I’ve been baking this apple cranberry pie for family Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for years. I love that it’s an apple pie, so traditional for the holidays, but the cranberries and crumb topping give it a special – and festive – vibe.
Oh, yes, the crumb topping. The liberal buttery-crisp top blankets the perfectly tender apples and tart cranberries. Served warm with a little vanilla ice cream? Pie nirvana.
Here’s the recipe!
Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie
Looking for a twist on your typical apple pie recipe? Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie is just different enough to be special - and it may just be the perfect holiday dessert. It's certainly one of our faves.
Ingredients
Crumb topping
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I prefer dark but light works too)
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Pie filling
- 4-5 large apples (peeled, cored, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 5 cups) (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Gala are all great))
- 2 cups of your favorite homemade cranberry sauce (or 1 (16-ounce) can whole-berry cranberry sauce)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Also
- 1 pie crust for the bottom (your favorite recipe or store-bought refrigerated, no judgment!)
- Vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the butter and cut in with your fingers until the mixture resembles large coarse crumbs.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, mix the apples, cranberry sauce, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch until well mixed.
- Place the pie crust in a pie dish, and pour the apple filling into the shell. Mound it a little in the middle.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples. There will be a lot. Pack it down a bit, if necessary.
- Place the pie on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for about an hour and 10 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the crust and top are golden brown.
- Transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Adapted from Bon Appétit
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I’m so glad you’re here! I’m a vegetarian home cook, certified plant-based pro, and mom. I’m married to an enthusiastic carnivore, and my mission is to achieve peace in the kitchen – one tasty recipe at a time. These days, with a name like mine, I also try not to ask to speak to the manager.
The cranberries give that pie such a beautiful color. I love anything with apples, so I am sure this would be an amazing pie.
What a lovely color the cranberries give! Your photos are amazing… Nicely done!
Thank you so much, Kim! Taking the photos is so much fun…
I like the crumble topping….and what a beautiful color the cranberries gave the pie. Yummy.
This was sooo yummy, tastes even better then picture.
Lindsay, glad you loved it! Thanks so much for coming back and leaving a nice comment. 🙂
It was tasty. Unfortunately, it was so watery that it made my pie crust a mushy pastry. Also, I didn’t realize that it needed a deeper pie dish. I used a Pillsbury pie crust. It was shallower than expected that I had trouble keeping the filling in. In the end, the solid stuff stayed but half of the liquid flowed out.
Maybe I needed to cook the filling a little to thicken it a bit before putting it in the pie.