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This Apple Cranberry Pie is the perfect blend of sweet apple pie with little pops of tart cranberries, all wrapped up in our ultra flaky (and easy!) homemade pie crust.
Ooh, boy, are y’all in for a treat today! It’s pie time!
We love a apple pie that looks like the crust might just burst from the bountiful filling and this pie delivers – with both thinly sliced cinnamon sugar apples and little bites of tart cranberries scattered throughout!
I’m a bit of a pie snob. I used to think that I didn’t like pie, but no. I just don’t care for store bought pie crust all that much. It’s so bland and boring. Thick, flaky, homemade crust is where it’s at!
Now, don’t freak out – you can totally make this pie with your store bought crust if you don’t feel like getting in there and being all Betty Homemaker, but my friends. Our pie crust recipe is easy, flaky perfection.
We use this same crust in all of our pies, like our easy Sweet Potato Pie, Chocolate Pecan Pie, and Chess Pie.
Perfect Pie Crust Tips & Tricks:
If you’re making a homemade pie crust you’ll want to keep some of these tips and tricks in mind. These will apply to pretty much any pie crust recipe!
- Cold Ingredients – It’s very important that you begin with cold butter or lard and ice cold water. If you’re using a food processor (and you should – makes life easy!) you can even use frozen butter. Chilling the fat helps to create a perfectly flaky pie crust!
- Food Processor – It can make the job of mixing the dough for the pie crust a whole lot simpler! Mixing by hand takes longer and can heat up the butter when you want it to remain chilled. This tool will make it so fast and easy!
- Blind Bake – This just means that you bake the pie crust without the filling in it. You can add pie weights to the crust to hold it in place or you can use clean dried beans! This step isn’t always necessary (and is not needed for this cranberry apple pie) but it can be helpful if the filling you are using bakes quicker than the crust. You don’t want soggy or doughy pie crust! It’s also useful when making pies with no-bake fillings.
- Trim/Decorate – Don’t forget to trim off the excess dough around the edges, leaving enough to crimp or press into a beautiful edge. Not a pro at crimping your dough? Use a fork to press lines into the edges – that’s pretty too!
- Vodka or Vinegar – We normally use vinegar in our pie dough to help tenderize the drust a bit. You don’t taste it. You can also use vodka in place of the vinegar.
Apple Cranberry Pie
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups cold cubed butter see notes
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pinch white sugar
- 1 large egg beaten
- 5 tablespoons ice cold water
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- flour for rolling dough
- 1 large egg for egg wash
- Sprinkling of granulated sugar for crust
For the filling:
- 7 tart apples see notes
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 lemon juice of
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Add the butter, flour, salt, and sugar to a large bowl and work it together with a pastry cutter until you have coarse crumbs. Alternately, add these ingredients to a food processor fitted with the dough blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs.
- Pour in the egg, water, and vinegar and stir until just combined. Use your hands to lightly knead the dough together – do not overwork the dough, just mix until it forms a cohesive ball. If you're using a food processor, it'll take just a few pulses to bring the dough together enough to start working it by hand.
- Separate the dough into 2 balls of and place in ziploc bags. Flatten into round discs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the filling:
- Peel and slice the apples into 1/8 inch thick slices. Add to a large mixing bowl and squeeze lemon juice over the top.
- Stir in the cranberries, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Toss to combine well.
To bake:
- Lightly flour your countertop and roll the pie crust out into a circle about 2-3 inches larger than your pie plate. Repeat with the second crust. Carefully transfer one crust o a 9 inch deep dish pie plate.
- Add the apple mixture to the crust. It will seem like you have way too many apples, but just mound them up as high as you can.
- Top with the remaining piece of pie crust and seal the edges, trimming off excess if needed. Crimp into a decorative pattern. Slice 4 1-inch slits in the top pie crust to vent.
- Whisk together an egg with a tablespoon of cold water. Brush over the top of the pie crust. Sprinkle the crust lightly with sugar.
- Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for 45 minutes. Cover edges of pie crust with foil or a pie shield if they start getting too browned.
- Cool completely before slicing and serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Ingredient Notes:
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Perfect Pie Crust – The perfect pie crust is usually the one you make yourself! You’ll need butter, flour, sugar, ice cold water, vinegar, egg, and salt.
Apples – I’d recommend using a tart variety of apple. We use a mixture of Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples.
Cranberries – Fresh cranberries will add more tart flavor to the pie that’ll pair well with the apples.
Flour – We add just a sprinkle of flour in the filling to help the juices thicken as they bake.
Sugar – You’ll need sweetness to balance out the tartness of the apples and cranberries! Brown sugar will do the trick.
Cinnamon – I’m pretty sure that apples and cinnamon were made for each other! It’ll add lots of warm flavor to the pie so you’ll mix it in with the filling.
Lemon Juice – Some freshly squeezed lemon juice will brighten everything up and make the filling taste fresh and flavorful.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- The sweet and tart flavors come together perfectly in this pie and we love every bite of it!
- This pie is so festive with the pops of juicy, red cranberries hiding throughout.
- Apple pie that’s been piled high like this is a real showstopper. People can’t resist grabbing a piece!
- Our homemade crust is simple enough to make, but always impresses friends and family when they hear it’s homemade.
How To Make Perfect Pie Crust:
Cut Together: We’re going to start by adding the cold butter cubes, flour, salt, and sugar to a mixing bowl. You’ll use a pastry cutter to cut that mixture together, which just means you’ll press it together breaking up the butter and forming small chunks of flour coated butter bits throughout. See the recipe card for tips on doing this in a food processor.
Liquid: Once you have coarse crumbs, add the beaten egg, ice cold water, and vinegar to the mix and stir it together. You can lightly knead this by hand, but don’t overwork the dough. You want to use a light touch so you have nice chunks of butter left throughout.
Chill: Divide the dough into two balls, place them in a zip top bag or wrap them in plastic wrap, and flatten them into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.
Shape: Lightly flour your countertop and then roll out each piece of dough to a circle that’s about 3 inches wider than your pie plate. Transfer one sheet of dough to the pie plate.
Food Processor
We use our Breville food processor in all kinds of recipes! It makes short work of chopping veggies and many other other tasks. This is our favorite food processor because it is so heavy duty and it will last!
How To Make Cranberry Apple Pie:
Apples: Peel and slice the apples into 1/8″ thick slices and add them to a large mixing bowl. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the top.
Citrus Juicer
Freshly squeezed lime and lemon juice is useful in lots of recipes, and this tool makes it easy and mess free.
Cranberries: Add the fresh cranberries, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir it up well and toss to combine the cranberry apple pie filling ingredients.
Fill: Pour the filling into the pie plate. It may seem like too much, but go ahead and mound it all in there.
Top: Roll out and top it with the remaining pie crust and seal the edges. Trim off any excess and crimp the edges. Add four 1″ slits in the top to vent and brush with an egg wash. Sprinkle on some granulated sugar. Place the pie pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
After 20 minutes reduce the heat to 375 and continue baking for 45 minutes. If the edge of the crust starts to brown too quickly cover the edge with foil or a pie shield. We like these silicone pie shields. They’re adjustable to fit a variety of sizes and easy to use.
Finish: When the cranberry apple pie has finished baking you’ll want to allow it to cool completely before slicing and serving or the filling may be a little runny from the juices. It will thicken up as it cools!
Serve this pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream!
Make Ahead/Freezer Instructions:
- The pie crust can be made up to 4 days in advance. Store it in the fridge in plastic wrap or a sealed plastic bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- You can bake this pie a day or two in advance. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge. Let come to room temperature before slicing and serving or gently rewarm in the oven at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes.
- Bake the pie, cool completely, wrap tightly in foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge when ready to serve.
FAQ’s:
Of course not! While we think everyone should try making homemade crust at some point, sometimes the perfect pie crust is the one that’s already made for you and ready to go. Feel free to use the store bought kind if necessary.
I’ve only tested this recipe using fresh cranberries, however I think dried cranberries would likely work fine. I would soak the dried cranberries in water or cranberry juice for about 10-15 minutes before draining well and adding to the filling.
Keep any leftover apple cranberry pie stored in the fridge well covered or in an airtight container for up to 3 to 4 days!
Special Tools:
You really don’t need many tools for making the perfect pie, but we do have a few things we love for baking them up!
Pie Plate: This 9 inch deep dish ceramic pie plate is so beautiful! It really makes your pie look fancy.
Rolling Pin: A good quality rolling pin makes short work of that pie crust! This one can double as countertop decor. Makes a great gift for bakers, too.
Pie Server: This pie server is a slicer and server in one! Less clean up with just one tool.
MORE HOMEMADE PIE RECIPES!
- Air Fryer Apple Hand Pies
- Brown Sugar Pie
- Keto Chocolate Pie
- No Bake Eggnog Pie
- Pumpkin Cream Pie
- Peach Blueberry Pie
This recipe was originally published in December 2013. It was updated with new photos in December 2023. Original photo below.
Dina says
it looks delish!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
Girl that is one gorgeous pie!!! LOVE it.
Joanne says
I need to take this pie crust class. Mine never look that pretty!!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
That looks awesome – I love the colour the cranberries give! Beautiful!
simple green moms says
This looks so stinking delicious! Do you think I could use cherries instead of the cranberries?