How do I get my pie to cook evenly?

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.

Maple Cranberry Apple Pie

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

Units Scale

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

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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