Caramel Apple Pie with a crumb topping and extra caramel drizzled on top makes me smile. I have been told that I make the best apple pie, and I’m not going to argue. This apple pie checks all the boxes: flaky crust, loaded with apples and cinnamon, caramel to fancy it up, and a delicious crumb topping. Made with simple ingredients, this pie is a must bake at any time of year.
Let’s get right to it!
Here’s what you will need:
As I mentioned, apple pie comes together with simple ingredients. Obviously, you will need apples. Now, everyone has a favorite apple, or a type of apple that represents the ideal apple pie. I know a number of people who believe the apples in a pie should cook down and make something resembling a jam. Personally, I disagree. My ideal apple pie is made with apples that retain some texture when cooked. This pie was made with a blend of Granny Smith and Cosmic Crisp apples. You will use a total of about 6 apples. I opted to use 4 large Cosmic Crisp and two Granny Smith. Honeycrisp and Fuji apples work well too.
The ingredients picture shows caramel sauce that was prepared earlier. You can use commercial caramel sauce, or make it from scratch using sugar, cream, and butter.
A note on equipment:
I made this pie in a deep dish pie pan. I love the one pictured above with the scalloped edges; it makes for a low effort, pretty presentation. The pie can be made in a standard pie pan, but you should either reduce the number of apples to 5, or plan for a really full pie!
The pictured pie pan is ceramic. Ceramic bakes well. Metal pie pans also make for a nicely baked crust. Glass pans don’t bake as evenly or as quickly, but the benefit of using a glass pan is that you can see if your pie crust is turning golden as it bakes. Use what you have available, and keep on eye on your bakes as you learn how your equipment performs.
Pro Tips:
Some people love a traditional double crust pie. Personally, I love the simplicity of a crumb topping; no need to roll it out or make it look pretty. If you find yourself in the double crust camp, simply double the recipe for the pie crust found below.
Of course, you could skip making the pie crust altogether. There is no shame in picking up a pre-made pie crust at your local grocery store. As mentioned above, this means you won’t have a deep dish pie, and you won’t need as much pie filling. You can reduce the number of apples, but if I were you I would make the recipe as found and just eat any filling that doesn’t fit in your pie. The filling is really good on ice cream or pancakes!
I include instructions for caramel sauce made from scratch, but don’t hesitate to pick up your favorite ready made caramel sauce for an easy shortcut.
If you decide to make the caramel sauce, do that first thing. The caramel need some time to cool and set up before adding it to the pie filling.
Apple pies have notoriously soggy bottoms. Avoid this by par baking (partially baking) the crust before adding the filling. You will find the instructions for this in the recipe.
You know the pie is done when the filling bubbles. Avoid a sticky mess in your oven by making sure you have something to catch any drips.
Caramel Apple Pie
A deep dish apple crumb pie loaded with apples, cinnamon, and caramel.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 12+ 1x
- Category: Pie
- Cuisine: dessert
Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 cups (12 Tablespoons) cold butter, cubed
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup water
For the apple filling:
6 large apples peeled, cored, and sliced thin
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup caramel sauce
For the crumb topping:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature
pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350
For the crust: Place flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add cubed, cold butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand with some larger pieces of butter mixed in. Slowly add the cold water to the mix and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Be careful not to over mix the dough, and you can dump the mix onto the counter and finish mixing by hand if that is a method that works for you. Wrap the dough and place it in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes before proceeding.
Once the dough has chilled, roll it out and place it into the pie pan. Line the crust with parchment and fill with pie weights. Bake the pie crust for 15 minutes, remove the parchment and weights, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
For the apple filling: Peel, core and slice the apples. Place the apples, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, lemon juice, and kosher salt in a large saucepan. Stir to make sure apples are coated with flour and sugar and ingredients are mixed. Cook the apple mixture over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. The apples should soften a bit so they are bendable, and a sauce will develop and thicken. Once the apples have cooked, remove from heat and stir in the caramel sauce. Pour the apple mixture into the pie crust.
For the crumb topping: In a small- medium bowl stir the softened butter, flour, sugar and kosher salt together. Mix until the butter is well incorporated and some pea sized crumbs have taken shape.
Spoon the crumb topping over the apples and return the pie to the oven to bake. Bake for approximately 50 minutes until the filling is bubbling. Keep an eye on the pie, and if the crumb topping is browning more than desired, place a sheet of foil loosely over the top of the pie.
Serve with additional caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream!
Notes
*To make caramel sauce from scratch: heat 1 cup of sugar over medium heat stirring gently until the sugar dissolves and turns a nice golden color. Add 4 Tablespoons of butter and stir until melted. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream and stir over low heat until the caramel is smooth. Remove from heat and add a sprinkling of sea salt if desired.
*The amount of water in the pie crust may need to be adjusted by a teaspoon or two. Add the water slowly.
Keywords: caramel, apple, pie, crumb topping,
More:
Some other recipes you might like- Butter Pecan Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel, Perfect Pumpkin Cheesecake, or Boozy Pumpkin Pie all have a similar Fall vibe.
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