Cranberry Apple Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
I might have missed the snowstorm in Brooklyn last month, but not the cold: On Saturday night, it was 6°F – appropriate since I spent the afternoon chipping away at a block of ice in my yard with a garden trowel. Mother Nature might be in a testy mood this season, but I’m hoping to prevent a flood when things finally thaw out.
I decided rather than face the frigid temps for a grocery run, I’d use some of the canned goods and root vegetables that I’ve been storing for the season. Digging through cookbooks, I found a pie recipe for the apples and cranberries gifted to me by Lancaster Farm Fresh. Yum. Cooking the fruit down into a red, fragrant mixture was a lovely way to reminisce about the holidays in the new year. Bonus that it was pretty low effort as far as pies go.
Though it would taste best with vanilla ice cream, I paired it with tres leches since that's what I had on hand. It was a nice pairing since this pie isn’t overly sweet, as is the graham cracker crust, which compliments the tart fruit beautifully. Plus, it’s easy for crust novices like myself to make: Just mash a few squares and combine them with butter and a tiny bit of ice water. Share with family or neighbors, or eat a slice and freeze the rest in single portions so you can easily reheat during the week.
—
Makes: one 9-inch pie
For the Cranberry Apple Filling
570g apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
400g fresh cranberries
200g sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon flake kosher sea salt
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Graham Cracker Crust
250g all-purpose flour
90g graham cracker crumbs (we used cinnamon)
2 tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoon flake kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 sticks / 225g unsalted butter, frozen
10 to 13 tablespoons ice water (we used 12)
—
For The Cranberry Apple Filling
In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon stick, and ¼ cup (60 ml) water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until the mixture has thickened, the cranberries have burst, and the apples are very tender, about 30 minutes. Stir every 5 to 10 minutes to ensure it doesn’t burn.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the nutmeg, ground cinnamon, salt, cloves and vanilla. Set aside to cool at room temperature.
When the mixture has cooled, remove and discard the cinnamon stick.
For The Graham Cracker Crust
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, ½ cup (60 g) graham cracker crumbs, the sugar, salt, allspice, nutmeg and ginger until combined.
Grate the frozen butter over the bowl, stirring it every 30 seconds to coat the individual shards of butter in the flour mixture.
Add 10 tablespoons (150ml) of the cold water in 1 tablespoon increments, stirring until all of the water has been added.
Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes to help distribute the moisture, then squeeze a handful of dough. If it sticks together when you let go, it’s done! If it crumbles, add another tablespoon of water.
After the dough holds its shape, roll it out on a floured surface until it is ¼ inch (12 mm) thick. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, trim the excess and form the edge. If you end up with extra dough (we didn’t!), use pie stamps or cookie cutters to make cute shapes to place on top of the pie. Otherwise, use your remaining graham cracker crumbs or crush some more.
Place the crust and any shapes you made in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While the crust is freezing, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Pour the filling into the crust and top with the remaining ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs and/or the graham crust shapes.
Bake until the crust is golden brown around the edges, 25-55 minutes. Be sure to check around 30 minutes in five-minute intervals; we took ours out at 35 to avoid a burnt crust!
After you remove it from the oven, allow the pie to cool for 1 hour before slicing and serving.
Adapted from First We Eat (Amazon, $15)
Support the ranch and our business! We’ll earn a commission for purchases made via the above links.
