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Apple Cranberry Currant Crumble Pie

Apple Cranberry Currant Crumble Pie

They say that as you get older you develop more of a sweet tooth. If my parents are any test of this theory, I would have to say, yes this does indeed seem to be true. When my siblings and I were kids (in the 60s) we had dessert once a month (not counting the coffee cake dad made on Sundays). These days nary a pie recipe gets published that my father doesn't want to try, especially when I'm around to make the crust. He made this delicious crumble pie a few days ago and it was half gone by noon. There are three of us. The pie serves 12. Did I say it was half gone by noon? You get the picture.

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Apple Cranberry Currant Crumble Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup dried currants
1 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup granulated sugar
6 Tbsp plus 1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups sliced peeled Granny Smith apples (about 2 1/4 pounds)
10-inch pie pastry for a single-crust pie
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Method

1 Combine the brandy and the currants in a small bowl. Let sit for at least an hour, until currants are plump.

apple-cran-currant-pie-2.jpg apple-cran-currant-pie-3.jpg

2 Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl mix 1 cup white sugar with 6 Tbsp flour, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Use a slotted spoon to transfer currants from brandy (reserve the brandy) to the sugar mixture. Add cranberries and apples and mix well. Pour filling into unbaked pie pastry and drizzle with the reserved brandy.

3 In another bowl mix 1 cup flour with 2/3 cup of brown sugar. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub with your fingers until the mixture forms small lumps. Sprinkle topping over the filling. Set pie in a foil-lined 10x15 inch baking pan (to catch the juices).

4 Bake on bottom rack until juices bubble, 55 to 65 minutes. If pie browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil.

5 Set pie on rack, uncovered, to cool for 2 to 3 hours.

Makes 10-12 servings.

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9 Comments

Elise,
Great combination! I'm still thinking about what to do for T'day.

Posted by: kevin on November 14, 2006 8:36 AM

I tried your apple cranberry pie last year at Christmas, and it was a big winner with the crowd. I adapted it to a 9" x 13" glass pan to serve twenty.

The crumble here must also be wonderful. The combination of apple and cranberry at holiday time is great, especially here in Connecticut where it gets quite cold out.

Posted by: Gary on November 14, 2006 12:23 PM

There's nothing like homemade pie crust - especially for apple pie! Oh my...the first one I made looked terrible but tasted great and they got better looking with practice.This is excellent and very versatile recipe and the picture you paint is very aromatic .

Posted by: home cook on November 15, 2006 4:45 AM

Elise,

Thank you so much for posting this recipe! This was my first year contributing to Thanksgiving dinner, and I made this pie. My family raved about it, my dad had two pieces, and I even talked them into keeping the leftovers (quite a feat when you consider that they're all very careful about eating right). THANK YOU! :)

Posted by: Kari on November 23, 2006 7:04 PM

This pie was FANTASTIC!! My dried currants didn't seem to want to plump in the brandy, no matter how long I left them to soak, but it still came out wonderfully. My favorite part was that the insides were thick, so that when you cut the first piece, it didn't all collapse into the empty space in the pan. Thanks! You made our Thanksgiving excellente!

Posted by: Amity on November 27, 2006 8:53 AM

Elise,
This pie looks wonderful, but I have some family members who won't be thrilled (to say the least) to hear that there's brandy or any kind of alcohol in it. Is there something else I can use? Thanks!

Posted by: Amy on November 11, 2007 4:37 PM

I made this pie after picking lots of Granny Smith apples. I soaked the currents in triple sec (the didn't plump much), and accidentally discarded the liquor. The pie turned out so well...the sweetness from the apples matched the tart cranberries very well. I could barely let the pie set for 2 hours, but it was worth it since the pie held up very well and did not collapse. Yet another excellent receipe from your site Elise!

Posted by: James on November 14, 2007 8:29 AM

What an outstanding pie. VERY rich, only need a little slice to go a long way. I soaked the currants for about 2 hours, since I was busy preparing other aspects of Thanksgiving dinner and they softened nicely and the brandy got very brown. Also used a combination of our local Cortland and Northern Spy apples, which held up nicely and contributed great flavor. This is one keeper for my recipe file.

Posted by: Annie on November 23, 2007 2:33 AM

I would love to try this recipe, as well as the other apple/cranberry 2 crust pie, but I can't have the brandy! What would be a good substitute? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Note from Elise: Just skip the brandy and soak the currants in water.

Posted by: Claudia on November 23, 2007 1:28 PM

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