The bakery at Russell Orchards sells five different kinds of apple pie (Apple, Apple Crumb Top, Apple Mince, Apple Cranberry, and Apple Crisp) because the orchards have that many different kinds of apple trees. Sounds logical, but if you were raised closer to a freeway interchange than an actual piece of farmland, you might not connect the dots. Besides the bakery, which has an amazing selection of homemade pies with all the other fruits and berries grown at Russell Orchards, you can visit the store in a restored 18th century barn, where they sell antiques, baskets, jams, jellies and more. Penelope doesn’t know what your family was doing in the 18th century, but hers wasn’t tapping maple syrup or pressing cider, so a visit to the farm on Saturday mornings (not until the Fall, but worth the wait) when you can watch them press cider, can be particularly instructive. If you can’t get there, you can order from the day’s menu of freshly baked pies at Russell Orchards.

Apple-Cranberry-Raisin Pie

Pate Brisee

for a double crust pie

The Filling

  1. 4 large tart apples, cored, peeled and sliced
  2. 1 cup cranberries
  3. ½ cup raisins
  4. ½ cup sugar
  5. ¼ tsp salt
  6. 2 tbs flour
  7. 2 tbs butter, cut into small bits
  8. grated lemon rind

Place the apples in a large mixing bowl

Scatter the cranberries and raisins over them

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, salt and flour

Pour the dry ingredients over the fruit mixture and toss well to combine

Pile the fruit mixture into the pastry lined pie pan

Dot with the butter and lemon rind

Put on the top crust

Bake at 425° for about 45 minutes