Instructions: Make the Pate Brisee: All ingredients should be cold. In the bowl of a food processor, put flour, salt, and sugar. Add the pieces of butter, and process for approximately 10 seconds, or just until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. (To mix by hand, combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender or two table knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.) Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water, drop by drop, through the feed tube with the machine running, just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky; do not process more than 30 seconds. Test the dough at this point by squeezing a small amount together. If it is crumbly, add a bit more water. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Grasping the ends of the plastic wrap with your hands, press the dough into a flat circle with your fists. This makes rolling easier than if the pastry is chilled in a ball. Wrap the dough in the plastic, and chill for at least an hour.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine apples and pears in a large mixing bowl. Add flour, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, and zest, and mix. Add cranberries, and toss gently. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a rough 18-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Line a 12-inch pie dish with the dough.

Transfer apple and pear mixture into pastry-lined pan. Dot the top with butter. Fold and overlap the pastry over the fruit. Brush pastry with cream. Sprinkle sugar lightly and evenly over the top of pie. Transfer to a Silpat-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees; continue to bake until juices are bubbling, about 1 1/2 hours more.

This recipe yields 1 twelve-inch pie.

Yield: 1 twelve-inch pie

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