Maple Cranberry Apple Pie
This Apple Cranberry Pie with crumb topping recipe is sweetened with maple syrup and has a deep dish whole-grain crust! In other words, it’s sublime! With a crunchy nut crumb topping, juicy berries, and maple syrup – this recipe is basically autumn in a pie dish!
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe for Maple Apple Cranberry Pie
This pie screams autumn, it screams Thanksgiving, and it screams “eat me for breakfast, Katie!” I heard the call loud and clear and now it’s my tradition to eat a slice of this pie for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving (join me!).
I had to test this cranberry apple crumble pie a few times to get it just right. Partly, I wanted to balance the sweetness of the maple and the cranberry. I also needed to get just the right amount of juiciness in the filling while making it easy to serve. Well, I wound up using both flour and cornstarch in the filling for the right amount of thickness, and bam, it all came together.
Not to get dramatic, but I also think this pie is more than the sum of its parts. This pie is iconic and comforting and baking it brings a satisfaction like no other.
Key Ingredients
Which Apples Are Best For Pie
I call for two types of apples in this recipe: Both Macintosh and another firm variety such as honey crisp, ginger gold or Mutsu. This is key to getting the juiciest filling, but still having great apple texture- not mush.
This occurs because the Macs break down and become juicy. The firmer apples will hold their texture a bit more. Additionally, the flavor of two varieties (or more) makes the flavor of the filling more complex. You can read more about which apples to use for what type of cooking in this post.
Whole Wheat Flour & All-Purpose Flour
For the bottom crust, we used a blend of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat pastry flour. Whole-wheat pastry flour is sold in small paper bags with other specialty flours in health food stores and large supermarkets. If you can’t find it, use regular whole-wheat or white whole-wheat instead.
Butter & Oil
For the crust, we used butter for great flavor and to make the crust flaky. The topping also has a bit of butter as well.
To cut back on saturated fat, we cut the amount of butter in the crust a little by using a little avocado oil instead. You can use another neutral cooking oil of your choice if you do not have avocado oil.
Maple Syrup & Maple Sugar
To sweeten this pie, you’ll want to use both maple syrup and granulated maple sugar. The granulated maple sugar works well in the crust and topping and adds maple sweetness and flavor without additional liquid.
Find granulated maple sugar online. (Here’s maple sugar from my brother and sister-in-law’s family sugaring business.) You can also find it in health food stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers Markets.
If you can find grade A Dark Robust maple syrup, you’ll be rewarded with the strongest and richest taste of maple in your pie. Amber Rich is a good alternative.
Cranberries
To add a seasonal twist to this pie, I added in a handful of fresh tart cranberries. They are a great sour contrast with the sweet apples and maple.
If you do not have them or prefer to have a more pure maple apple pie, then you can omit the cranberries altogether. That said, if you do skip the cranberries, you may want to use slightly less maple syrup in the filling.
Nuts
For the crumb topping choose whichever nut you prefer to blend into the mix. I recommend almonds, walnuts or pecans. Or you can try a blend.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make Pie Crust
Pulse the whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, maple sugar, and salt in your food processor. Add the cold butter and process it until the butter is cut in and the mixture resembles coarse meal. Open the lid and drizzle in some oil, pulse to combine, and then open the lid to drizzle on ice water.
Process until the mixture just comes together. If it seems too dry or doesn’t come together as a ball, try squeezing a handful of the crumbs together. If it still won’t come together, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water.
Form the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic to refrigerate until it’s firm and chilled, which should take at least an hour.
Step 2: Prepare Oven and Crust
Arrange your oven rack so it’s in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375ºF and roll out the dough into a circle, about 14-inches across. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and crimp the edges. Put the crust back in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling.
Step 3: Make the Pie Filling
Toss Macintosh apples, firm apples, cranberries, maple syrup, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
Step 4: Make the Crumble Topping
Stir the whole-wheat flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Drizzle melted butter over the oat mixture, tossing with a fork. Stir until the crumbs are evenly moist, and then add almonds and stir to completely combine.
Step 5: Assemble Pie and Bake
Fill the crust with the apple mixture and top it with the almond crumb mixture. Transfer the pie to the bottom rack of the oven to bake until it starts to brown, which will take about 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking until the filling bubbles and the crust is golden brown, which should take about 1 hour + 20-30 minutes.
FAQs for Maple Apple Cranberry Pie
Baking it on the bottom rack ensures a nicely cooked bottom crust that holds up well, with minimal over-cooking of the top. For this pie, I use a higher temp to set the crust so it doesn’t slump, and then reduced it to make sure that it doesn’t over-brown before the starches in the filling gelatinize and the apples become tender. If for any reason your crust is becoming too brown around the edges, shield them with a bit of aluminum foil or use a pie shield.
You can bake this pie one day ahead. Once it is cool, cover it and keep at room temperature. After one day, the pie should be refrigerated.
You can also make the pie crust dough, wrap it in plastic, and keep in the fridge up to three days ahead or freeze up to one month ahead.
More Pie Recipes and Easy Apple Desserts
- Apple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies are about to be your new favorite cookie on the planet!
- One of my favorite desserts of all time is this Maple Apple Almond Cake and I’d love to hear what you think of it!
- This Maple Apple Crisp is naturally sweetened and is basically the best dessert to bake this fall.
- Whole-grain and sweetened with honey, Gluten-Free Applesauce Bundt Cake is one of those recipes you’ll return to over and over again.
Make sure to check out my round-up of awesome Apple Recipes, and if you’re planning your Thanksgiving menu, check out my Thanksgiving Recipes too!
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Maple Cranberry Apple Pie
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
This Apple Cranberry Pie with crumb topping recipe is sweetened with maple syrup and has a deep dish whole-grain crust! In other words, it’s sublime! With a crunchy nut crumb topping, juicy berries, and natural sweeteners – this recipe is basically autumn in a pie dish! It’s perfect for Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tablespoon maple sugar or brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or organic canola oil
- 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Filling
- 4 large Macintosh apples, 1.75 pounds, peeled, cored and sliced
- 2 large firm apples, such as Honey Crisp, Mutsu or Ginger Gold, .75 pounds, peeled cored and sliced
- 3/4 cup fresh whole cranberries
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
Topping
- 1/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons maple sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds, walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Make crust: Pulse whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, maple sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter, and process until the butter is cut in and the mixture resembles coarse meal. Open lid, drizzle on oil and pulse to combine. Open lid and drizzle on 3 tablespoons ice water. Process until the mixture just comes together. If the mixture seems dry or does not come together as a ball, try squeezing a handful of the crumbs together. If it still won’t come together, add up to 2 more tablespoons water. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour.
- Arrange oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Roll dough out to a circle, about 14-inches across. Transfer to a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and crimp edges. Chill crust while you prepare filling.
- Make Filling: Toss Macintosh apples, firm apples, cranberries, maple syrup, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
- Make Topping: Stir whole-wheat flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Drizzle butter over the oat mixture, tossing with a fork. Sit until the crumbs are evenly moist. Add almonds and stir to completely combine.
- Fill crust with the apple mixture. Top with the almond crumb mixture and transfer the pie to the bottom rack of the oven. Bake until starting to brown, about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking until the filling bubbles and the crust is golden brown, about 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.
Notes
Make Ahead
You can bake this pie one day ahead. Once it is cool, cover it and keep at room temperature. After one day, the pie should be refrigerated.
You can also make the pie crust dough, wrap it in plastic, and keep in the fridge up to three days ahead or freeze up to one month ahead.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 364
- Sugar: 33 g
- Sodium: 88 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 59 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 4 g
I started cooking in my teens from my moms BH&G cookbook, too! Except I made lemon meringue pie. Now this apple crumb pie would be my preference!
It’s hard to believe we’re almost at the holidays again! This year is flying by! This is the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving! Would love to make a gluten free version for my family!
These looks delicious I love it because apple is my favorite fruit. Thank you for sharing this recipe I will try this at home soon and maybe include in my menu.