A generous helping of brown sugar caramel takes this apple pie from average to unbelievable.
Caramel Apple Pie
Makes 1 (10-inch) pie
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup ice water
- Caramel:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- Filling:
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoons apple pie spice
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 cups sliced apple, such as Gala or Fuji (about 2½ pounds)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
- Vanilla ice cream, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- For crust: In the work bowl of a food processor, place flour, sugar, and salt; pulse until combined. Add cold butter, pulsing until mixture is crumbly. With processor running, gradually add vinegar and ice water, processing until combined.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured
surface, and divide in half. Shape each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. - For caramel: In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in brown sugar, and cook until bubbly and sugar
is dissolved. Let cool in pan. - Let dough stand at room temperature until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 disk of dough ⅛ inch thick. Place dough directly on top of caramel sauce, pressing into bottom and up sides. Trim dough to edge of skillet.
- For filling: In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, cornstarch, apple pie spice, and salt. Add apples and lemon juice, tossing to coat. Spoon apple mixture into prepared crust.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll remaining dough ⅛ inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut 1-inch-wide strips. Braid 3 strips together, and set aside. Arrange remaining strips in a lattice design on top of filling. Place braided strip on top as desired. Fold edges under.
- In a small bowl, whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Lightly brush crust with egg wash; sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Place skillet on a baking sheet.
- Bake until crust is golden brown and apples are tender, about 45 minutes, loosely covering with foil during last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.
Pie Tips
- Use cold ingredients, and combine them quickly to create the perfect flaky piecrust.
- Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes to allow butter to set and the flour to absorb liquid ingredients.
- Roll dough onto rolling pin to help transfer the piecrust to the skillet.
- Pie dough can be stored in a heavy-duty resealable bag and frozen for up to 3 months.
So I’m looking for the lattice-topped pie crust tutorial and it’s no where to be found.
Hi Susan! You can read how to do the lattice pie crust in step 7.
What’s the consistency of the caramel bottom supposed to be? First try got hard, I threw it out, second try much better but still set-up somewhat
Hi Jeff! The caramel should have a thick sauce texture. If it got hard, then it most likely cooked too long. An easy way of testing to see the thickness of caramel is taking a drop of caramel and putting it into a cup of water. If the caramel forms into a tight ball, then it is a harder caramel. If it forms into a soft ball that barely stays together, then it is a caramel sauce.
I/we made several mistakes but the flavors are still wonderful.
1) I think our skillet might be 9 inch rather than 10. Either that or it just needed to cook longer.
2) Threw out first caramel because it got burned. Should have take it off the stove stop not just turn the flame off. Hot even kept it cooking and it is brittle and maybe a tiny bit burned. (I kind of like it and it;s perfect with a vanilla custard ice cream.) It’s also thick on one side, thin on the other because our stove’s tilted up in the front. No clearer reason why that needs to get fixed immediately.
3) Maybe used the wrong dough (my daughter wanted to make her recipe and I didn’t watch to see how much flour went in) and the bottom and top crust weren’t big enough. The top also may not have been put on fast enough, so the dough was nicely crispy on top but a little too soft underneath; the bottom crust was way wetter.
Lots to learn about making apple pie and room to grow. It’s a great recipe though and the flavors were just right.