Apple Cranberry Slab Pie Recipes

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a food processor, briefly pulse together flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together. Form dough into two balls, one about 2/3 of dough and the other the remaining 1/3 of dough. Wrap each with plastic and flatten into disks. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 2 days before rolling out and baking.
• Lightly flour a work surface and remove the plastic wrap from the larger dough ball. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough ball to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle, dusting with flour if dough sticks. (Leave smaller dough ball in the fridge.) Transfer rolled-out dough to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Carefully line the pan with dough, pressing it into bottom of pan and completely up the sides. Crimp the top edges. Chill dough in fridge until ready to fill.
• Roll out remaining dough ball to a 10-by-13-inch rectangle, dusting with flour if dough is sticking. Using a decorative cookie cutter (like apples, leaves or hearts), cut out dough shapes. Reroll scraps if necessary to use up as much dough as possible. Transfer cutouts to a small baking sheet. Return baking pan and sheet to refrigerator to chill while you prepare filling.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange a wire rack in the lowest position in the oven. Place a large rimmed baking sheet on the floor of the oven to preheat.
• Make the filling: In a large bowl, combine apples, sugar, maple syrup, cranberries, tapioca, rum, lemon zest and juice, ginger, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Let mixture stand 10 minutes. Pour filling into bottom pie crust and dot with 2 tablespoons diced butter. Arrange dough cutouts on top of apple mixture, overlapping it slightly and making sure several cutout edges touch sides of pan. Whisk together egg and cream. Brush over crust; sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
• Move rimmed baking sheet from oven floor to lowest rack. Place pie pan on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Continue baking until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling thickly, 40 to 60 minutes longer. Loosely tent top of pie with foil if crust browns before filling is ready. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Steps:

• Make the crust: Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and shortening. Using a pastry cutter, gradually work the butter and shortening into the flour until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles. This step should take 3 to 4 minutes.
• Lightly beat the egg with a fork, then add it to the crust mixture. Next, add the cold water and vinegar. Stir the mixture together until it?s just combined. Divide the dough in half and form into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
• Make the filling: In a large bowl, toss the apples, cranberries, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice. Set aside and see how long you can keep from sneaking a slice of apple.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With a rolling pin, begin rolling out the dough disks into 12-inch rounds on a lightly floured surface, rolling from the center outward. Be gentle and patient; it?ll take a little time to get the dough completely rolled out. If you think the bottom is really sticking to the surface below, use a nice sharp spatula to loosen the dough and sprinkle some extra flour on top. Then flip it over to finish rolling. Loosen the dough with a spatula, lift and carefully place each round on a prepared baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place half the apple-cranberry mixture on 1 dough round and the other half on the other round. Fold in the edges so that the dough covers 2 to 3 inches of the apple-cranberry mixture. No need to be artistic?the more rustic, the better. Freeze the pies 30 minutes.
• Dot the tops of the pies with the butter chunks. Brush the crust edges with the egg wash. Bake the pies until the filling is golden and bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. If the crust appears to brown too quickly, cover the edges with foil for the remaining baking time. Let the pies cool slightly, then slice into wedges.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. On a lightly floured surface, roll one half of dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim even with rim. Refrigerate while preparing filling., In a large bowl, combine the sugar and next 6 ingredients. Add apples and cranberries; toss gently. Spoon filling into prepared pie plate; dot with butter., Roll remaining dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle. Place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edge. Cut slits in top. , Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 45-50 minutes longer.

Steps:

• For the crust: Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse cornmeal mixed with pea-sized bits of cold butter. (If the butter gets too soft, refrigerate the mixture for 10 minutes before proceeding.) Use a fork to stir in the egg and water mixture until the dough just comes together. (If the dough is dry, add up to 1 tablespoon more cold water.) Divide the dough into two equal-sized disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour.
• For the filling: Peel, halve and core the apples. Cut each half into 4 wedges and place in a bowl with the lemon juice and cranberries, tossing to combine. Add the sugar and toss again to combine evenly.
• Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the apple mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer, about 2 minutes. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low, cooking until the apples soften and release most of their juices and the cranberries have burst, about 7 minutes.
• Strain the apple mixture into a colander set over the bowl, shaking it to collect as much of the juice as possible. Pour the liquid back into the skillet, add the cinnamon and ginger, and simmer over medium heat until thickened and lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Return the reduced juice and the apple mixture to the bowl and toss to recombine. Chill the filling until it cools completely, at least an hour and up to 2 days.
• To assemble the pie: On a lightly floured surface, roll each disk into an 11- to 12-inch circle. Lay each dough circle between two pieces of parchment or wax paper on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.
• Place a baking sheet on a rack positioned in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie dish with one of the dough discs and trim it to leave a 1/2-inch overhang on all sides. Stir the cornstarch into the filling and add it to the pan.
• Use a chef's knife, pizza cutter or fluted dough cutter to cut the second round into 1/2-inch thick strips. Lay strips of dough, evenly spaced, across the entire pie. Weave more strips of dough perpendicular through the previous strips to make a lattice or basket weave design across the entire pie. Trim the excess ends from the strips of dough. Pinch the bottom crust edge and lattice edge together, and flute the edge as desired. Brush the surface of the dough with egg and then sprinkle with sugar. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Bake the pie on the preheated baking sheet until the crust is golden, 50 to 60 minutes. If the edges begin to brown too fast, cover them with strips of aluminum foil. Let the pie cool 1 hour before serving. Once completely cooled, the pie keeps well at room temperature (covered) for 24 hours, or refrigerated for up to 4 days.