This post may contain affiliate links.
Apple Cranberry Pie takes the apple pie everyone expects at the holidays and wakes it up with two cups of tart fresh cranberries, all tucked under a flaky, from scratch, all butter double crust. I bake it every Thanksgiving week because it stands out on a table full of brown desserts, the ruby red filling steals attention from everything, even the buttermilk pie.
The food processor crust comes together in 5 minutes and forgives first time pie bakers.
Apple Cranberry Pie Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 30 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 1 hour
- ⏳ Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 8 slices
- ⚡ Calories: 493kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Sweet cinnamon apples with tart cranberry pops
- ✋ Difficulty: Moderate, the double crust takes patience but less than our mixed berry pie lattice
Quick Answer
Pulse flour, salt, sugar, and very cold butter in a food processor, add ice water until the dough pinches together, and chill it in two disks for an hour. Toss sliced apples, fresh cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon, pour the filling into the rolled bottom crust, top with the second crust, dot with butter, cut vents, and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour until golden and bubbly.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cranberries fix the sweetness problem. Two cups of tart berries cut through the sugar and cinnamon, so the pie finishes bright instead of cloying.
- An all butter crust flakes best. Freezing the diced butter first keeps solid pieces in the dough, and those pockets steam into flaky layers in the oven.
- The food processor keeps the dough cold. Quick pulses cut the butter in before it can warm up, which is the entire secret to tender crust.
- Cornstarch thickens the juice. One tablespoon turns the apple and cranberry juices into a glossy filling that slices clean instead of running.
- Granny Smith apples hold their shape. Firm tart baking apples soften without collapsing, so every slice has real apple pieces.
- Vents and a hot oven set the crust. Slits let steam escape while 400 degrees browns the butter crust before the filling can make it soggy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The ruby red filling makes it the showpiece of the holiday dessert table.
- Tart cranberries mean it is never too sweet, even with ice cream on top.
- The all butter food processor crust is the same one our readers mastered on our mixed berry pie.
Key Ingredients
Pantry basics plus two fruits that were made for each other.
- Baking apples: About 2 large Granny Smiths, peeled and sliced. Their tartness and firm texture are built for pie.
- Fresh cranberries: Two full cups. They burst in the oven into jammy ruby pockets that balance the sweet apples.
- Very cold unsalted butter: A full cup, diced and kept ice cold, it is the entire flake factor in the crust.
- Cornstarch and cinnamon: The thickener and the warm spice that turn fruit juice into pie filling.
- Ice water: Six to 8 tablespoons bring the dough together without warming the butter.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The double crust is a canvas, decorate or shortcut it your way.
- Short on time? Use 2 refrigerated pie crusts, the filling works exactly the same.
- Swap the top crust for a lattice or use small cutters to make a decorative vented top.
- Add a half cup of chopped pecans or walnuts to the filling for crunch.
- Stir a teaspoon of orange zest into the filling, cranberry and orange are a classic holiday pair.
- Brush the top crust with egg wash and sprinkle coarse sugar for a bakery sparkle finish.
How to Make Apple Cranberry Pie
- Freeze the diced butter while you set up. In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and sugar, then pulse in the butter in two additions until the biggest pieces look like large peas.
- Add a quarter cup of ice water and pulse, then add more water one tablespoon at a time until the dough pinches together without crumbling.
- Divide the dough into two disks on a floured surface, wrap them, and chill at least 1 hour, up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll one disk into a 12 inch circle about an eighth inch thick and fit it into a 9 inch pie plate.
- Stir the sliced apples, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon together in a large bowl, then pour the filling into the crust and dot with the diced butter.
- Roll out the second crust and lay it over the filling. Trim to a half inch overhang, tuck the top edge under the bottom crust, and pinch to seal all the way around.
- Cut a few slits in the top for vents and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles through the vents. Cool before slicing and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Keep the butter truly cold. Freeze it while you measure everything else, visible butter pieces in the dough equal flaky layers in the oven.
- Stop at large pea sized crumbs. Over processing melts the butter into the flour and the crust bakes up tough instead of tender.
- The dough should look like crumbs, not paste. It is hydrated enough the moment a pinch holds together.
- Chill the full hour. Cold dough rolls without tearing and holds its crimp instead of slumping in the oven.
- Shield the edges if they brown fast. A ring of foil after the first 30 minutes keeps the crimp from burning while the center finishes.
- Let the pie cool at least 2 hours. The cornstarch sets as it cools, cut early and the ruby filling runs across the plate.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Serve each slice slightly warm with a generous scoop of old fashioned vanilla ice cream, the cold cream against the tart ruby filling is the entire holiday experience on one plate.
On the Thanksgiving dessert table, it holds the fruit pie seat next to our buttermilk pie and tiramisu pie, and its red filling is always the first slice claimed.
If the season has you deep in apples, bake this alongside our apple bread and our apple and blackberry crumble for a full orchard themed spread.
Store covered at room temperature up to 2 days or refrigerated up to 4. The whole baked pie also freezes beautifully for a month, thaw overnight and refresh in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
Apple Cranberry Pie FAQs
Fresh cranberries, 2 full cups. They burst during baking into tart, jammy pockets that balance the sweet apples. Frozen cranberries work straight from the bag, add a few extra minutes of bake time. Dried cranberries are too sweet and chewy for this filling.
Firm, tart baking apples hold their shape best. Granny Smith is the classic choice, and Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady also work well. Avoid soft apples like Red Delicious or McIntosh, which cook down to mush under the crust.
Three defenses, a hot 400 degree oven that sets the crust fast, cornstarch in the filling to trap the juices, and baking on the lower third rack so the bottom gets direct heat. Cooling the pie fully before slicing lets the filling finish setting too.
Yes, three ways. The dough disks chill up to 2 days or freeze for a month, the whole pie can be assembled and refrigerated overnight before baking, or bake it fully the day before, it holds at room temperature covered for 2 days.
Either it was cut too soon or the filling never bubbled. The cornstarch only activates at a boil, so bake until you see thick bubbles through the vents, then cool the pie at least 2 hours so the filling can set before slicing.
Absolutely, two refrigerated crusts swap straight in and the filling behaves exactly the same. The from scratch all butter crust tastes flakier, but the shortcut version still beats any bakery pie.
Made this Apple Cranberry Pie? Leave a comment and a star rating below, I would love to hear how it went over at your holiday table!
For the kids table, our mini pumpkin pies are the handheld classic.
Apple Cranberry Pie
Ingredients
Double Pie Crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter, very cold 1/2 inch dice
- 2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
Apple Cranberry Pie Filling
- 4 cups sliced baking apples peeled and cored, about 2 large apples (I used Granny Smith)
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter small dice
Instructions
Double Pie Crust
- Place diced butter in the freezer while preparing the rest of the crust. In the body of a food processor, add the flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse a few times to combine. Add half of the butter, and pulse 3-5 times to incorporate it. Add the remaining butter and pulse another 3-5 times or until the biggest chunks of butter resemble large peas.
- Add 1/4 cup of the ice water to the food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Add more ice water, one tablespoon at a time to the processor pulsing between each addition. The dough is done when you can pinch some between your fingers and it holds together and does not crumble apart. The dough will not be wet but look like a bunch of crumbs.
- On a clean work surface that is lightly dusted with flour, pour out the dough. Take half and form into dough disk, gently pressing it together. Lightly dust with flour, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Continue with the remaining dough. Chill for at least one hour, up to two days.
Pie Assembly and Filling
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Take one of the pie doughs out of the fridge. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to roll out. On a lightly floured, clean work surface, roll out the dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter and 1/8th inch thick. Place pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate, gently pressing it in to fit the dish.
- Place sliced apples, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pie dish, set aside.
- Roll out the second pie crust the same as the first. Place on top of the filling. Cut the excess pie crust off the sides, leaving a 1/2 inch lip over the edge of the pie place. Gently fold over the top pie crust, tucking it under the bottom crust, pinch to close all around.
- Make a few slits in the top of the crust for air vents. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Let cool before serving. Serve with Tillamook Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
Follow @ThisSillyGirlsKitchen on Instagram and @danadevolk on Pinterest for more!
Beautiful pie for the holidays, and with a delicate butter crust and creamy ice cream you can’t go wrong!