A delicious cranberry walnut pie decorated like a festive Christmas wreath. This pie has a crunchy walnut crust and a sweet and tangy cranberry filling. Topped with edible decorations, this pie is the most festive Christmas dessert!
A festive Christmas pie
Celebrate the most heart-warming night of the year with this festive Christmas pie! This recipe is made to enchant the Christmas table and make everyone go in for a second helping.
Christmas is, by far, the most wonderful time of the year! This pie brings out the Christmas spirit with festive flavours - cranberry, pear, walnut and spices. Decorated to resemble a wreath, this Christmas pie will be a real show-stopper on your table.
Fully edible pie decorations
Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I LOVE decorations. This pie is definitely no exception! Decorated like a wreath, this Christmas pie has an edible bow, sugared cranberries and rosemary, meringue kisses and leaf cookies.
Leaf cookies
The cookies are made from the same dough as the pie crust. They are crunchy, yet buttery and have a subtle walnut flavour. Read the recipe below on how to make them.
Edible bow
Just like the cookies and crust, the bow is made from the same dough. Shaping the bow is a little tricky, and you will need a little patience. Follow the steps in the recipe below to make it.
Meringue kisses
These little treats can be made a few days in advance and stored in an airtight container. To make them you will need:
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
100g sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the meringue kisses, simply make a stiff peak meringue. Pipe onto a baking mat and bake at 120C (or 100C with fan) for 1 hour. Let them dry inside the oven for a minimum 2-3 hours.
Sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs
Now this is the fun part! I recommend making these a few hours in advance. You will need equal parts water and sugar to make a syrup. Cook the syrup until thicker, then let cool slightly. Coat the cranberries and rosemary in the syrup, then let them air dry for 30 minutes. This will make them super sticky, so the sugar will adhere to them easily. Roll them in caster sugar and they are ready to use!
For a more detailed recipe, check out my friend's Sugared Cranberries recipe! You can also add homemade Dried Orange Slices!
Decorating the pie
Enjoy your Christmas Wreath Pie!
I really hope you will enjoy this Christmas pie with a lot of laughter and cheer! Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!
If you enjoyed this recipe, you will love these too:
Chocolate Panettone Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
How to Make Creme Patissiere (Vanilla Pastry Cream)
Looking for more fun cranberry recipes? Check out this tangy and sweet Cranberry Sauce with dried cranberries and this festive Cranberry Orange Jam!
If you’ve tried this recipe out, please don’t forget to rate and comment on this recipe. I love hearing from you, so feel free to reach out to me on social media as well and tag me in your posts!
Recipe
Cranberry Walnut Pie (Christmas Wreath Pie)
Ingredients
Walnut crust
- 40 g walnuts (⅓ cup)
- 125 g icing sugar (1 cups)
- 325 g all purpose flour (2 ⅔ cups)
- 2 eggs, small
- 250 g unsalted butter, cold (1 ⅛ cups)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
Cranberry filling
- 300 g cranberries (3 cups)
- 300 g pears, chopped (2 ½ cups)
- 200 g sugar (1 cup)
- 50 g orange juice, fresh (¼ cup)
- 1 orange zest
- 50 g cornstarch (½ cup)
- 30 g unsalted butter (⅛ cup)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Walnut crust
- Pulse the walnuts in a food processor a few times until finely chopped. Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and chopped rosemary. Pulse to combine.
- Next, add the cold butter chopped into small cubes. Pulse a few times until you get a sand-like texture. Add the eggs and pulse again until a dough forms. We don’t want to overwork the dough, so get it just about combined (not sticky).
- Place the dough in some cling film and flatten with your palms. Place the dough in the fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.
Cranberry filling
- Put everything in a medium saucepan and give them a quick mix. Cook over medium heat until the liquid thickens. When the mixture becomes slightly sticky, take off heat and move to a bowl. Set aside until ready to use.
- Assembling the pie
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F). Take the chilled pie dough and divide it into 2 parts: one smaller ⅓ and a larger ⅔. Place the smaller piece back in fridge, covered with cling film.
- Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and roll out the dough to 3-4mm (⅛ inch). If the dough is too hard, let it adjust to room temperature for 10-15 minutes.
- Place your pie tin over the dough and cut a circle larger than your tin by 7-8cm (3-inches). Roll the dough onto your rolling pin, sprinkling some flour to prevent it from sticking. Place the dough inside the pie tin, pressing with your fingers to mould it in shape. Cut off the excess dough with a sharp knife.
- Place a baking paper over the dough and fill with baking beads or beans. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beads and paper. Fill the crust with the cranberry filling, then add a few extra cranberries in the middle.
- Bake the pie for 20-25 minutes until it looks firm and the crust golden-brown. Let pie cool in tin for 2 hours before removing from the tin.
- To make the leaf decorations, roll out the spare piece of dough to 2-3mm (⅛ inch). Use a cookie cutter or stamp to make small leaves. Use a toothpick to accentuate the leaf detail if needed.
- Brush with egg wash for extra shine, then bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden-brown. Let cool, then paint some of the leaves with edible golden paint for some extra magic.
- Decorate the pie by adding the leaf cookies, meringue kisses, sugared rosemary sprigs and sugared cranberries. Finish by placing the edible bow in the top middle part of the pie.
Bow decoration
- Roll out dough to 3-4mm (⅛ inch) thickness. With a scalpel, cut out two diamond shapes roughly 15cm (6 inches) long and 8cm (3 inches) wide. Also cut two strips 10cm *(4 inches) long and 2cm wide (1 inch), and a small rectangle 6 x 3cm (2.5 x 1.5 inches).
- Fold each diamond shape with thin sides touching. Add a piece of aluminium foil inside each fold to give the bow a 3D effect. Connect the two sides of the ribbon in the middle, adding the small rectangle over the joint. Place the long dough strips on aluminium foil to make it look swirly.
- Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-12 minutes or until golden-brown. Once baked, let cool completely before removing the aluminium supports. Airbrush or paint with edible colours before placing onto the pie.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- Storing - store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
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