Cranberry Pie

Cranberry Pie:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Let the pie crust sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then gently unroll into a deep 9-inch pie plate. Crimp the edges or gently fold them over to trim with a sharp paring knife.
2. Fill the crust with pie weights and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool while making the cranberry curd.
3. In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, combine the cranberries, sugar and orange juice and zest and vanilla. Simmer until the cranberries have popped and softened, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat.
4. Using an immersion blender (stick blender), puree the mixture in the same cooking pot.
5. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve placed over a large mixing bowl. You might need to press it through with the back of a spoon. Immediately whisk in the butter. Set aside.
6. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolks. Ladle in 1 cup of the cranberry puree while whisking vigorously to temper the eggs. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the larger mixing bowl of cranberry puree and then transfer them back to the original large cooking pot or Dutch oven.
7. Heat over low heat, while continuously whisking, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
8. Ladle the cranberry curd into the blind baked pie crust, smoothing out with an offset spatula.
9. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake the pie for 10-13 minutes or until the top is matte, the edges have pulled away slightly and the center is just jiggly.
10. Remove and allow to cool fully before covering and chilling until ready to serve.

Whipped Cream:

1. When ready to serve, make the whipped cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy whipping cream with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form, approximately 3-4 minutes.
2. When peaks form, whip in the vanilla bean paste until just blended. Do not over mix.
3. Dollop the whipped cream to the center of the pie, making peaks and valleys with the back of a spoon.
4. Optionally, garnish with sugared cranberries.