Bakeapple Pie

Newfoundland and Labrador·Easy·30 min

A pie made from bakeapples, Newfoundland's most prized wild berry, tart and floral with creamy sweetness, foraged from bogs and baked into a simple double-crust pie. The foraging tradition is core to rural Newfie life.

Bakeapple pie is a Newfoundland dessert built on the bakeapple, the local name for the cloudberry, the province's most prized wild berry. Bakeapples grow only in northern and subarctic climates, and Newfoundland is one of the few places where they are a defining culinary ingredient. The berries are foraged from bogs in late summer, and the foraging and berry-picking tradition is core to rural Newfie life. The pie is a simple double-crust treatment that lets the tart, floral, creamy-sweet berry lead.

A flaky, buttery crust enclosing a warm, tart, amber-colored filling of bakeapples, the flavor like a wild raspberry crossed with honey and a hint of yogurt. Eaten with cream or ice cream, it is bright, tangy and intensely floral.

The bakeapples are tossed with sugar and a little cornstarch to thicken their juices (they are very juicy when baked), then piled into a bottom crust, topped with a second crust, slashed to vent, and baked until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles. The cornstarch is essential; without it the pie is soupy. The double crust (rather than a crumble) is the traditional Newfoundland treatment.

Variations

A crumble-top version uses oat streusel. Some bakers add a splash of Grand Marnier.

On the Palate

Where Bakeapple Pie sits in the Canadian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 8

How it's made

6 steps · 30 min

1
10 min
Prepare a double pie crust; line a 23cm pie dish with the bottom crust.
2
6 min
Toss 500g bakeapples (or cloudberries) with 150g sugar, 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
Watch out
Toss the bakeapples with cornstarch before filling — they run very juicy when baked, and without it the pie sets soupy under the crust.
3
5 min
Pile into the crust; dot with 2 tbsp butter; cover with the top crust.
4
4 min
Crimp the edges, slash 3 vents in the top, and brush with milk.
5
14 min
Bake at 200C for 45-50 minutes until the crust is deep golden and the filling bubbles through the vents.
Watch out
Bake until the crust is deep gold and the filling bubbles up through the vents — bubbling means the starch has thickened; a pale top hides a raw, runny centre.
6
4 min
Cool at least 1 hour before slicing; serve with cream or ice cream.

Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed

These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.

Baking Sheet

Flat rectangular metal pan (sheet pan, half-sheet, quarter-sheet), 33×23 cm to 45×33 cm, with a low rim. The flat surface gives even heat for cookies, biscuits, roasted vegetables, sheet-pan dinners. Heavy aluminum sheets conduct heat fastest; non-stick coatings make cleanup easier but can warp over 200°C; rimmed half-sheet is the modern American restaurant standard.

Techniques

Baking