This cranberry apple slab pie is a smaller version of traditional slab pie. Baked free-form style on a baking sheet, this flatter pie barely has to cool before digging in! Juicy sweet cinnamon apples and tart cranberries taste fantastic with a buttery flaky golden pie crust. You need 2 crusts and you can use your favorite or store-bought version, but I encourage you to try my beloved pie crust recipe.
I don’t say this a lot but here goes nothing: sometimes it’s ok to break the baking rules!! And we’re definitely doing that today with this pie. This is a free-form style pie with no boundaries. 😉 Just make sure the top and bottom crusts are rolled thin enough and secured/pinched together to prevent excess leaking.
We’re basically making a giant pop-tart that’s welcome alongside your Thanksgiving pies. Might I add, it’s much easier to make than traditional apple pie, too.
Why You Will Love This Cranberry Apple Slab Pie
- Smaller version of a traditionally large slab pie—serves 8.
- Slab pie is cut into bars/rectangles so it’s easy to slice, serve, and freeze.
- It’s shallow, so there’s no need to fully cool before slicing and serving.
- No par-baking the bottom crust.
- Altogether flaky, buttery, sweet, tart, fruity, and spiced! If a scoop of sweet and tart cranberry sauce is a must on your Thanksgiving plate, you’ll love the pop of flavor that cranberries add in this slab pie.
- Or you can swap cranberries for more apples or another fruit.
I suppose you could say this is like my apple galette, only a bit thicker and with a top crust. And it’s a smaller version of this apple slab pie and includes cranberries. It’s really just… its own special thing!
Pie Dough
You can use your favorite pie crust recipe, but I encourage you to try mine. You need the full pie crust recipe, which makes 2 crusts. (1 for bottom of pie, 1 for top of pie.) I use a mix of shortening and butter because they work together to make the BEST crust. Butter adds flavor and flakiness, while shortening helps the dough stay pliable which is helpful when you’re rolling and shaping it. Plus, its high melting point is advantageous because it helps the crust stay tender while still maintaining shape. It’s the same crust I use for my pumpkin pie and pecan pie, too.
If you don’t want to use shortening, try my all butter pie crust recipe instead—it also yields 2 crusts.
3 Success Tips
- Keep the Filling Compact: You don’t want many air pockets in the filling, so do your best to pile the filling tightly onto the bottom pie crust. This filling recipe yields a lot and keeping it compact ensures it will all fit!
- Bake On Sheet Pan: This is a free-form style pie baked on a large baking sheet with extra room to spare. It’s best to bake this pie on a half sheet pan, preferably one with rimmed sides. None of my test pies leaked enough juices to reach the edge of the pan, but if you don’t have a tight seal on the pie dough edges, the juices could certainly spill over. If you need a recommendation, I use and love (affiliate link) these half sheet pans.
- Tight Seal on Edges: Cranberries leak a lot of juice, so tightly seal the dough edges as best you can. Plus, since this pie doesn’t reach the edges of a half sheet pan, it essentially has no structure support! Seal those edges by crimping them with a fork or fluting with your hands. (You can watch me flute the edges in the video below, or see my full tutorial on how to crimp and flute pie crust.) If the pie dough becomes too warm and fluting/crimping is impossible, stop and refrigerate the pie for 10-15 minutes before trying again. The refrigerator is pie dough’s best friend.
Can I Bake This in a 9×13 Inch Pan?
You can, but the best option is a quarter sheet pan like this quarter sheet pan. The pie will take up the entire size of the pan, much like the full size apple slab pie takes up an entire half sheet pan. The lower sides help make sealing the pie dough edges a little easier. If you have and want to use a regular metal or glass 9×13-inch dish, you absolutely can! Avoid ceramic because the bottom crust will not cook through completely.
Step-by-step photos below the recipe!
Tested Variations You Can Try
- Only Apples: It’s easy to leave out the cranberries if you want plain apple slab pie. Replace with 1 more cup of chopped apples. Feel free to skip the orange zest and replace with lemon zest for a bit of fresh flavor.
- Substitute Cranberries: Instead of replacing the cranberries with more apples, try 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, cherries, blackberries, or sliced pears.
- Lattice Top: The video tutorial below shows a lattice topping for this cranberry apple slab pie. My 6 pie dough strips are about 2 inches wide, but feel free to cut your strips thinner so you can use more. If you’re new to lattice, here’s my how to lattice pie crust tutorial. I also have directions in the recipe below.
- Full Crust Top: If you’d rather skip the lattice crust and use a full top crust, you can find those instructions below as well. (And photos below the recipe!)
- Larger Size: For a full size slab pie (the total size of a half sheet pan), I recommend following the crust and filling for this apple slab pie. Replace 1 and 1/2 cups of the apples with fresh or frozen cranberries. Feel free to add some orange zest and/or skip the icing.
- Regular Pie: Want these same flavors but in a regular pie dish? Here’s my apple cranberry pie recipe—it has slightly more filling to fit into a pie dish.
What Are the Best Apples to Use for Baking?
Firmer apples are ideal for baking so avoid soft, mealy, and mushy apples. And when a recipe calls for more than 1 or 2 apples, like today’s slab pie, apple crisp, or this apple crumble pie, it’s best to use a mix of tart apples and sweet apples.
- Tart apples for baking: Granny Smith (my absolute favorite apple for baking), Braeburn, Jonathan, and Pacific Rose
- Sweet apples for baking: Jazz, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Fuji
For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties, and when to use each, you can visit my post The Best Apples for Baking.
See Your Cranberry Apple Slab Pies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintCranberry Apple Slab Pie (Small Version)
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Baked free-form style on a baking sheet, this juicy, sweet, and tart cranberry apple slab pie barely has to cool before digging in! You need 2 crusts and you can use your favorite or store-bought version, but I encourage you to try either linked pie crust recipe below. Review recipe notes and watch the video tutorial before starting.
Ingredients
Crust
- Homemade Pie Crust or All Butter Pie Crust (both recipes make 2 crusts, 1 for bottom and 1 for top)
- extra all-purpose flour for work surface, hands, and rolling pin
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
Filling
- 5 cups (about 600g) peeled and chopped apples (chunks that are 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick)*
- 1 cup (110g) fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (14g) cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare either pie crust recipe through step 5.
- The filling: In a large mixing bowl, stir the apples, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together until combined. Set aside as you roll out the bottom pie crust. (Butter is used in step 5.)
- Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside. Make sure you have enough room in your refrigerator for the pan because the assembled pie must chill for at least 15 minutes before baking.
- Roll out the chilled pie dough for bottom crust: Remove 1 disc of pie dough from the refrigerator. Keep the other in the refrigerator until you’re ready for the top crust. On a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, begin rolling the dough out into a rectangle. Make sure to turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls and to really ensure the dough isn’t sticking to the work surface, flip it over a few times during this process. Keep everything lightly floured. I find anywhere around a 10×14 inch rectangle is great. Dough should be about 1/8-inch thick. Tip: Your hands are your best tool in this step. Use your hands and fingers to smooth cracking edges and keep the sides straight. You can watch me do this in the video. Carefully transfer the rolled out dough to the lined pan.
- Add filling & fold dough edges: Using a spoon or your hands, tightly pile the filling onto the rolled out pie dough leaving a 1.5 inch border around the edges. Keep filling tight and compact to minimize air pockets. Discard any leftover juices in the filling bowl. Dot the pieces of butter on top of the filling. Fold dough edges over filling and pinch edges.
- Roll out 2nd chilled pie dough for top crust: For a lattice top as shown in the video, roll out pie dough into a large oval, about 1/8 inch thick. (Exact dimension doesn’t matter, but thickness does). Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut 6 2-inch strips of dough. See video starting at 3:35 for a visual of the following lattice weaving—lay 3 strips diagonally and evenly spaced on top of the filling. Use a longer strip in the center of the pie and shorter strips on the ends. Fold center strip back. Place 4th strip diagonally in opposite direction over the end strips and under the center strip. Fold center strip back over 4th strip. Fold end strips back. Lay 5th strip in opposite direction on top. Unfold the 2 strips back so they lay over the 5th strip. Fold bottom center strip back. Place last strip in opposite direction over end strips and under center strip. Fold center strip back on top. For a full crust top as shown in photos below, roll out pie dough into the same size rectangle as the bottom crust, about 10×14 inches. Drape over filling.
- Seal edges: If you have excess top crust dough that lays over the bottom dough edges, no need to trim it. Instead, fold the excess dough back to make a thicker edge and pinch together with the bottom pie dough to seal. Flute the edges with your fingers or crimp with a fork. If edges aren’t sealing well and fluting or crimping is too difficult, the dough may be too warm at this point. Stop what you are doing and refrigerate the pie for 10-15 minutes then try again. (Review my how to crimp and flute pie crust tutorial if you need extra help with this step.)
- Egg wash: Brush the pie dough with egg wash. If you used a full top crust (not lattice), use a sharp knife to cut 3-5 slits in the top crust for air vents. Refrigerate pie uncovered for 15 minutes as oven preheats. (Or refrigerate up to 1 day. Cover lightly if refrigerating longer than 15 minutes.)
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Bake pie for 45-55 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown and the filling’s juices have been bubbling up through the lattice/vents for at least 5 minutes.
- Remove pie from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead / Freezing Instructions: There are a couple ways to make this pie ahead of time. Assemble the pie through step 8 and refrigerate assembled pie for up to 1 day. Or assemble and bake the pie 1 day in advance—after pie cools, cover tightly and keep at room temperature. The pie crust dough can also be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Baked and cooled pie also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. (Feel free to warm the slices in the microwave.)
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Apple Peeler | Zester | Glass Mixing Bowl | Rolling Pin | Rimmed Half Sheet Pan | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper) | Pastry Brush | Pizza Cutter
- Apples: You need 3-4 medium apples. I recommend a mix of tart and sweet apples—I like using Granny Smith and Honeycrisp.
- Chilling Assembled Pie Before Baking: Chilling the shaped pie in the refrigerator before baking helps it maintain shape in the oven. Remember, cold pie dough is always best. I usually refrigerate the assembled pie for 15 minutes as the oven preheats. If you’re nervous to chill the baking sheet in the refrigerator then bake it (which can cause warping), after chilling it, you can very slowly and carefully lift the parchment/baking mat as a whole—with the chilled pie on top—and place it all on another (not cold) baking sheet to bake.
Let Me Show You a Few Steps
For the filling, I recommend cutting the apples into chunks instead of slices. Since slab pie is thinner than regular pie, you can’t really layer the slices together to get enough apple in each bite. 1-inch chunks that are between 1/4- and 1/2-inch thick are ideal for this pie.
Set filling aside as you work on the bottom crust.
Tightly pile the filling on top leaving a 1.5-inch border around the edges. Dot with small pieces of butter. (I forgot to take a picture of the filling with butter on top but you can see me add it in the video.)
Now it’s time to decide how you want to top your slab pie—do you want a full top crust, a lattice top, or other decorative pie crust design? Or do you want to know how to braid pie crust? I’m showing you two versions in the following photos and you can find instructions for both in the recipe above.
Full Top Crust:
Don’t forget to cut slits in the top for air vents.
Lattice Top Crust:
A little more challenging, but doable! As you can see in the video above, I do not trim excess pie dough from the edges. I like folding excess dough back onto the edges of the pie so there’s more dough to work with when crimping or fluting the pie crust. If you ever need help with pie dough edges, you can see me do this up-close in the how to lattice pie crust video starting at the 1:59 mark.
The crust held its shape beautifully, I used all butter and was skeptical as I often don’t have luck with this type of thing. I will say that I skipped the cranberries and 6 cups of apples was too much, 5 would have been fine. But it’s a beautiful tart. My only lament is that I am scared to transfer it to a prettier platter, so it is stuck on the parchment and cookie sheet.
A nice easy alternative to pie. I had never done a slab pie of any type but will start to do other pies this way. My family loved it. It was an easy recipe to follow and tasted delicious.
This was my very first pie crust ever. And I impressed myself! My husband is already talking about all the different fillings I can try. The cranberries were a little too tart but over all it was delicious, and even better the next morning with coffee!
It is surprising how much difference a bit of orange zest makes to this delicious recipe. Everyone in my household loved it!
Hi sally. This Apple slab pie was delicious to the 10th degree. Thought it would last longer than 14 hours but due to being sooo good, it did not. Crust was exceptional and will be my pie crust moving forward. Thank you again.
This was my first attempt at scratch made pie crust and I had some difficulty getting the right size for the bottom (though I managed the correct thickness). That being said I had more filling than what I could use and had to throw it away. All in all I loved the finished size of the pie and the tartness of the filling.
Made gluten free and dairy free with King Arthur All Purpose Gluten Free Flour and Earth Balance vegan buttery spread as substitutes. Pumped up flavor with extra zest and spice. I’ve never made a slab pie before but it went together and baked beautifully with the substitutes!
I had a hard time with this one. I think I had too much filling so it didn’t seal as well as it should have. But the end product still tastes delicious! I’ll just have to try it again.
The mix of apples and cranberries makes this pie phenomenal! I used Sally’s All Butter crust, and as always it was delicious. I was hesitant to make a pie out of a dish in fear of it falling apart, but it was much easier to handle than I anticipated! I found that using a fork to seal the edges was a much easier choice for me compared to fluting.
We love cranberry pie around here, so I was excited about making it. Plus, the technique seemed fun. Another bonus is that the dough could be made in advance.
As tasty as it was, and as flaky as the pie crust was, and as much as my husband loved it, I’m not sure I’ll make this version again. The dough was challenging to work with (I chose SBA’s Homemade Pie Crust). It also oozed everywhere and stuck to the pan. Next time I might just opt for a galette with a crumb or lattice top and use one of Sally’s other pie dough recipes.
I thought it came out great and my husband asked for seconds, I’m just not a big fan of hot fruit. Added the sanding sugar on top and served with vanilla ice cream which were excellent additions!
Another awesome recipe from Sally. So glad I got to try this to take to my friends gathering last night. I ended up making 1.5 times crust as I needed more than 8 servings, and also subbed frozen blueberries n currants for cranberries. It did leak a little for me mostly because I used frozen berries and also I didn’t crimp perfectly I suppose, I’ve never made a lattice pie before and so was proud of this work!
It got rave reviews from all and am planning to make it again for thanksgiving!
It’s a good fall flavor pie. I made the homemade pie crust and it turned out perfect!
This recipe was delicious. I was out of allspice so I substituted ginger. Totally yummy. This was my first slab pie and my first lattice. Not Instagram worthy, but that didn’t stop my husband from having two slices.
Pie was super simple and delicious. I cut my apples a little too small. They were over baked. But over all a huge hit. Crust was easy and so flaky.
Loved making this pie! The cranberry gave it an extra snap! The shortening/butter crust is soooo flakey!
My husband and I loved this pie—nice combination of sweet and tart. I had never tried making a slab pie before so this was an interesting endeavor. I used the all butter pie crust recipe from Sally’s and my husband said “the pie crust is dope!” so he definitely approves!
This is delicious! We loved the tart pop of the cranberry in this. I made the all butter pie crust and it was easy and yummy. Overall, this does take a little time, but it is both easy and worth it!!
This is such a wonderful recipe. I tried it with the homemade pie crust and it was amazing. I love the video tutorial. Great recipe! Thank you for sharing!
It smelled so good baking that we could not resist and so we had it for supper. The tartness of the cranberries added a bright note, delicious!
This pie was a hit. Both my husband and I loved it. My husband doesn’t like cranberries. I told him just try it. He really and he loves a crispy crust. Not a failure. The crust was perfect and I will be making this again. This pie crust was probably the best I made.
Thanks for another success.
The cranberries added the perfect tray pairing! I made sure to chill the pie for two hours before baking it, and that definitely helped it not to run, but in did notice a little bit of leakage when I pulled it out of the fridge. That juice ended up just carmelizing on the edges of the crust to make it super tasty. This was my first slab pie, and I am definitely going to make more of these! I spent a lot of time arranging the apples into a beautiful spiral which just ended up getting covered by the lattice… So that probably wasn’t entirely necessary.
This made my kitchen smell so good!!
Worked and tasted great!! Well, on my second attempt anyways, as for the first attempt…
I had taken my time making the dough, letting it chill for two hours, making the filling, assembling it, and finally, it was ready to go in the oven!
I put on the egg wash, then decided it would look nice with a sprinkle of coarse salt.
I turned around for just a second to get it, and when I turned back, my dog had his paws on the counter, eating it!!! He had taken a big chunk out of one side, and the rest was too mangled to save. So into the trash went all my hard work. Sigh.
But, a few days later, I made a second one, which turned out great!!!
So, thanks for a great and unique recipe!!
I give it five stars and so does my dog! …
This was soooo delicious! Probably my favorite recipe from the baking challenges this year! The crust was so delicious in ratio to the pie filling. And the filling was AMAZING, what a great spice/sugar/fruit ratio. I used granny Smith apples. Perfect. Don’t change a thing. I don’t like over sweet and love some tang. And this checked all those boxes! Thanks for a great recipe!!
This was a fun twist on your classic pie! My family loved it.
I really prefer the pie crust cooked as a slab versus a traditional pie. The filling was great, and no leaks.
This was actually one of my favorite pies I’ve ever made (and I’ve made a lot of pies!). I’m making a bigger version to bring to my in-laws’ for Thanksgiving. The tartness of the cranberries is just perfect!
This was a bit of a miss for me – I think I’ll stick with regular pies in the future because the process of making/shaping a slab pie just wasn’t my favorite. Also, I normally love the cranberry/apple/orange flavor combo, but the filling was very tart despite using sweet Honeycrisp apples. I love your recipes though and will look forward to next month’s challenge!
This recipe was delicious! I substituted pear for the cranberry, and added a dollop of homemade whipped crème. I would make this again and again. My roommate and I enjoyed this for dinner and breakfast 🙂
Thank you for such a great recipe.