So Many Cranberries and So Little Time

 

My niece loves to bake and she makes all of these wonderful desserts. I keep thinking she should be really, really fat but she keeps getting skinnier and I seem to be the one getting fat.  I know she eats them but perhaps she knows when to stop or maybe her “portion size” has not kept up with mine. Anyway, she loves pumpkin so she uses it a lot in her recipes. She is determined not to let a season dictate when she will use pumpkin. She uses it all year long without explanation or apology and she is a proud pumpkin lover. Unfortunately pumpkins are like cranberries and there seems to be a really limited time when people concentrate on new recipes. I decided this year I would try to find some new recipes for cranberries, since I really like them and they seem to be so neglected except for the traditional cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. I am determined to make my own statement about the lowly cranberry. Anyway, here’s a recipe I created that turned out pretty tasty and it looks really pretty, too.

 

 

 

Cranberry-White Chocolate Clafouti with Orange Balsamic Glaze  

1-8oz roll phyllo dough, thawed

½ cup butter, melted

3oz white chocolate, chopped

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

2/3 cup cream or half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons orange zest

¼ cup orange marmalade

1/3 cup orange juice

1 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (I used grapefruit)

Spray 10 inch springform pan with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees

Unroll phyllo, remove a single sheet and place in the bottom and partially up sides of  springform pan. Brush with butter and crisscross with another sheet brushing it with butter. Pivot next sheet of phyllo slightly and brush with butter. Continue layering until you have 8 layers.

Place layer of white chocolate in bottom of crust and top with cranberries. Cover with damp paper towel and refrigerate while you prepare custard.

In a small bowl, beat eggs and sugar about 1 minute. Add flour, cream, orange zest and vanilla. Pour mixture over cranberries.

With remaining phyllo, remove 2 or 3 sheets at a time and roll sheets and tuck phyllo around top edges of custard to form crust. Brush generously with butter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan combine orange marmalade and orange juice. Simmer over low heat until sauce starts to thicken. (About 3 to 5 minutes) Add balsamic vinegar and continue to simmer 1 minute. Remove  clafouti from the oven and brush with orange mixture. Cover edges of clafouti pan with a pie ring to keep crust from burning. Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm with remaining orange sauce. Makes 8 servings

I love trying new recipes for the holidays and I love custard pies so I thought I’d try to find a way to incorporate both in a new fun twist on a cranberry pie. The sweet sugar and white chocolate are a perfect complement to the tart cranberries and the phyllo dough adds a fun elegance to a very simple recipe. The orange balsamic glaze is just simply fun and a very tasty addition to any recipe.