Cranberry Custard Pie is a unique dessert recipe to add to your holiday menu. A flaky pie crust is filled with sweet silky custard laced with orange zest and tart cranberries for a special Cranberry Pie you will love!
Cranberry Pie
Cranberry Orange Custard Pie is a the perfect addition to your holiday spread. It is a unique pie that is sure to be a hit with the combination of creamy egg custard paired with tart cranberries and the best pie crust recipe.
There really isn’t any fruit that doesn’t taste amazing with custard. I’ve pretty much tried them all. From Apple Custard Bars to Blueberry Lemon Custard Bars, you really can’t go wrong with custard!
Pie with Orange
A little citrus adds amazing flavor to this Cranberry Custard Pie. Orange is the perfect flavor to pair with cranberries, just like in these Cranberry Orange Cheesecake Bars.
Cranberries have a familiar tartness that is wonderful with rich custard, but the addition of some orange zest adds a beautiful brightness that puts it over the top.
Whether your family enjoys traditional holiday desserts like pumpkin pie and Old Fashion Sour Cream Cutout Cookies or they are always up for trying something new, you need to add this Cranberry Orange Pie to your holiday menu!
Custard Pie
I was longing after one of my favorite desserts, Rhubarb Custard Pie. The sweet silky custard balances out the rhubarb in a perfectly flaky pie crust for the most amazing dessert.
Sadly, rhubarb is out of season in the Midwest, so I started brainstorming. I realized cranberries would be the perfect substitute for rhubarb! Cranberry Pie sounded delicious in these cooler months.
How to Make Cranberry Pie
Pies are generally an easy dessert to make apart from the pie crust. That can be bypassed with a frozen or refrigerated crust if you aren’t a fan of rolling out dough. I do suggest making the effort though, because a homemade flakey pie crust is a beautiful thing. In my case, I recruit my mother who has mastered a good crust.
Once you have your pie crust prepared in a pie tin, layer some fresh cranberries in the shell. Top it with the custard made from whisked eggs, cream, granulated sugar, flour, orange zest and vanilla.
Can I use frozen cranberries?
Fresh or frozen cranberries work great in this custard pie. If you decide to use frozen, just let them thaw first and pat them dry. This helps avoid too much moisture being added to the custard.
As far as freezing this pie before or after baking it, that isn’t the best idea. With the eggs and cream custard, the texture isn’t going to hold up to freezing well.
How do I know when the custard is set?
No one wants to end up with a custard that is runny in the center. It’s important to bake the custard through, but at the same time you don’t want to overbake the pie.
After the pie has baked for 50 minutes I start to check the custard by shaking the pie slightly. If there is a small 2-3 inch portion in the center that is still slightly giggly, it is done. That portion will set up as the pie cools. If any more of the pie is jiggly, it isn’t done yet.
Unique Pie Recipe
It all came together absolutely beautifully, both visually and in flavor. It was fall dessert perfection! I used the scraps of pie crust to make some leaves and berries to add to the pie after baking it for a little something extra special.
My family happily dug right in and quickly came back for seconds. This Cranberry Orange Custard Pie is a definite winner and something unique you should really give a try to change things up for your holiday dessert spread this year!
More holiday dessert recipes!
Holidays are all about food, with dessert being the grand finale. From cheesecakes and tarts to pies and bars, there are so many amazing dessert recipes you need to try!
- Glazed Apple Pie Bars
- Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
- Salted Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Tart
- Sour Cream Raisin Meringue Bars
Cranberry Orange Custard Pie
Ingredients
- 10 ” unbaked pie shell
- 12 oz. bag fresh cranberries if frozen, thaw and pat dry
- 1 1/2 c. sugar
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1 c. heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 c. flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. orange zest
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°,
- Place cranberries in the unbaked pie shell.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together and pour over the cranberries.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 400°.
- Reduce the heat to 350° and cover crust with pie crust shield or tin foil. Bake for an additional 40-45 minutes until the custard is set.
- Let cool completely before serving. Store refrigerated.
Thomas Zarod says
Should I temper the eggs with the cream before baking?
Danielle Green says
There is no need to temper the eggs
Julie says
Made this for family Christmas and they loved it. Served it cold. Didn’t prepare the crust. So tart and amazing!! Will be keeping this recipe around for sure!
Jeff says
Do you happen to know if using coconut milk would work instead of heavy whipping cream? I can’t do dairy unfortunately.
Danielle Green says
Full fat coconut milk should work, but I haven’t tested it with that.
Marla says
I stumbled over this recipe on Pinterest. My husband is a huge custard pie fan and I’m a huge cranberry fan. This pie was absolutely delicious. I would make this again and even try different fruits depending on the season.
Olivia James says
This will be an every year thanksgiving pie for sure! And maybe even Christmas lol mine looked exactly like the picture- the only thing is it took at LEAST an hour to cook but it was so good!!! I put candied oranges on top instead of the leaves 🙂
Cam says
Hello. Do you serve room temperature or straight out of fridge? I’m making for thanksgiving the night before so I’ll need to refrigerate overnight and not sure if best eaten cold.
Danielle Green says
We usually serve this the same day at room temperature for the best texture, but then leftovers are served from the refrigerator the next day.
Scott says
ok – this review is for the baking of the pie only. And to be honest I messed up thinking I needed a 9″ pie plate. This pie once cooked looks delicious. It needed an extra 10 minutes for the center to be cooked as it is a bit thicker. Only suggestion is to mix the flour and sugar into the eggs before adding the other liquids as that made it easier to make certain there were no lumps
Rachel says
Does this pie need to be refrigerated after you bake it? I’m planning to bake the pies the day before thanksgiving and was wondering if I should store it in the fridge overnight? Thank you!
Danielle Green says
Yes, we usually refrigerate custard pies
Rachel says
Thank you so much!
Susan O'Connor says
This pie looks wonderful. My question is do the cranberries make the pie runny when they cook?
Danielle Green says
Nope, the little bit of flour helps bind everything together.
Brenda says
My daughter found the recipe before Christmas, 2019. Our extended family requests she make it every year for either Thanksgiving or Christmas becuase so many of us love it. We are big custard fans, plus the tartness of the orange gives it that sweet-sour flavor, too. I make it myself to take away and always get compliments. Ingenious combination!!
Tami says
This pie was a huge hit for Thanksgiving. I made five pies, and this is the one everyone raved about. It will be a holiday tradition from now on.
Cody says
I followed this recipe to a T and it never set. I literally baked it for 45 minutes longer than the recipe said. I finally increased the temp to 400 for 15 more minutes and it still didn’t set. I don’t understand how it worked for everyone else. I’m no amateur in the kitchen….oh well
Ellen O says
Perfect balance of sweet and tart.
I made mine with maple sugar so only used 1 1/4 cup since it’s a bit sweeter.
My new holiday favorite! I’m going to try a blueberry version that someone else suggested.
Colton says
Hello! This sounds delicious but I was wondering why you did not parbake the crust at all prior to adding the ingredients. Do you think the crust would be crisper if you did? Thanks in advance! 🙂
Danielle Green says
I grew up with my grandmother and mother who never parbaked the crust for custard pies and they always turned out great, so that’s just my preference.
Keiko says
I really prefer a very crunchy pie crust. Nice goldn brown with a golden bottom. My intuition is telling me to parbake the crust… to get that flakey solid ness. Or should I just follow the recipe.
Danielle Green says
If you like a crispy crust, then by all means par bake!
Becky says
Fantastic combination of canberry and orange flavors. I had forgotten that custards aren’t our favorite, but it was still worth making!
Ally Gillotte says
Just made this for Thanksgiving, and it’s wonderful! It set up beautifully and the flavor combination is so good; pretty photogenic too, although I think I’ll shield the whole pie instead of just the crust next time. My mom is a master baker and she said it was an every-year keeper after her first bite.
It did take significantly longer to bake for me, too, like almost half an hour more, and I don’t think it was ever firm around the edges and just wiggly in the center 2-3 inches. For folks struggling with what “done” looks like, Chef John on YouTube has a strawberry rhubarb custard pie video and it’s a great reference for how a fruit+custard pie like this one moves when it’s finished cooking.
Rebecca says
Size matters! If you don’t want to waste any of this deliciousness, make sure you are using a large enough pan!
Wow! This pie is AMAZING!!!! Although mine didn’t look as beautiful as yours, the flavors were perfect! I grabbed one of my regular pie plates (8 inch) and I couldn’t fit all of the custard filling. (Should have paid more attention to the recipe!) My second time around I tripled the recipe and made four 8.5 inch pies for my son’s school bazaar.
Danielle Green says
You are incredibly generous and ambitious to make so many pies for a bake sale! So glad you loved the recipe!
Julia says
I have never left a review for a recipe, I don’t think, but this pie is just too good! I just made it for Christmas. I made the crust too… The pie came out just like in the pictures. It’s gorgeous, and what a wonderful combination of sweet and tart! Even my don’t-like-desserts boyfriend loved it! Thank you for the recipe.
Jonathan TF says
I took a stab at this recipe myself and I have to say, I’m actually not too fond of it. The idea is there, but the custard came out WAY too sweet, and the contrast between the ultra tart cranberries and the orange custard was way too jarring. I feel like with a few minor adjustments it could be a real power house. For what it’s worth, my co workers generally seemed to think it was “alright” to “great” depending on who I asked so maybe you’ll like this one as is.
Michelle says
I made this on a whim because I had an extra pie crust. This pie is amazing! It ended up being everyone’s favorite over the pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate pies I served. This is going on the official thanksgiving menu at our house!
Danielle Green says
Wow, that is impressive that it beat out the classics! So glad it was well received.
Carrie says
Hi Danielle- I want to make this as tartlets to give to my colleagues at work for Christmas. Any idea how many tartlets I could get out of this recipe? Thanks!!
Danielle Green says
If you make mini pies like these, it should make around 8. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053SFQ5I/?tag=krafkoch-20