How to make Vologda cranberry pie with meringue (RECIPE)

Vologda pies are popular because of the variety of their fillings, especially the sweet pies with berries because the region is one of the most berry-rich in Russia. Cloudberries, cranberries, and blueberries - all these aromatic berries are excellent for sweet pies. In the olden days, such pies were made of yeast dough, and it was called a “nalivnoi”, or "filling", berry pie.

Another important ingredient in this pie is Vologda butter. At the end of the 19th century, Nikolay Vereshchagin, a dairy expert, was inspired by the butter from France’s Normandy region and invented a unique recipe for Vologda butter. It was valued not only in Russia, but also abroad. The innovation consisted in the fact that the ingredients were pasteurized, which allowed not only to keep the product longer, but also gave the butter a unique nutty flavour. It is better to eat such butter fresh, on a warm piece of fresh bread, to enjoy its special taste and aroma. But of course, it is also widely used in baking.

Now, in addition to the traditional one, the Vologda Region makes a modern variation of this pie with meringue. It compensates for the acidity of the berries and looks spectacular and festive on the table. Imagine a crumbly shortbread dough, a juicy sour filling and an airy cloud of sweet meringue.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

Dough:

Flour - 200 g
Butter (soft) - 85 g
Egg yolks - 3 units
Powdered sugar - 80 g

Filling:

Cranberries - 200 g
Sugar - 80 g
Corn starch - 2 tbsp

Meringue:

Whites - 3 pcs
Sugar (fine grind) - 140 g
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Carefully separate the egg whites from the yolks, not breaking them. Put all the ingredients for the pie’s base in a bowl and mix until homogeneous.

2. You should get elastic crumbs.

3. Spray the cake form (20 cm) with oil and spread the dough to form a rim.

4. Prick the bottom with a fork to keep the dough from rising while baking.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 180°C.

6. Place cranberries, sugar and starch in a saucepan and heat for 2 minutes, stirring.

7. Mash 1/3 of the berries with a blender. This way the filling will be more uniform, but the whole berries will also burst nicely in your mouth when eating.

8. Spread the cooled filling onto the pie base.

9. Bake the pie with the filling for another 5 minutes.

10. Place the whites in a dry, nonfat, deep bowl, add a tablespoon of lemon juice and beat until large bubbles appear (about 2 minutes).

11. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating the whites on high speed. The sugar should dissolve. The meringue should be glossy and hold its shape.

12. Place the meringue cream in a piping bag and pipe it onto the pie.

13. Put the pie in the oven for another 10 minutes (170°C).

14. Let it cool and serve with tea.