Caramel Apple Pie-- everything you love about caramel apples wrapped up in a flaky pie crust and topped with the most delicious crumb topping. One of my favorite pies of ALL time!
After Monday's post I am all about the pie right now. Or maybe it's because I still have one lonely piece of this beauty waiting for me in the fridge right now. You guys, this caramel apple pie has totally made my week.
I usually don't like to give my recipes names like "the world's best" or "super duper ooper good" fill in the blank, because it feels a little hoity-toity (I'll admit there are a few here from way back). But this caramel apple pie has me tempted. It. Is. So. Darn. Good.
So without further adieu, let's just get down to it!
Granny Smith apples are absolutely the way to go here. We want them tart so that it balances out the sweet caramel that we're going to pour over the top of them. I also like to make sure that my apples are cut pretty thin so that they cook quickly and evenly. Just mound them up in your pie crust and you're set.
Instead of mixing the raw apples with sugar and spices like you normally do for an apple pie, we're going to make a little caramel sauce to pour over the apples instead. Bring a little butter, sugar, cinnamon, salt, water, and flour to a boil, let cook for a minute and remove from the heat.
Next up is the crumb topping! I love a good crumb topping and this one is sweet, slightly chewy, and plenty crumbly. If you have a stand mixer just throw all the ingredients into the bowl and let it roll until it looks like coarse sand. Otherwise you can mix this by hand with a fork. It's ready when you can take a handful of it and it sticks together in a clump after squeezing it.
Pour the caramel sauce over those delicious apples...
Top with ALL of the crumb topping. I emphasize the ALL because it will look like a lot, but just keep piling it on. I like some bigger crumbs so when I top the pie I make clumps by the handful and then put it on the pie.
Once all the crumbs are on you're ready to bake! The crumb has a tendency to burn during the first part of baking since we cook it at a high temperature at the beginning to set the crust, so just loosely lay a piece of foil over the top during the first 15 minutes and it shouldn't be a problem. Towards the end of baking-- right around the last 20 minutes or so -- if the crust is looking a little dark, wrap some foil around the crust to keep it from browning any more.
AND, if you really want to your guests to be bamboozled by your pie making skills, drizzle a little bit of jarred caramel sauce over the top of the pie.
You're welcome.
Other Recipes For Your Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
- Sweet Potato Casserole With Coconut
- Corn Spoon Bread
- Best Dinner Roll Recipe
- Fresh Green Bean Casserole
- Homemade Creamed Corn
- Cranberry Fluff
- Pumpkin Turnovers
- Never Fail Pie Crust
- Au Gratin Potato Recipe
Caramel Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 3-4 large granny smith apples peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ C water
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ Cup butter
- 1 Prepared 9 inch pie crust-- I love my no-fail recipe https://heatherlikesfood.com/secret-ingredient-no-fail-pie-crust/
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place sliced apples in prepared pie crust.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, water, cinnamon, salt, and first portion of flour and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute and remove from the heat. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer make the crumb topping by mixing the second portion of flour, brown sugar and softened butter until it resembles coarse sand-- about 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the caramel mixture over the apples in the pie crust. Use your hands to form the crumb mixture into small clumps and place on top of apples ( it will seem like a lot of crumbs, but use them all).
- Very loosely place a piece of foil on top of the crumbs, place pie on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
- Remove foil from the top of the pie and lower temperature to 350. Bake an additional 35-40 minutes. Check the pie during the last 20 minutes of baking to see if the crust is getting too dark. If so, wrap foil around the edges of the pie and continue to bake.Pie is done when
- Pie is done when crust is golden and filling is bubbly.
- Top the finished pie with jarred caramel sauce if desired.
Stephanie says
Hello! Let me just say that I've made this pie at least 6 times now and it is always a hit! However I have a question, do you think it would hold up ok if I prepped the pie all the way up to the ready to bake phase the night before and baked it the next day? Thank you!!?
Terri says
Where’s the caramel in the caramel sauce? I’m new to this so I need some hand-holding.
Suzi says
Please time if I can make this is a graham cracker crust. Thank you!
Heather Cheney says
Graham cracker crusts are best used for no-bake pies. I would stick with a regular pie crust as I'm afraid the filling would make the crust soggy.
Karla says
Can't see the ingredients, please help
Becki says
Can you give some advice? My caramel wasn't runny like your picture, did I get it too hot? I've never made caramel sauce before but just seems like I did something wrong! Thank you!
Heather says
It could have cooked too long. Since it will be cooked in the oven as well, you just want to let it boil for 1 minute to make sure everything is dissolved.
Tina C says
You can use caramel dip.
Marian Gaines says
Love your recipes
tara says
This looks amazing and will be on my Thanksgiving table tomorrow 🙂 thanks for sharing!
Rachel (teacher-chef) says
WOW - this is a delicious looking Pie, as always, great work & thanks for sharing this Heather!!!