Cranberry Cream Pie

I made this for a work potluck, and it was well received. I had two pieces myself because, coming from Cape Cod, I have a genetically encoded love of cranberries. I'm also descended from those Mayflower pilgrim punks on my dad's side of the family. Not something I'm especially pround of (the pilgrims, being persecuted in Europe, decided to come over to the New World to live out there dream of persecuting others); I'd rather be descended from the Wampanoag tribe that brought most of the actual food to the first Thanksgiving. At least they had the good sense to know that lobster is good eatin' (true fact: the pilgrims thought eating lobster beneath them, like eating grubs....)

Anywho, I adapted the recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cranberry-Cream-Pie-II/Detail.aspx).



Cranberry Cream Pie

1 prepared graham cracker crust (I used a store-bought shortbread crust, which was good, too)
1/2 cup chocolate chunks

2 tablespoons milk or cream
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 1/2 cups cranberries
1/2 cup dried cherries (optional)
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice

To Make Chocolate Layer: Melt chocolate using double boiler method or microwave. (Personally, I prefer using the microwave instead of messing around with a double boiler. The trick is to microwave at 15 second increments and stir in between. As soon as the mixture is mostly melted but still has a few chunks in it, you should stir and it will melt those chunks. If you keep microwaving it until it is absolutely all melted then it will burn and become disgusting). When melted, stir in 2 tablespoons of milk or cream to make a ganache. Spread chocolate on bottom of pie crust.

To Make Cream Cheese Filling: In medium mixing bowl, whip cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in confectioners' sugar. Scrape sides of bowl. Add vanilla extract. Add orange zest. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream. The original recipe said "until soft peaks form", but I was worried about the pie being fluffy enough so I actually beat it more than that. Fold into cream cheese mixture.

Spoon filling into crust. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and chill at least 3 hours (I chilled it overnight and added the cranberry topping the next morning)

To Make Cranberry Topping: In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, cherries, 1 cup white sugar, and orange juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and thickens, stir constantly. Remove from heat and cool. Spread cranberry topping over cream cheese filling. Chill pie thoroughly before serving.

* Edited to add picture!