Four & Twenty Blackbirds' Cranberry Sage Pie

For #PieWeek, our guest editors are Emily and Melissa Elsen, the pie mavens behind Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Brooklyn, NY. They will be sharing recipes all week from their first cookbook, and giving away a copy each day!

Today: Sage moves from stuffing to your pie. 

In the wintertime, colorful fruits, aside from citrus, are few and far between. Cranberries appear in early fall and are the perfect berry to pair with apples and pears, but we wanted to feature them in their own right. Sage often appears on a holiday table in roasted stuffing, but why not give it some attention in the dessert course?

Cranberry Sage Pie

Serves 8 to 10 people

3/4 cups dried cranberries
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons ground arrowroot
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
4 cups whole cranberries, fresh or frozen (two 10-ounce bags)
1 small baking apple, such as Northern Spy or Golden Delicious
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Egg wash (1 large egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water and a pinch of salt)
Demerara sugar, for finishing

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by Gentl & Hyers

To win a copy of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, tell us in the comments: What do you put in your savory pies? We'll pick winners at random at the end of the week! (Unfortunately, we can only ship domestically.)