Cranberry Pie Recipe

Flavorful and aromatic with warm Christmas spices, this cranberry pie recipe features a balanced sweet and slightly tart fruit filling and a deliciously buttery, golden crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Cranberry Pie, Cranberry Pie Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 2

Other Time: 3

Servings servings

Calories 519kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Equipment

Rolling pin
Fluted pastry wheel
Standard 9-inch pie pan preferably glass so you can check the bottom crust
Pie drip catcher

Ingredients

Cranberry Filling:

24 ounces fresh cranberries (about 6 cups cranberries or 2 12-ounce bags of cranberries; frozen cranberries will also work)
3 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter chilled and diced
3/4 cup water

Other:

1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for egg wash)
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for the top

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To Make the Cranberry Filling:

Chop. Add the cranberries to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped (or chop them by hand).
Macerate. Add the chopped cranberries, sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt to a large bowl and toss well to coat. Let the cranberries sit like this until they’re liquidy (they will release a lot of juice!), about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Cook. Add the cranberry mixture to a large pot over medium heat. Cook until the mixture is thickened and jammy (it should have a consistency similar to cherry pie filling), about 5 to 8 minutes. Don’t overcook it at this stage because it’ll thicken more as it cools and as it bakes.
Cool. Let the filling cool to room temperature, 2 hours (better yet, let it cool to room temperature and then chill it in the fridge overnight).

To Make the Dough For the Pie Crust:

Make the dough while the filling cools. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a fork, a pastry cutter, 2 butter knives, or your fingertips. It should look crumbly, with some pieces of butter the size of small peas. Drizzle the water in a little at a time, mixing as you go (you can use a fork to mix, but it works best mixing with your fingertips). Add just enough water so it comes together to form a ball of dough (you may need more or less water).
Chill the dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each into a ball, flatten each ball slightly into a disk, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes (or up to 3 days).

To Assemble the Pie:

Roll out the first disk of dough for the bottom crust. Place 1 disk of dough onto a floured work surface. Working from the center out, roll the dough out to a circle about 11 to 12 inches in diameter.
Put the bottom crust in the pie pan. Fold the dough over onto itself, pick it up, and transfer it to a pie plate. Unfold the dough and push it into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Use a fork to poke several holes in the bottom of the pie crust.
Add the filling. Evenly spread the cooled cranberry filling on the dough in the pie pan. Pop this into the fridge while you roll out the second disk of dough.
Preheat the oven. It needs to be at 450F for the first part of baking. Also, if you don't have a pie drip catcher, I recommend putting 1 rack in the center of the oven and putting 1 rack right below it. On the bottom rack, place a foil-lined baking tray (or just a large piece of aluminum foil) to catch any drippings so they don’t burn on the bottom of your oven.
Roll out the second disk of dough for the lattice top. Roll out the second disk of dough to a circle about 12 inches in diameter the same way you rolled out the first disk of dough. Cut the dough into about 3/4-inch strips (I used a fluted pastry wheel).
Weave the lattice top. For the lattice top, place 5 to 7 dough strips parallel across the pie, leaving about 1/2 to 3/4-inch between each strip. Fold half of the strips up. To get the woven lattice effect, lay a strip of dough perpendicular to the parallel dough strips, and unfold the folded strips over the perpendicular strip. Continue this way for a woven look. (And remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect; your pie will be absolutely delicious either way. You’re making a homemade pie, be proud of that! You’re basically a rock star.) Trim the dough strips, and tuck the outside of the dough under. Use your fingers to flute the edges, or crimp them with a fork.
Egg wash. Lightly brush the top lattice with eggwash, and sprinkle on the turbinado sugar.

To Bake and Serve:

Bake. Bake the pie (uncovered) in a preheated 450F oven for 10 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 350F. Cover the top of the pie with foil (basically just drape it over the top and lightly fold it over the sides), and bake at 350F until the pie is golden on the top and bottom and bubbling in the center (this takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes). Check your pie at the 1 hour mark and every 10 to 15 minutes after. If by the 1 hour 10 minute mark the top still isn’t turning golden, remove the foil and bake it uncovered.
Cool. So it can fully set, let the pie cool to room temperature (or at least until it's lukewarm) before slicing and serving, about 3 hours.

Notes

Storage: Once your pie is cooled to room temperature, wrap it well and store it on the counter for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheating: After the first day, I like to reheat pie before serving. To reheat a slice of pie, put it on a baking tray in a preheated 350F oven until warm, about 10 to 15 minutes (depending on whether it was chilled or not). Check it around the 10 minute mark and cover it loosely with foil if the top is starting to brown too much but the filling isn’t warm yet.
Pie Pan: I like to use a glass pie plate because I can check on the bottom crust as well as the top crust. No soggy bottoms here!
Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This pie makes 1 standard 9-inch pie, or 12 servings. The dough recipe is enough for a double crust, or a crust on the bottom with a lattice on top (or a regular top crust instead of a lattice if you prefer).
Sweetness Level: As you might expect because this is a cranberry pie, this isn't overly sweet. This pie has a more balanced sweet/tart flavor that still lets the cranberries shine. If you want your pie on the sweeter side, you can increase the sugar to 4 cups.

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