirring with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of bowl often, until curd thickens and coats spatula, 8–10 minutes. Let cool until just warm.
- Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat curd, adding butter a piece at a time and incorporating after each addition, until curd looks lighter in color and texture, about 5 minutes total. Scrape into crust and chill until firm, about 2 hours.
Topping:
- Roll 12 reserved cranberries in a small bowl with about a tablespoon of corn syrup and dry them on a wire rack in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Toss the tacky dried cranberries in a bowl with 1/4 cup of sugar until the sugar is crusted all over. Serve topped on pie.
Notes
- Plan ahead as this needs 2 hours to chill the pie.
Nutrition
Calories: 581kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 171mg | Sodium: 338mg | Potassium: 206mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 895IU | Vitamin C: 10.4mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1.9mg
