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This Apple Cranberry Pie combines the perfect fall flavors of apple pie with cranberry. Cranberry Apple Pies are perfect for Thanksgiving – sweet and tart with a flaky pie crust.
This pie is filled with the light and delicious fruit flavors of apple and cranberry. Together with my All-Butter Pie crust, it’s the best fall pie recipe! The top of the pie is a double crust – but yo could also make it with a lattice top or with crumble topping – your choice. Apple Cranberry filling is sweet and tart with notes of orange – perfect served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients Needed
- Pie Dough: You can make it homemade or buy a refrigerated pack of two.
- Apples: Granny Smith and Honey Crisp are my favorite for baking.
- Orange Juice and Zest: Orange flavors pair so nicely with cranberry.
- Cornstarch: Helps firm up the center of the pie.
- Spices: Make a perfectly spiced pie with cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Cranberries: This recipe was tested with fresh cranberries. I don’t recommend dried cranberries – save those for white chocolate cranberry cookies.
How to make Apple Cranberry Pie
- Place crust in your pie pan and decide if you want to do a lattice crust on top, a double crust, or crumble topping.
- Peel, core, and slice apples thinly. It’s important to thinly slice them so they cook all the way in the pie. Place apple slices in a large bowl and toss with orange juice.
- Whisk sugar with orange zest, cornstarch, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg in a small bowl.
- Pour sugar mixture over apples and add cranberries. Toss to combine.
- Pour filling into prepared pie dish. It will be piled high.
- Top pie with second crust. Trim and crimp edges; cut slits for steam to escape. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar (optional). Place pie on a baking sheet and top with a pie shield (or strips of foil).
- Bake pie for 10 minutes at 425°F, then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and cook until the crust is light golden and filling is bubbly.
Storing Pie
Apple pies like this are perfect to make ahead because they need to cool completely and chill before serving. You can make this pie up to 2 days ahead. Wrap well with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the entire cooled pie or freeze leftover slices.
Expert Tips
- I always bake my pies at a high temperature for 10-15 minutes to avoid a soggy bottom crust.
- Let the pie cool completely before cutting. It will cut easiest if you chill the pie first.
- Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
- Have leftover fresh cranberries? Use them to make cranberry orange punch or cranberry quick bread.
FAQs
Make sure your apples are very thinly sliced and equal in size. That way they’ll break down and all cook evenly and get cooked through – this will avoid a crunchy apple. I prefer slices to chunks for this reason.
Dried cranberries won’t work in this pie. However, frozen cranberries can be thawed, drained, and added to the apples just like fresh can.
Apple Cranberry Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 recipes pie crust from scratch or a refrigerated pack of 2
- 4 cups apples peeled and sliced (about 2.5 pounds)
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch 32g
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 ½ cups (150g) cranberries (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Prepare pie crust as directed (see note). Place one pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate (let the edges hang over). Roll the second pie crust flat to use as a double crust. Set aside while preparing pie.
- Peel, core, and slice apples thinly. It’s important to thinly slice them so they cook all the way in the pie. Place apple slices in a large bowl and toss with orange juice.
- Whisk sugar with orange zest, cornstarch, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg in a small bowl.
- Pour sugar mixture over apples and add cranberries. Toss to combine.
- Pour filling into prepared pie crust. It will be piled high.
- Top pie with second crust. Trim and crimp edges; cut slits for steam to escape. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar (optional).
- Place pie on a cookie sheet and top with a pie shield (or strips of foil).
- Bake pie for 10 minutes at 425°F, then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and cook an additional 40-50 minutes, or until the crust is light golden and filling is bubbly.
- Cool completely before cutting. It will cut easiest if you chill the pie first. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Recipe Notes
- Pie Crust: If you use my all butter pie crust, you can make it up to 24 hours ahead. You can either chill the crust before rolling, then roll and put in pie shell when ready to make the pie or you can roll and place one in pie plate and chill both up to 24 hours, but remove from the refrigerator before making filling so it has a few minutes to warm up. If using a store bought refrigerated crust, thaw according to package directions and place in pie plate just before making filling.
- Apples: I used Granny Smith. You can also use Honeycrisp apples.
- Cranberries: If you have frozen cranberries, thaw and drain all liquid before adding to the apple mixture.
- Store pie in the refrigerator, loosely covered. Pie can also be frozen for several months.
