Is there any way to make an apple pie that’s better than your grandma’s? Absolutely. Add cranberries and drown it in rum sauce! This is the perfect holiday recipe for all you sailors out there who have more rum on board than cream. Sound familiar? The big decision is which rum to use. Finish up your Gosling’s since it’s past Dark & Stormy season? Or your Mount Gay cause there’s just two fingers left? Kraken might be too spicy. And you certainly don’t want to waste your sipping Ron Zacapa XO in a sauce recipe!  Well, we Galley Pirates will leave that decision up to you!

Beautiful green apples and red cranberries to get you in the holiday spirit!

Cranberry Apple Pie

2 prepared pie crusts (or make your own from scratch. Galley Pirate’s exclusive recipe here!)
4 cups peeled and sliced apples
2 cups cranberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

On the crust:
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat your galley oven to 400º. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.

Place one pastry crust in the bottom of a pie pan. Peel and slice the apples.

Add apples and cranberries to the pie shell.

Sprinkle the sugar, cornstarch mixture on top and pat with butter.

Cover with the other pastry crust and do anything fancy you want with it. This was my attempt to make figure 8 sailors knots in the middle. Hmm. I’ll do something better next time. Crimp both crusts together, and cut several slits into top crust to vent steam. Beat together the egg and water; brush onto the pie crust and sprinkled with sugar.

Bake in a 400º oven until pie is browned and fruit filling is bubbling, about an hour. If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil. But don’t undercook or the cornstarch won’t thicken and you’ll have a runny mess. Mine was borderline.

The finished masterpiece hot out of the oven! Let cool while you make the rum sauce.

Rum Sauce

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons spiced rum or dark rum
1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 couple gratings of fresh nutmeg

Melt butter and brown sugar together. Add the rum and cook on low, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the cream and spices and continue to simmer on low for 3 more minutes.

Cut slices of pie and place on dessert plates. Pour a generous amount of warm rum sauce on each plate and serve.

Reserve extra rum sauce for anything you want to pour it on…bananas, macadamia nut pie, pancakes, strawberries, cornbread, coconut shrimp, yogurt cake, kiwis, peach cobbler.… Yup, a pirate will pour rum sauce on pretty much anything! Enjoy!