Cranberry Fudge Pie

Since today is National Cranberry Day, I'm going to make this fabulous pie. It's also perfect for Thanksgiving, a great alternative to pumpkin pie.

I'm a big fan of King Arthur Flour, not just the flour, but all the food products, pans, videos, and more. Great gluten-free help for the holidays, too! Love their recipes, too. I'm signed up for email updates, and you might want to do that, too. If I hadn't, I might have missed this incredible Recipe for Cranberry Fudge Pie a few years ago.

For the crust, you can always use a prepared graham cracker crust, but it's so easy to make one yourself. As always use the very best chocolate and other ingredients! I've kept the link to glazing sugar. Definitely great to have in your pantry. I'm all about easy, and this recipe is simple!

CRANBERRY FUDGE PIE

Crust
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (One cellophane-wrapped packet of graham crackers (11 whole crackers) will yield this amount of crumbs)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar or glazing sugar
6 Tbsp melted sweet butter

Filling
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate (Don't use bittersweet chocolate; with the acidic tang of the cranberries, it's just too much. You want a dark chocolate that's sweet; most chocolate chips will be fine)
2/3 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup diced walnuts or pecans

Topping
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups cranberry juice
1 cup dried cranberries (I use Trader Joe's-they're always in my pantry)
12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries, a generous 3 cups
You'll need about 15 ounces (a scant 1-1/2 cups) topping for the pie.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.

To Make Crust: 
Process graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter in food processor until crumbly and well combined.
Press into bottom and up sides of 9" pie pan.
Bake crust for about 7 to 8 minutes, until set, but not brown. Remove from oven and cool.

To Make Filling: 
Put chips (or chopped chocolate) and cream in  microwave-safe container, and heat for about 90 seconds.
Remove from microwave, and stir until mixture becomes smooth and dark brown; you're simply making a basic ganache.  (I tend to do this in a pot over a pot over simmering water)
Spoon hot ganache into cooled crust, and sprinkle nuts on top.
Refrigerate pie for at 2 hours, until ganache firms up.
While pie is chilling, make topping.

To Make Topping:
Bring sugar, salt, and cranberry juice to a boil.
Stir in dried cranberries, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add fresh or frozen cranberries, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until some of berries have burst.
Remove the cranberries from heat, spoon into bowl, and chill.

To Finish Assembling Pie: 
Spoon 1-1/2 cups cranberry sauce on top of fudge/nut filling.
Chill until ready to serve.

Photo: King Arthur Flour