cranberry pie filling

Another delightful American fall ingredient; cranberries! Since they have a very short harvest, i tend to go a little crazy with these tasty tart morsels during their 6 -8 week appearance at the end of the year. Here is a cranberry pie filling that can be used for pies, tarts, cobblers or anything else you may like.

2 pounds cranberries, washed and drained
1/2 cup port
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cinnamon stick
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup potato starch combined with enough water to dissolve

in a saucepan, place cranberries, port, maple syrup, vanilla bean, salt and cinnamon stick and over low heat, cover and cook till berries are split open, stirring frequently until a nice thick syrup is forming. The port will cook off (mostly) and the whole process takes about 15- 20 minutes. Add potato starch mixture and blend well; this will get very thick at this point.
This is now ready for further baking in tarts, newtons, pies, cobblers, grunts, buckles.

Here is a topping i like to bake cranberries with:
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch sea salt
1/3 cup agave
1/2 cup earth balance.

Combine all the dry ingredients. Blend the earth balance in, cutting in with a pastry cutter. Add agave and mix well.

for a real treat, use the pie crust i posted with the pumpkin pie recipe on the bottom, the cranberries in the middle and the pecan buckwheat oat topping and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.