Apple Cranberry Pie
Apple cranberry pie, a tart cousin of the dutch apple pie. Traditional pie crust filled with a mound of fresh apples and cranberries and topped with a generous pile of cinnamon streusel. Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream on top!
Why You Will Love Apple Cranberry Pie
- Everyone loves an apple pie but I love to make it a little different every time and this year was cranberries and streusel!
- It’s not very sweet, it’s nice and tart but pairs SO WELL with vanilla ice cream on top.
- Super simple to put together, especially with the streusel topping and if you prep the pie crust in advance.
To make this apple cranberry pie I took my Dutch Apple Pie and added fresh cranberries that gives it a perfect blend of sweet and tart. You could make it work with a Classic Apple Pie or other similar recipes such as Momma’s Apple Pie and Apple Pie With Puff Pastry, but today I really wanted that streusel topping that you get with a dutch apple pie because it is the ELITE pie topping.
If you are looking for other tart desserts, keep an eye out for my new White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies. They were a huge hit at our friendsgiving! I also have Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls, Apple Cranberry Crisp, Cranberry Cupcakes, and Orange Cupcakes.
Ingredients
- Flour: I just use all purpose flour. There is such a thing as pastry flour and I know some people like cake flour for pie crusts too but all-purpose works perfectly here.
- I also HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is almost always over measured.
- Butter: I love salted butter for the pie crust. If you use unsalted, just add an extra pinch of salt to each one.
- It’s very important that the butter is cold for the pie crust.
- Apples: I use 10 medium/large-ish apples for this pie and it might seem like a lot, but apples shrink when they’re cooked and I wanted her tall!
- It’s important to stuff them FULL because the apples will lose almost half their volume in the pie crust so if they’re not full, they’ll be sad looking when they’re done baking.
- I love to use my apple corer to peel, core and slice the apples all in one.
- I used mostly granny smith apples with a few honeycrisp in there.
- Cranberries: Fresh cranberries sliced in half or quartered if large.
- Sugar: I use granulated sugar in the apple pie filling along with light or dark brown sugar. I also use light or dark brown sugar for the streusel.
- Cornstarch: used to thicken the juices from the apples so that it gets more saucy and not runny.
- Lemon: Whenever I bake with apples I like to coat them in lemon juice. This prevents them from getting brown super quick and brings out their natural tartness.
- Spices: for apple recipes, I generally just do ground cinnamon and a little bit of ground nutmeg in the apple filling. I also use cinnamon in the streusel.
- Vanilla: I use vanilla extract in the pie filling.
- Salt: I like fine sea salt for use in baking.
- Water: You’ll need ice cold water for the pastry.
- Alcohol: Never have I ever had a flakier crust than when I added 1-2 Tbsp of alcohol. Because alcohol inhibits the development of gluten, it allows you to add a little more liquid without risking a tougher pastry. My best results were with whiskey, but any type of spirit will work fine and won’t impart any flavor unless you use more.
- This is totally optional and not necessary but definitely recommended.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Pie Crust
- Place the alcohol in a measuring cup with cold water and into the freezer.
- Place the flour and salt in the bowl of the food processor. Place the whole bowl in the freezer while you cube the butter.
- Cube cold butter and then add it to the flour in the freezer, for 5-10 minutes (if it’s cold in your house and you work quickly you can skip all this freezing lol – just make sure to keep ingredients cold).
- Remove the bowl from the freezer, place it on the food processor and pulse until pea seize chunks form.
- Drizzle in some water and alcohol mixture and pulse, then drizzle in the rest until the dough starts to look more wet. The dough will still be crumbly but when you press on it, it should stick together.
- Dump the mixture onto the countertop and use your hands to press it all together and fold it over itself a couple of times so it all sticks together nicely. You should see bits of butter in the dough and it should be fully hydrated (so no dry flour spots) but not too sticky to handle – if it’s too dry just add a sprinkle of water).
- Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.
- I recommend starting on your filling while this cools.
Apple Filling
- Peel, core and slice apples: I like to use an apple corer to make this super quick and easy. Toss them with the lemon and sugar in a large pot.
- Rest the apples with its juices for 30-60 minutes and then strain the apples into a clean large bowl. There should be about 1 cup of sweetened apple juice left behind.
- The juice will collect at the bottom of the bowl, strain it and discard the liquid or use it for homemade apple cider caramel sauce or add it to ice cream. Make sure to strain it well so there are no chunks in the juice and just replace the apple cider in that recipe with this apple juice.
- I do this twice, once at half an hour and then at one hour.
- Toss apples with cranberries, cornstarch, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, until they’re well coated before assembling the pie.
Brown Sugar Streusel
- Melt the butter in a bowl and add in the sugar, flour and cinnamon.
- Stir with a fork to mix just until pea size chunks start to form. Then add another 1-2 Tbsp of flour if it feels too wet. Refrigerate until needed.
Assemble
- Roll out the crust to a circle that’s about 1/8-inch thick. Place it into a deep pie dish, bringing it all the way to the top edge.
- Dust the bottom of the pie crust with 1-2 tsp of cornstarch.
- Spoon the apple filling over the pie crust, leaving as much of the juice behind.
- Sprinkle the streusel on top and refrigerate or freeze the pie for about 20-30 minutes to an hour while the oven is preheating. You want the streusel and crust to firm up so it doesn’t shrivel.
- Bake the pie on the bottom rack of the oven for about 75(ish) minutes. The streusel should be a dark golden brown and the filling should bubble around the edge.
- If the streusel is getting too dark and the filling is not yet bubbling, feel free to cover the top of the pie with foil for 10-20 minutes of the bake time.
- Allow to cool for a few hours, slice and serve preferably with ice cream and caramel drizzle!
Tips For Getting The Pie Crust Just Right
- Temperature matters: to create a flaky crust, you want the butter to be cold so it doesn’t melt into the other ingredients. To keep the butter as cold as possible I like to put my flour and sugar in the food processor bowl and then freeze the whole bowl while I cube my cold butter.
- Add the butter to the bowl and freeze while you measure the ice cold water. For ice water, I just put 1-2 ice cubes in the cup and then measure the water or measure the water and freeze it for a few minutes.
- Temperature matters again: Refrigerate the pie dough after you’ve made it and once it feels a little more firm, about 30-60 minutes later, you can roll it out. I roll out half at a time (so the bottom crust first and then the top crust) so the other half doesn’t get too warm.
- If you’re making designs with the top crust and it starts to feel sticky/soft, just refrigerate it again for a few minutes.
- Temperature matters one more time: You want the pie crust and the streusel to hold their shape while they’re baking. If you bake room temperature pie dough, the butter will melt right out and the crust will shrivel up. The streusel will melt into one nice big streusel chunk lol.
- What you want to do is, once the pie is all done, pop it in the fridge or the freezer for about half an hour before baking. You want the crust to be firm and cold before baking so that it holds its shape.
Pro Tips For Making Apple Cranberry Pie
- Do not skimp on the apple resting time. The sugars draw out the liquid from the apples and letting them rest before baking will eliminate a lot of the juice that can make your bottom pastry soggy.
- Make it hours in advance or the day before serving because it is much easier to serve once it’s cooled and it takes a few hours to cool.
- 10/10 recommend an apple corer to make all your fall baking 10x quicker. This apple corer peels, slices and cores the apples all at once. I use it for ALL my apple recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
I find that most apples work well in desserts except golden apples (those are too mushy). My favorites are honey crisp, fuji or gala apples. If you want the crisp to be more tart and less sweet, use granny smith apples.
I find the skin a little unpleasant but you don’t HAVE to peel the apples. I do since it’s easy with an apple corer.
Yes you can use store bought pie crust but I don’t know if it’s just me, I always feel like store bought pie crusts have a slightly bitter taste? But it will definitely work for this recipe. However I always recommend a homemade pie crust, especially when brown butter is involved *wink*.
Yup, you can use a dairy free butter or shortening to make the pie crust and the streusel.
I haven’t tested it but I’m sure a 1:1 gluten-free flour would work fine for the streusel and the pie crust.
Most people opt for simple vanilla ice cream. If you’re feeling fancy, you can make my ice cream with the leftover apple juice from the filling or make my super delicious cinnamon roll ice cream.
How To Store Apple Cranberry Pie
I recommend serving the apple pie on a plate and then topping with ice cream so the ice cream doesn’t melt all over the pie that’s not getting eaten.
Store the leftover pie covered in the refrigerator and then microwave slices bake covered for 15-30 minutes at 325 F before serving again. I do freeze leftovers (just wrap in plastic wrap and foil or use Tupperware but the crust gets soggy when it defrosts.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.
If you make this delicious apple cranberry pie, I’d love it if you left a star rating or a review for me!
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
