Very excited about this dessert as it’s festive and a great alternative to pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Oven at 190°C. Use a 20-21cm diameter fluted pie dish

Sweet shortcrust pastry

I make mine from:

200g plain flour
120g butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp caster sugar
pinch salt
Very cold water

Prepare the pastry and wrap in cling film. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Depending on how your pastry works – and I like mine thin – you may only need to use half the amount of pastry made. Carefully wrap any extra and put it in the deep freeze. It will be good for making mince pies very soon.

Grease the pie dish and place in the pastry. Let it overhang the sides and prick the bottom with a fork. Loosely lay a sheet of greaseproof paper in the centre of the pie and put in some baking beans. Bake blind for about 20 minutes or until the edges of the pastry starts to colour. Leave to cool.

200g hazelnuts
150g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar (golden caster sugar if you like)
1 tsp vanilla essence
Finely grated peel of 1 lemon
3 tbsp plain flour
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sherry
150g cranberries (fresh or frozen)
Sprinkling of demerara sugar

Spread the hazelnuts over a baking tray and put in the oven for 6-8 minutes until they start to colour. Set to one side until cool and then grind in a blender.

Cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the vanilla essence, lemon peel, flour, salt, lightly beaten eggs and mix. Add the ground hazelnuts, sherry and half the cranberries. Mix gently.

Place the hazelnut mixture in the pie case. Scatter the remaining cranberries on top with a sprinkling of demerara sugar. Trim the sides of the pie.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the edges of the pie are golden brown and firm. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

You may want to scatter more sugar on top. Serve with thick cream.