Cranberry Apple Pie with Walnut Crumb Topping

(from Ken Haedrich”s Apple Pie)

This pie is delicious. It would be good with most any pie apple, but try Wealthy if you have them - they soften just the right amount to provide a pleasing contrast to the crunch of the walnuts. The cranberry flavor is more dominant than the apple, but the apple mellows out the cranberry for sure. Friends who were glamping in our driveway the weekend I made this pie ate some with their campfire dinner and then requested it again for their campfire breakfast. Don’t wait til Thanksgiving to give this a try.

Ingredients:

1 single-crust pie pastry

Filling

  • 6 cups apples - cored and sliced 1/4” thick

  • 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

  • 1/2 cup walnuts - chopped

  • 1/3 cup sugar

  • 1/3 cup maple syrup

  • 11/2 Tbs fresh lemon juice

  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves

  • 3 Tbs flour

Topping

  • 1 cup walnuts

  • 1/3 cup sugar

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar - firmly packed

  • 3/4 cup flour

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter - cut into 1/4” pieces

Directions:

  1. Prepare the pie pastry, and refrigerate until it is firm enough to roll.

  2. Remove pastry from the refrigerator, and roll out on a piece of floured, waxed paper into a 131/2” circle. Transfer into a 9”, deep-dish pie pan. Fold the edges under and crimp into a standing ridge around the edge. Chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

  3. Mix the apples, cranberries, walnuts and sugar together in a large bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes.

  4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  5. Add the remaining filling ingredients to the bowl. Shake the flour over the ingredients at the end, and mix in. Turn the filling into the frozen pie shell, and even it out. Place the pie on a baking sheet covered with foil, and place on the center oven rack. Bake for 35 minutes.

  6. To make the crumb topping, briefly pulse the walnuts and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Add the flour and salt; pulse again. Remove the lid and scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients. Pulse the machine until the mixture resembles medium-fine crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and rub the crumbs between your fingers to make buttery clumps. Chill.

  7. After 35 minutes, remove the pie from the oven, and turn down the temperature to 375 degrees.

  8. Dump the topping over the center of the pie, and spread it out to the edges so that it is evenly distributed across the pie. Tamp down lightly. Return the pie to the oven and bake until the juices start to bubble and the topping begins to brown - 35-45 minutes more. Place a piece of loose foil over the top if it begins to get too dark.

  9. Cool for at least an hour before slicing (if you can wait).