Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Apple Compote

AppleCranberryCompoteheader

Time for another great fall recipe. And this time, surprise surprise, its a dessert! This apple compote had its ups and downs, but turned out okay in the end.

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

AppleCranberryCompoteRecipe

Not Marguerite’s typical handwriting, huh? Well, as you will see as we go along, Marguerite also added magazine clippings of recipes that she must have liked into her cookbook as well. Aaron was excited to try this, because his mom would frequently make an apple dish during the holidays that he really liked. This recipe, however, did not quite turn out like that one.

AppleCranberryCompote

First of all, as anyone who has done apple dishes can attest, peeling apples is not an enjoyable task. That step took up over 90% of the prep time. Once that part of prep was completed, the rest of the recipe came together easily. When putting the ingredients together, we made a layer of apples, put the other ingredients on top, and then mixed them all together.

AppleCompote

When the apple compote first came out of the oven, we were concerned and unimpressed. It was still somewhat watery, while the apples seemed overcooked and dried out. There were a few thoughts we had as to why this happened. First we weren’t sure if we had put enough apples in. Then, since today’s cranberry sauce cans usually hold 2 less ounces than before, we thought that might add to it. Finally, this is our first recipe in our new oven, which always has its own complications. But, unlike our old apartment, this oven is at least a full sized one. Yay tiny apartment living!

AppleCranberryCompote

As you can see from the pictures, once we put this apple compote into individual serving dishes, they look pretty good! The cranberry sauce melded with the apples to give them a nice rich color, and the whole cranberries and raisins added to the visual interest of this dessert. I did not like the look of those cooked raisins though! I also felt that the apple compote was much too tart. I would have preferred it to be much sweeter.  Aaron did like this apple compote, although it wasn’t his favorite apple dessert.

AppleCranberryCompote

We hope you enjoy this warm apple compote as September gets cooler!

Apple Compote
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Apple Compote
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Core, peel, and slice apples into eighths.
  3. Combine all ingredients in 3 quart casserole dish.
  4. Cook for 40 minutes or until apples are tender but still intact.
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Cranberry Cherry Pie

Cranberry Cherry Pie

This Cranberry Cherry Pie is the perfect pairing to any Thanksgiving dinner. We made this recipe twice: the first time for Aaron’s family on Thanksgiving and the second time just for the two of us to enjoy.

Cranberry Cherry Pie

This will also be the first of many dessert recipes here on Marguerite’s Cookbook.  Dessert recipes were the most popular in Marguerite’s collection and the cookbook is about 50% desserts. Her pies were one of the best desserts to have, because she was so good at hand making pie crust.  For as long as Aaron can remember, his mother and other members of their family always talked about how no one could make pie crust like Marguerite.  When Marguerite tried to teach Aaron’s mom how to perfect the pie crust, the main advice she gave was “touch the dough as little as possible.”

Here is what the original recipe said:

Cranberry Cherry Pie Original

First to tackle was the crust itself, the previously mentioned hardest part.  Marguerite used a standard Crisco pie crust recipe, which we have included below.  When we made it the first time for Thankgiving, the family commented that the cranberry and cherry filling, along with the topping, tasted delicious.  Aaron’s mom, who was the best one to judge the crust, said that while it was good, it was not as soft and flakey as Marguerite’s.

Darn.

We attributed this to over handling the crust, as well as not putting enough water in it.  We also over baked the pie because there were no baking instructions on Marguerite’s recipe.  We were determined to get it right, so we tried it again.

Cranberry Cherry Pie

Despite being advised to, we didn’t chill the Crisco the second time. This seemed to make it much easier to play with the crust less. More water was also added.

In both attempts we omitted the Tapioca pudding from her recipe because neither of us care for it and we decided that it wouldn’t negatively affect the recipe to skip it.

Slice of Cranberry Cherry Pie

The other challenge with this recipe: Marguerite left no instructions on how long to bake the pie and at what temperature! For the first attempt we baked it for too long.  The second time turned out much better!

Cranberry Cherry pie and slice

I’m not a huge fan of pie, so I only sampled a small amount. Not the worst pie I’ve ever tried though.

Aaron loved it, despite not being a huge fan of cranberries.

Slice of PieWe hope you attempt this recipe for your next holiday to share with your family!

 

Cranberry Cherry Pie
Cranberry Cherry pie and slice
Cranberry Cherry Pie
Print Recipe
A berry pie recipe with a crumble topping
Servings Prep Time
1 Pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 Pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 30 minutes
Cranberry Cherry pie and slice
Cranberry Cherry Pie
Print Recipe
A berry pie recipe with a crumble topping
Servings Prep Time
1 Pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 Pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 30 minutes
Ingredients
Crust
Pie Filling
Topping
Servings: Pie
Instructions
Crust
  1. Blend flour and salt in large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using pastry blender or fork. Stir in just enough water with fork until dough holds together.
  2. TIP Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.
  3. Shape dough into a ball. Flatten ball into a 1/2 inch round disk.
  4. Chill for 30 minutes or up to two days.
  5. Roll dough from center outward into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate on lightly floured surface. Transfer dough to pie plate.
Filling and Topping
  1. Mix the cherry pie filling, cranberry sauce, sugar, and lemon juice.
  2. Pour the filling mixture into the crust.
  3. Dot with margarine
  4. Mix the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and margarine for the topping with a blender.
  5. Sprinkle the topping on top of the pie.
  6. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes
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