Easy Nantucket Cranberry Pie
More like a cake than a pie this easy and absolutely yummy Nantucket Cranberry Pie is bursting with perfectly balanced sweet-tart flavors! The best part, it’s crazy easy to make, and no need to make a crust! Serve it warm with a dollop of ice cream on top for a heavenly dessert. You can also use both fresh or frozen cranberries. Perfect last-minute holiday dessert for Thanksgiving, Christmas or to welcome the New Year!
I am totally obsessed with cranberries! Of all the berry recipes I have here on the blog, most of them use cranberries. You’re probably wondering why?
The answer is in my ethnicity! Well, that’s what I think anyway!
All Filipinos (most for sure!) love sour, tart flavors! We love our soups tart (sinigang); we love our fruits tart (green mangos and green guavas plus tamarind!), we love our condiments and dipping sauces with sour flavors, too – these are just to name a few.
You can say we Filipinos have a penchant for all things sour and tart!
It’s no surprise that with its sharp sour flavor, I immediately fell in love with cranberries. I know that I could use it for many desserts to provide a delicious contrast to sugary sweet flavors.
So, I continue my quest to make more delicious cranberry recipes not just for you my dear readers but truly for myself too!
This pie (or more like cake really!) is indeed full of that sweet-tart flavors I crave in a dessert! I love that it provides just the perfect balance of such flavors and tends not to be too sweet.
I advise making it a day ahead for the flavors to fully develop. It is just so pleasing to the palate that way. But if you cannot wait, don’t worry – it would still be yummy!
Serve it warm with ice cream or pouring cream or on its own at room temperature. Make sure to freeze cranberries so that even in the summertime you can make this pie because frozen cranberries work perfectly with this dessert! Enjoy!
FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR EASY NANTUCKET CRANBERRY PIE?
- 2 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup white sugar – this is for the filling.
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar – this is for the cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
HOW DO YOU MAKE EASY NANTUCKET CRANBERRY PIE?
Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 10″ pie plate. Set aside.
Combine the chopped cranberries, nuts, and 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl. Spread the mixture all over the bottom of the prepared pan.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, melted butter, 1 cup of sugar, flour, and salt, plus the vanilla and almond extracts. The batter would be thick.
Spread the thick batter all over the cranberry mixture. For convenience, use an ice cream scooper to place the batter all over the filling. Thereafter, I use a flat spatula to spread the batter all over, as near to the edge of the cake as possible.
Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the topping is done. Remove the pie from the oven. The pie’s flavor develops and gets better as it sits so this is perfect to make a day ahead. If pressed for time, it’s great to eat on the same day, too.
Serve warm, or at room temperature on its own but I highly recommend it with whipped cream or ice cream on top!
TIPS & TRICKS
Most recipes I found online list only 2 cups of cranberries for this pie. Since I love a good contrast of sweet-tangy flavors, I opt for an extra 1/2 cup of cranberries (even tried an entire pack of cranberries!) so the pie is not overly sweet. If you prefer it sweeter with just a hint of tartness then use only about 2 cups of cranberries. Either way, you’d enjoy this amazing pie that’s more of a cake!
It doesn’t matter as it’s absolutely scrumptious!!!
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Easy Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup white sugar (for the filling)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar, (this is for the cake topping)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, (use about half if using salted butter)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 10″ pie plate. Set aside.
- Combine the chopped cranberries, nuts, and 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl.
- Spread the mixture all over the bottom of the prepared pan.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, softened butter, 1 cup of sugar, flour, and salt, plus the vanilla and almond extracts.
- The batter would be thick.
- Spread the thick batter all over the cranberry mixture. For convenience, use an ice cream scooper to place the batter all over the filling.
- Use a flat spatula to spread the batter all over, as near to the edge of the pan as possible.
- Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the topping is done. Remove the pie from the oven. The pie's flavor develops and gets better as it sits so this is perfect to make a day ahead. If pressed for time, it's great to eat on the same day, too.
- Serve warm, or at room temperature on its own but I highly recommend it with whipped cream or ice cream on top!
Notes
Most recipes I found online list only 2 cups of cranberries for this pie. Since I love a good contrast of sweet-tangy flavors, I opt for an extra 1/2 cup of cranberries (even tried an entire pack of cranberries!) so the pie is not overly sweet. If you prefer it sweeter with just a hint of tartness then use only about 2 cups of cranberries. Either way, you’d enjoy this amazing pie that’s really more of a cake!
It doesn’t matter as it’s absolutely scrumptious!!!
Nutrition
Last updated on December 16th, 2024 at 01:49 pm
Enjoyed this for dessert last night and it was a hit all around the table! Easy and delicious; the perfect winter treat!
This looks SO good. I can’t wait to make it.
Oh, do I love a good sweet and tart dessert like this Nantucket cranberry pie. It looks and sounds amazing! I can’t wait to dig into a slice.
My family loved this pie! Thanks for the terrific-ly tart recipe!
I have some cranberries leftover from the holidays and this is a great way to use them up! I will be making this tomorrow!
Just curious, could other fruits be substituted?
If you want you can try raspberries – it’s the tartness from the cranberries that make this delicious so I had to substitute, I’d use raspberries. Enjoy!
Try substituting the rhubarb for cranberries. So good!
Other variations we have made :
Cranberry and fresh ginger
Orange juice and orange extract
Add in white chocolate chips
Sliced almonds
We call this cranberry torte- I don’t know why. It isn’t a torte, but that is what is on the original recipe card my mother used (and there are no extracts in the ingredients either) . We’ve been making this for the holidays for more than 50 years and now the recipe has been made by three generations of our family. It is so popular that we always double the recipe and make it in an 13×9 inch glass pan.
Thanks for the tip! I add a little extract to further enhance the flavor and it works great! But it is such a delicious recipe to begin with. Love this!!!
I use blueberries often and everyone loves it. Just cut down a bit on the sugar as blueberries are not tart like the cranberries.
Yay! So glad to know that you made it work with other berries. It’s a versatile recipe for sure. Thanks for letting us know.
I made this last year and it was so wonderful I could have eaten it all by myself. Easy and so tasty if you like cranberries.
Yay!I am so delighted to know that!Thank you for stopping by and letting us know.
Saw this on Pinterest this afternoon and not long later had it in the oven haha! I love cranberries, and this was so good. The whole family loved it! Definitely a make again recipe.
I did substitute melted ghee for the butter, and used sucanat instead of the regular sugar. It was a darker color than the pictures but still tasted fantastic!
Yay! I am so delighted to know this!! Glad you were able to adjust the recipe to your needs. Yay! Thank you for letting us know.
Do you think this would bake the same without the nuts?
I don’t think it would be an issue. You can bake this without the nuts if you like. Let us know how it goes. Thank you!
Can I use almond flour?
Hi Fria, because we are neither a Keto or gluten-free website, I cannot say for sure if it would work. If you’ve done a lot of baking with almond flour then perhaps you can just adjust it. Sorry.
This looks so good! What a great dessert to make for a fall gathering!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It can be made a day ahead and should keep for another day at room temperature. Leftovers can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, just double-wrap it securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place it in a heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
May I ask what your pie dish is, and where did you get it? I love it!
Thank you! This is my mother-in-law’s dish and I’m sorry she passed away already so I don’t know where she got it. Thank you!
Hi Abigail,
I want to try this lovely looking pie, but want to know if I can substitute olive oil instead of butter. Would that work?
Hi Julie, I haven’t tried using olive oil with this. Knowing that olive oil has a distinct taste that may impact the overall flavor of the pie – I would personally just stick with butter because that’s the one tested with this recipe. If you do desire to experiment – then let us know how it turns out (at least try the light tasting olive oil). But I cannot guarantee that would be exactly as this recipe is written. Thank you!
I recommend trying half olive oil half butter. Usually that will work. Then experiment from there.
I found one on Amazon! Yay!!!
I’ll be making this tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy! Thank you!
The best!
The best pie I have baked in a long time! My batter for the topping was thinner than the photo but the end product was perfect. The next time I cake it I am going to leave out the walnuts and just use the cranberries. They did not add enough for the extra addition. The tartness is what I love along w the thin, sweet topping. Winner, winner.
Yay! I am so happy to know this. This is truly the best tasting cranberry pie. I love the perfect balance of sweet-tart flavors. Thanks for letting us know.
I bought cranberries just for this recipe, and I was amazed at how delicious this was!! The almond flavor comes through so nicely with the tart cranberries! This pie is warm and comforting and truly a wonderful addition to my recipe collection! You must try it!
Aww. You just made my day. I also just made this and people loved it, too! Such a great recipe for sure. Thank you for the feedback!
This looks amazing. I will be making this for Christmas. A questions though. What size dish do you use?
Hi! The recipe itself tells you what size of dish to use – a 10-inch pie dish should be best. Thank you! ENJOY!
I have a question. You say there is an extra CUP of sugar for the topping, but you never refer to a topping again. Do you just sprinkle a whole cup of sugar on top of the pie after it comes out of the oven? Or before? Or is there an actual “topping” you make?
Thanks.
Hi Sue! The topping is the flour mixture placed on top of the cranberries. If you follow the recipe and step-by-step photo instructions, you should be good. This is a tried and tested one. I just made this recently and I promise it’s delicious! Thank you for asking.
Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe. I had to tweak it a bit for allergy reasons, but it still came out perfect. I substituted mink fruit for the sugar and gf flour for the regular flour. It really is so so good!
I am so glad you were able to adjust this to your dietary needs. Thank you for letting us know.