Apple Cranberry Holiday Pie

Apple Cranberry Holiday Pie

Written by Emily

This has become my favorite recipe. Not just because it’s everything you’d ever want in a holiday pie, but because it’s a collaboration with my former colleague, cellist Dane Johansen from The Cleveland Orchestra.

Quick aside – I had a brief stint working as a fundraiser at The Cleveland Orchestra. Not only are they one of the world’s best orchestras, but deep within lies the most enthusiastic pie contingent you will ever meet. Dane is one of them. In fact, this is not Dane’s first time participating in a pie adventure. We had a tradition of celebrating Pi Day while I was there and in 2018, we celebrated the orchestra’s 100th season with 3.14 pies. From left are musicians, Dane Johansen, Lisa Boyko, a cameo from music director Franz Welser-Möst, Yun-Ting Lee, and Chul-In Park. They were such good sports.

Photo courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra and Rebecca Calkin.

I have this unscientific opinion that pie people are inherently interesting. Dane is also behind the 2016 documentary Strangers on the Earth where he embarked on a 600 mile pilgrimage via the Camino de Santiago, carrying his cello with him and documenting the stories of those he met along the way. It was actually through this documentary that I learned about the Camino and I’ve wanted to do it ever since.

Anyways, back to the pie…nothing terrifies me more than when someone decides to pull a recipe out from the way back of this website. When Dane let me know that he was planning to make the Apple Cranberry Holiday pie, I felt a tinge of panic because though I’ve made it from memory multiple times, it’s been buried in this blog collecting dust. What transpired was a co-developed refresh of this recipe with each of us making this pie, comparing notes and settling on what we felt was THE pie for the holiday season.

What I love about this recipe collaboration is that it offers two approaches to pie making. Dane, being a professional musician, brought an insane amount of precision to his process. He blew me out of the water with his attention to detail, precise measuring and lattice skills. Heed my advice – don’t ever try to go head-to-head with a musician in baking. That music training produces a level of skill in the kitchen that is unmatched.

I brought my usual flexible approach to this pie, trying to bend the rules and strive for good enough. However, I begrudgingly agreed with Dane that this pie deserved a lattice crust despite every fiber of my being wanting to do a crumble top. So I did it – I did not enjoy it – but in the end it was the right thing to do and I was glad I put the extra effort in. You will see in Dane’s pie below that his lattice work was far superior. I cheated and used as few strips as possible in protest. My pie was pretty, but Dane’s was more sophisticated.

Here are some of our takeaways that will set you up for success with this pie:

Plan Ahead

This pie can be made in one day, but if you can, doing some steps in advance would be ideal. Here are some things you can do ahead of time:

  • The pie dough can be made and stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you are really planning ahead, pie dough can be tightly wrapped and frozen for up to three months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and it will be good to go.
  • You can roll and plate your pie, cover and store in refrigerator for up to three days. You can also roll the top crust, place it on a baking sheet or plate and store it tightly covered as well.
  • The filling can be made a few days in advance.

A Word About Apples

I always end up wishing I had more apples! Dane and I both agreed that you will probably need more apples than you think. In this recipe, the filling is cooked on the stove first. The apple volume can be deceiving depending on how much water they lose when they cook down. So have a few extra on hand and if you need to, throw some additional slices into your filling at the end. It will add some nice variation to the texture.

Sugar

Dane and I are divided on this. The flavor of this pie is intended to be tart and bright with citrus. Dane used 1/2 cup of sugar and felt that it was the perfect amount. I used 3/4 cups of sugar because I knew my audience (teenage boys) would skew sweeter. The taste of mine was still tart and did not seem too sweet.

Beware of the Egg Wash

An egg wash on the top crust adds a beautiful color and sheen to the pie. However, this pie takes a good 50-60 minutes to bake, so the egg wash can start to get too brown. Baking the pie on the lowest rack of the oven will help, and if necessary, you can cover the top with parchment or foil to prevent burning. Dane’s first attempt at this pie turned out absolutely beautiful but he did have a bit of an egg wash panic at the end. His lattice started to get too brown, and he thought he had a disaster on his hands. But never fear! If that happens, you can gently scrape the dark spots away after the pie has fully cooled. Pie is always imperfect – never a disaster.

The Results

Dane gets high marks for precision, aesthetics and a pie that was filled absolutely perfect. He also went the extra mile and MADE HIS OWN ICE CREAM. Again, do not pit yourself against a musician in the kitchen. Dane loved the combination of the pie paired with this salted caramel ice cream recipe.

Hardly a disaster! Look at that amazing lattice work.
A filling that is this compact and beautiful is so satisfying.

I shared slices of my pie with eight different people and there was unanimous agreement that this was delicious. We served it with a side of vanilla ice cream, though my neighbor’s grandson put a Klondike bar on top. You do you. Because it is to tart-forward, ice cream really does elevate the whole experience.

Lazy lattice, but pretty nonetheless!
My pie was not a full as Dane’s, and I like the look of his better. But the filling was compact and it sliced up really nice.

Print Recipe

Apple Cranberry Holiday Pie

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Prepare pie dough. Roll and plate bottom crust, cover well and keep in refrigerator until ready. Roll top crust and place on a plate or baking sheet, cover well and keep in refrigerator.
  2. Rinse cranberries, removing any irregular ones and set aside. A bag of cranberries has about 2.5 cups give or take, so if you love cranberries, you can skip measuring and just use one bag.
  3. Peel and slice apples about 1/4 inch thick, placing them in a large skillet or dutch oven. I like to vary the size of my apples by cutting some of the slices in half.
  4. Optional: place sugar in a small bowl and add zest of one orange. Using your hands, rub together sugar and zest until aromatic.
  5. Add sugar and orange zest to apples and cook over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. Stir often.
  6. While apples are cooking, combine cornstarch, 1 tablespoon sugar, cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg in a small bowl. I promise you, fresh grated nutmeg really elevates the flavor and is worth this tedious task.
  7. When the apples are just starting to give, add the cranberries. This takes some judgement but don't stress over it. The intention is for the cranberries to cook a little, but keep their shape. Cook for another two minutes or so until the apples have softened but still hold their shape. If they have released a lot of juice, you can pour some off. I find that Granny Smith apples don't seem to produce too much juice.
  8. When the apples have softened, increase to medium-high heat and add the cornstarch mixture. This is where the science happens. The cornstarch combined with the juice will thicken, creating your filling. This only takes about 30 seconds. Remove from heat as soon as it thickens.
  9. Place mixture into a bowl to cool and add the juice of 1/2 of an orange. If you love orange flavor, go crazy here. Just keep adding to taste. You can also add some additional sugar here if you feel the need to. Cool completely before using or store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Baking the Pie
  1. When ready to fill the pie, preheat oven to 425 and place oven rack on lowest level.
  2. Fill the plated pie shell with the apple mixture. If you feel you need more volume, you can add some additional apple slices.
  3. Choose your top crust adventure. You could do a full top crust with some slits in the middle to let the steam out, but we feel this pie is too pretty to hide. Find your favorite lattice tutorial on the internet (I am not your girl for this) and give it a go! Basically, you will want to try to have about 12 one-inch strips of pie dough for this. ALSO, I am not opposed to using a crumble top here. You could leave the middle open to show the pretty filling and make a cozy wreath of crumble around the pie.
  4. Brush top crust with an egg wash (beaten egg with a splash of milk or water). Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
  5. Place pie on a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 and bake for another 30-40 minutes until the juices are thick and bubbling. Be patient with this part - I always say that the pie will let you know when it's done. Watch for those slow, thick bubbles coming from the edge of the pie.
  6. Cool completely and enjoy a slice of the holidays!

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