THANKSGIVING TART

For Thanksgiving this year I created a fruit tart using apples, pears and cranberries; as they are the fruits of the season and also lend themselves to a festive and colorful presentation. The tartness of the cranberries paired nicely with the sweetness of the pears and spiciness of the gingersnap crust. I recommend serving it with fresh whipped cream, custard or vanilla ice cream.

Apple, Pear and Cranberry Tart

Crust

2 cups ground gingersnap cookies
6 T unsalted butter, melted

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 t ground cloves

Filling

3 Bosc pears, thinly sliced lengthwise

4 Golden Delicious apples, thinly sliced lengthwise

1/2 cup fresh cranberries

4 T unsalted butter

1/4 cup spiced apple cider or apple juice

4 T sugar

Preheat oven to 325.

In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until evenly moistened. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of 9-inch-diameter removable-bottom tart pan . Bake crust about 8 minutes. Cool.

Increase oven temperature to 350.

In a saucepan over medium high heat combine cranberries, butter, apple cider and 2 T sugar. Bring to a boil and cook stirring occasionally until mixture has thickened and reduced slightly, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Mixture will thicken further upon standing.

Starting at the outer edge of the tart pan, begin arranging apples, overlapping each slice by about half. Continue until all apples are used. Then starting about halfway to the center of pan, begin arrange pear slices, overlapping by half and continue all the way to center. Spoon cranberry, butter mixture on top, arranging cranberries evenly on top.

Bake for 35 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

MORE PUMPKIN

If you made my recipe for pumpkin cookies, you might be wondering what to do with the leftover pumpkin puree. I refrigerated mine for a few days and this morning used it to make a quick and easy stack of pumpkin pancakes. The following recipe yields four large pancakes. They are great with a dusting of powdered sugar and warm maple syrup.

Pumpkin Pancakes

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 T brown sugar

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t ground allspice

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

1/4 t fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 t salt

1 cup milk

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 T vegetable oil

1 T vinegar

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.