Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie marries sweet apples with tangy fresh cranberries and a crunchy crumble topping for a festive pie that’s full of bright flavor. Thank you OXO for sponsoring post as part of their ‘Tis the Season for Freezin’ campaign. All opinions are always 100% my own. Thank you for supporting brands I love and and believe in, which helps make Comfortably Domestic possible.
Let’s start by addressing the big white elephant in the room, okay? While I love, love, LOVE fruit pies, I’m not usually a fan of crumb topped pies. That fact is most obvious by the fact that I’ve only shared one crumb pie here on the blog in the past six years. One. I find most crumb pies to err on the side of soggy on top. I like all of the components in the topping, but the texture is all wrong. Soggy crumb topping is a real bummer.
A crumb topping needs to be more than buttery and sweet. A crumb topping should have a buttery-sweet-crunch in every bite. Crumb topping on a pie should be just as crunchy as it is on these Rhubarb Crumb Muffins.
I knew that I wanted to share a Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie with you all for the holidays because the flavors are sweet, tangy, and festive. Obviously, I had to solve the problem of soggy crumb toppings first.
The crumb topped muffins had me wondering why a topping stays crunchy on a muffin but turns to mush on a pie. I think the mush factor is from the topping being sprinkled over the filling before it hits the oven. The fruit releases juices as it bakes, which is then absorbed by the crumb topping, resulting in a less-than-crunchy crumb. I fixed the problem by adding the topping partway through the baking process, rather than in the beginning.
My first trial yielded a crunchy topping, but the filling was dry. I think the lack of moisture came from initially baking the pie without anything to seal it in. The solution? More. Butter.
You heard me.
Dotting the filling with butter during the initial baking kept the filling from drying out before the topping was added. Problem solved. The crumb topping still wasn’t quite perfect, though. The topping itself was more crisp, but still lacked the satisfying crunch that I was looking for. I found the freezing the topping while the pie was initially baking kept the butter in the topping cold enough that it took longer to melt in the oven, therefore yielding the crunchy crumb topping that I longed for.
Mission perfect Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie is accomplished!
Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie marries sweet apples with tangy fresh cranberries and a perfectly crunchy crumb topping for a festive pie to celebrate the season.
Since I’d already spent so much time on this Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie recipe, I also worked out how to freeze a pie to bake later. My friends at OXO sent me their sweet new Glass 9″ Pie Plate. It’s made of thermal shock resistant borosilicate glass, meaning it goes from freezer to oven without needing to thaw. Y’all know that I had to test it out by freezing a pie!
OXO Glass Bakeware works beautifully! I love all of my OXO Glass Bakeware because it cooks evenly and has a generous rim around the edges. The rim around the bakeware makes me feel like I have a good grip on it while moving it from freezer to oven to table. The only thing worse than a soggy crumb topping is dropping a whole pie on the floor because it slipped out of my hands!
We’re not going to talk about how many times that I’ve done that, okay?
But we can talk about dishes for a second. As in, I hate washing more dishes than absolutely necessary. OXO also makes a Steel Pie Server that I’m in serious like with because it both cuts clean slices of pie and serves it up with one handy tool. One tool = less dishes to wash! With all of the holiday baking going on, washing fewer dishes is a big plus.
The OXO Good Grips Freezer-to-Oven Safe Glass 9″ Pie Plate
Celebrate the season with a Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie!
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
Kirsten Kubert
Yields One 9-inch Deep Dish Pie
Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie marries sweet apples with tangy fresh cranberries and a crunchy crumble topping for a festive pie that’s full of bright flavor.
30 minPrep Time
1 hrCook Time
1 hr, 30 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- For the Pie:
- ½ recipe (1 disk) 5 Minute Homemade Pie Crust
- 4 ½ C. (4 to 5 small) peeled, cored, and sliced apples
- 1 ½ C. (12 oz) fresh cranberries
- 2/3 C. granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbs. cornstarch
- 2 Tbs. chilled butter, cut into 8 cubes
- For the Crumb Topping:
- 1 C. all purpose flour
- ½ C. granulated sugar
- ½ C. packed light brown sugar
- 6 Tbs. chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- For the Optional Decorative Edging:
- ½ recipe (1 disk) of 5 Minute Homemade Pie Crust
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbs. cold water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Roll the pie crust large enough to fill a 9-inch deep dish pie plate plate with 1-inch hanging over the rim of the plate. Fold the overhanging dough under until flush with the rim of the pie plate. Crimp as desired. Alternately, the overhang of dough may be folded flat to serve as a base for decorative pie crust cut-outs around the edge. (See the Recipe Notes for instructions for the optional decorative edging.) Briefly freeze the pie shell while preparing the filling.
- Toss the sliced apples with the cranberries, granulated sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and cornstarch until evenly coated. Let filling stand while preparing the crumb topping.
- Prepare the topping by whisking the flour, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together to combine. Work the chilled butter in with clean fingers or a pastry cutter until it is the size of small peas. The crumble is ready if it holds together when squeezing a small handful together. Squeeze the crumble into several large clumps. Freeze the crumble while assembling the pie.
- To assemble the pie, spoon the apple-cranberry mixture into the chilled pie shell. Be sure to scrape all of the juices in the bowl over the filling. Level the filling with the back of the scraper or a spoon. Scatter the 2 tablespoons of chilled butter evenly over the filling.
- Bake the pie in the center rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees F. Remove the crumb topping from the freezer. Break the crumb topping over the pie filling, scattering it around the entire exposed surface of the pie filling while doing so. Be careful to spread the filling all the way to the interior edges of the pie crust to seal in the filling.
- Return the pie to the oven and continue baking at the lower temperature for 35 to 40 minutes or until filling is bubbly, with the crumb topping and edge of the pie crust is a medium brown in color.
- Transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool before serving.
Notes
Firm yet sweet varieties of apples work best in this recipe. Frozen cranberries may be used in place of fresh—no thawing necessary.
To decorate the edge of the pie with optional cut-outs, use a full recipe of pie crust —1 disk for the pie, and 1 disk for the decorations. Roll the first disk of dough to fill the pie plate with 1-inch hanging over. Fold the overhang under and press flat—even with the edge of the pie plate—to serve as a base for the cut-outs. Roll the second disk of pie crust to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut shapes using 1-inch cookie or fondant cutters. Whip the egg with cold water to create an egg wash. Lightly brush the flat edge of the pie crust with the egg wash. Brush the top of the cut-outs with the egg wash before placing them onto the prepared edge of the pie. Fill the pie and continue the recipe as directed.
Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie freezes beautifully! Simple prepare the crust and fill with the fruit filling. Wrap the entire pie—including the pie plate—in a double thickness of plastic wrap. Cover the surface of the pie with aluminum foil. Prepare the crumb topping as directed in the recipe. Transfer the large clumps of topping to a zippered freezer bag and freeze alongside the wrapped pie. When ready to bake, unwrap the pie and bake as directed in the recipe. Set the frozen crumb topping on the counter while the pie is baking for the initial 20 minutes at the higher temperature. Top the pie and continue as directed in the recipe, extending the overall baking time by about 15 to 20 minutes.
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