Ingredients
Scale
For the Crust:
- 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup cold buttermilk plus 2 to 3 tablespoons more if your dough is dry
For the Filling:
- about 2 lbs apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4-inch thick. I used a combination of Granny Smith and Honey Crisp (about 5 apples)
- 1 heaping cup fresh cranberries
- 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 – 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably fresh grated
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
For the Crumble:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped salted pistachios
Instructions
- * This pie crust recipe makes a top and bottom crust, but we’ll only need one bottom crust. Just wrap and freeze the other disk of dough for future use!
- To Make the Crust: To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas.
- Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk. Use a fork to bring to dough together. Try to moisten all of the flour bits. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and shaggy. That’s perfect. Divide the dough in two and gently knead into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. We’ll only need one disk of dough for this recipe. The other can be wrapped well and frozen.
- To assemble the pie, remove one of the pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round. Roll the dough a few strokes, then use your fingers to move the emerging circle around the floured surface. This ensures that the dough isn’t sticking to the work surface. The circle won’t be perfect, that’s ok.
- Try not to get any tears in the rolled out dough, but if you do, they can be patched together with extra dough. When you roll the dough and you can see it start springing back, that means that the butter is warming and the crust shouldn’t be rolled out anymore. Gently lift the 13-inch round from the floured surface and center in a deep 9-inch round pie dish. Place in the fridge to chill while you prepare the filing.
- To Make the Filling: In a large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and toss to mix. Place the apples in a fine mesh strainer set over the large bowl. Allow the apples to macerate at room temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours.
- The mixture will release at least 1/2 cup of liquid.
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, boil down this liquid, with the butter, to about 1/3 cup (a little more if you started with more than 1/2 cup of liquid), or until syrupy and lightly caramelized. Meanwhile, transfer the apples and cranberries to a bowl and toss them with the cornstarch until all traces of it have disappeared.
- Pour the syrup over the apples, tossing gently (Do not be concerned if the liquid hardens on contact with the apples and cranberries; it will dissolve during baking.)
- Transfer the apple and cranberry mixture to the pie shell.
- To make the Crumble: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and toss the mixture together with your hands. Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes. This took me about 4 minutes. Toss in the pistachios.
- Sprinkle the crumble over the apple and cranberry mixture. Try to cover the apples completely or they can burn in the oven. Place in the refrigerator to chill while the oven preheats.
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pie of a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, until the edges bubble and the apples are cooked through.
- Allow to cool for at least an hour before serving. Serve with ice cream and coffee! Enjoy!