Cranberry Walnut Crostata

I've always found the week after Christmas to be a rather funny time. The "Red Cups" are white again, Lite FM has reverted back to easy listening favorites, and department stores are cheerfully decorated for Valentine's Day (seriously!). My house, unfortunately, looks very much like a post Christmas war zone. The tree is definitely still up- I can't bear to take it down yet despite the ornaments drooping on the drying boughs. My box of wrappings and ribbons continues to sit on the living room floor where Mike and I wrapped all those gifts at the very last minute. And the kitchen- oh boy, that kitchen! - needs to be cleaned out of all the surplus holiday ingredients! I'm not sure why, but the holidays bring out the bulk-buying tendencies in me. At the time, of course I needed 3 bottles of peppermint extract or 4 bags of fresh cranberries or 2 packages of refrigerated, pre-rolled pie dough even though I prefer homemade.

Now that the holidays are behind us, I'm faced with the challenge of using up my extra ingredients without being too blatantly Christmas. No one wants candy cane cupcakes or gingerbread cookies on December 29, right? I think this cranberry walnut crostata fits the bill perfectly. I was able to use up some of the fresh cranberries and the pie dough I had on hand to create an incredibly simple dessert that would be great before Christmas or after, especially when served with a scoop of vanilla gelato! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 single crust pie dough (I used the refrigerated, pre-rolled version. Don't judge.)

3-4 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 cups cranberries, halved

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 egg white, beaten

Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

-Prepare a baking sheet with parchment and unroll the pie dough onto the parchment.

-Combine the brown sugar, halved cranberries, and chopped walnuts.

-Spoon cranberry-walnut mixture onto the center of the pie dough, leaving a wide border, about 1 1/2 inches, around the perimeter.

-Gently fold the border of dough over the cranberry walnut mixture, working around the pastry and pleating as necessary until a crust has been formed.

-Brush the crust with the beaten egg white and sprinkle the whole pastry with the demerara sugar.

-Bake at 450 degrees until golden brown.

-Serve in slices warm or at room temperature, along with a scoop of vanilla gelato.