Cranberry Apple Pie

In our book, apple pie is synonymous with fall. Just like falling leaves, sweater weather, and the start of football season, it’s an essential (and delicious) part of the season. That being said, we believe this staple pie deserves to go beyond Thanksgiving. We gave this recipe a winter spin by adding sweet-tart cranberries, turning this fall staple into a dessert worthy of being showcased at your Christmas dinner. Read on for our top tips on how to make it the best it can be:

Frozen is just as good as fresh.
Fresh cranberries are sometimes hard to find outside of Thanksgiving season, so if you’re in a pinch, you can 100% use a bag of frozen cranberries. Just defrost them and drain well before assembling the pie—you don’t want any extra water making the crust soggy. 

The pie crust.
Once you start making pie dough in advance, your whole life will change. Make a few batches of a double crust pie dough recipe every few months, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or a freezer safe bag and stash them in the freezer. Defrost the dough in the fridge overnight (or at least 5 hours ahead) when you have a pie craving. Plus, by stocking up, you'll never have to wait for pie dough to rest ever again. 

While we’re big fans of our homemade pie dough, if you run out of time, you can use a pre-made crust instead. 

Use (really!) cold butter.
For any pie-baking newbies, cold butter = flaky crust. When mixing the dough in the food processor, you're looking for pea-size (or a bit larger) clumps of butter. If you over-mix the dough, you risk a crust that comes out tough, and no one wants that.

Chill the pie crust before baking.
After draping the pie crust into the pie plate and crimping the sides, it’s important to chill the dough to keep the crust from slumping in the oven. Place the whole thing in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 10 minutes.

Made it? Let us know how it went in the comment section below!