How is your December going so far? I am working hard to wrap up my Christmas shopping and this weekend will start some serious Christmas baking! What are your favorite things to make at Christmas time? I would LOVE to hear in the comments!
If you are looking for a fun and incredibly delicious holiday dessert, I think you should try this Apple Cranberry Pie Deluxe. It is based off my Grandma’s famous Apple Pie Deluxe recipe–which is seriously the BEST apple pie ever (in my humble opinion). I think what sets her apple recipe apart is the buttery crumb topping spread on the apples before you lay on the top curst. So YUMMY!
This time I added the cranberries for a festive pop of color and flavor. They are a fabulous addition to already great pie recipe, trust me!
Have you ever made a lattice top on a pie? It is so pretty and surprisingly very easy. I used a fun little pastry cutter to get the zigzag edge but a pizza cutter or knife works great for a straight edge.
How to make a Lattice Top:
Creating a lattice top is really quite easy. I found this little graphic online that is very helpful. Once you do it once you will realize how simple it is.
Apple Cranberry Pie Deluxe
Ingredients
- 1 double pie crust (See below for Barefoot Contessa’s Perfect Pie Crust)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tb flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 6 cups apples, peeled and sliced (Granny Smith work great)
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 flour
- Barefoot Contessa’s Perfect Pie Crust
- 12 Tb very cold unsalted butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tb sugar
- 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
- 6–8 Tb ice water (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Pour lemon juice over sliced apples and cranberries.
- Combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
- Coat apples with mixture.
- Put in unbaked pie shell.
- Mix butter, brown sugar, and flour (cut with pastry blender, two knives or rub with fingers).
- Sprinkle over apples.
- Cover with top of pastry – lattice top looks wonderful.
- If you decide not to do a lattice, make sure you cut out shapes or cut slits in the top so steam can escape. [To do this easily, gently fold top pastry in fourths then cut shapes/slits at the straight edges (like you would to make paper snowflakes).
- Then place the folded dough on top the pie and unfold over apple filling.]
- Cut excess dough from around the edge and seal the edges as desired.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
- Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice cream.
- Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture.
- Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix.
- Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8-12 times, until the butter is the size of peas.
- With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board.
- Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan.
- Repeat with the top crust.
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