Apple Cranberry Pie

It was a banner weekend: dinner on the Upper West Side on Friday night, the farmers’ market in Grand Army Plaza on Saturday morning, shopping and macarons in SoHo in the afternoon, beer and tacos in Sunset Park at night, and finally on Sunday, manicures, pints of pumpkin ale, and lots of cooking in Park Slope. It felt the way a New York weekend should, with just the right balance of adventure and absurdity, and enough scenic views for a Woody Allen film. Much of it also revolved around food, so it was natural to wind down by baking a pie Sunday afternoon with my well-manicured hands.

I wanted to go recipe-free to make an apple cranberry pie, so I tried to remember as many techniques as I could from last year’s apple pie adventure and winged the rest. The pie was a success, but I forgot to add flour to the apple mixture which resulted in a little excess liquid. I’ve corrected it in the recipe after the jump.

Apple Cranberry Pie
Crust
-2 1/2 cups flour
-2 tsp. sugar
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
-5-6 tbs. ice water

Filling
-4 large Jonagold apples (or baking apples of your choice), peeled and sliced into 1/4″ wedges
-Juice of 1 large lemon
-2/3 cup dried cranberries
-2/3 cup sugar
-1 tbs. ground cinnamon
-1 tsp. allspice
-1/2 tsp. vanilla
-1/4 tsp. almond oil
-2 tbs. flour

1) Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in using two knives, slicing the butter into small pieces throughout the flour (alternate: add ingredients to a food processor and pulse until it’s a course meal).

2) Add 2 tbs. of ice water and mix in with a fork. Continue adding water until the dough is lightly moistened and can form into a ball. Form it into two disks, place in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3) While the dough is chilling, mix the apples, cranberries, lemon, sugar, vanilla, almond oil, cinnamon, and allspice in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into a large sieve over a bowl and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Once 30 minutes have elapsed, pour the excess liquid into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until it becomes a syrup, just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and set aside.

4) Preheat the oven to 350º. Remove the dough from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Lay out a sheet of wax paper, coat with flour, and place the first disk in the center. Sprinkle more flour on the dough and place another sheet on top, then begin to roll the dough into a 12″ circle, about 1/4″ thick. Repeat this process with the other disk of dough.

5) Place one sheet of dough in the bottom of an ungreased pie pan, taking care not to let it stretch. Toss the apple mixture with 2 tbs. flour, then add on top of the dough. Drizzle the mixture with the apple syrup you boiled down earlier, then top with the other sheet of dough. Cut away the excess dough from the edges and crimp with your fingers or a fork to seal them together. Also, cut in three vents in any pattern you’d like (My vents pictured below were not large enough).

6) Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch any drippings and bake at 350º for 1 hour. Keep an eye on the crust edges and if they brown too quickly, cover them with a layer of aluminum foil. Once baked, let the pie cool for an hour before serving.