This was another of the desserts I made for Thanksgiving, it got rave reviews! There’s a nice contrast between the sweetness of the apples and the tart cranberries. So I made another for Christmas – I froze it, unbaked without the crumb topping, and mummified it in plastic wrap.This holiday season, I’m all about doing as much as I can ahead of time: gifts – wrapped, napkins – ironed, Christmas cards – sent, cookies – baked, house – cleaned! Oh, wait a minute, I got carried away – the house isn’t clean – yet. And if I run out of time, I’ll just employ the old party tactic of keeping the lights dim.
Pie Crust
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup ice water
Pie Filling
- 5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons flour
Crumb Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into tiny pieces
1. In the bowl of a food processor combine flour, salt, and butter, pulse until mixture looks like course crumbs. Add ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400º. Roll out pastry dough and line a 9″ pie pan, crimp edges.
3. Thinly slice apples, and put them in a large bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and flour, mix well.
4. Transfer the apples into the pie pan, pat down and top with the cranberries. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
5. For the topping – mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter using a fork until well combined.
6. Take pie out of oven, reduce heat to 375º, sprinkle topping over the pie and and bake for another 30 minutes until the top is golden.
