Yes! You read right, salted caramel apple pie! It’s pie season–or can it be pie season all your round?! Regardless, this pie will change your life. Period. Tender apple slices, and buttery pie dough all layered with salted caramel goodness. This recipe I have been eating forever. Slowly but surely, I’m beginning to love baking and making pastry. Check out my lattice! Still a long way to go but I was super happy with it.
In a lot of recipes I tried, the dough just didn’t hold together–but I found the perfect recipe and cannot wait for y’all to try it out. Thanks to Rachel over at Two Loves Studio for the recipe!
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Recipe
Another new technique I tried with this caramel apple pie was cooking the apples first. Once I laid my attic over the pie, I did not want my filling to shrink and leave a big gap.
So, I cooked the apples first with the spices and thickeners, let them cool, and then added them to my prepared pie dough.
This recipe was inspired by four and twenty salted caramel apple pie and the salted caramel sauce from my go-to cookbook, Taste and Technique.
Pie Crust
- 250 grams All-purpose Flour
- 150 grams butter, cubed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- a Pinch of fine sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon cold milk
Apple Filling
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 large apples
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salted Caramel
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 3/4 teaspoon flakey sea salt
Pie Crust
- Heap the flour onto a clean surface and make a well in the center. Place the butter, salt, sugar and egg into the well. Using your fingertips, mix and cream these ingredients together. Then, little by little, draw in the flour to work the dough until it has a grainy texture. Add the milk and incorporate gently with your fingertips until the dough begins to hold together. Knead the dough about 5 times by pushing the dough away from you until it is smooth.
- Roll the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pan, and cut the top crust as a lattice, approximately 1-inch in width. Chill the rolled crust while you prepare the salted caramel and apple filling.
Salted Caramel
- Place the sugar, hot water, and salt in a heavy saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Pour in the water and sugar, making sure to keep the sugar crystals from splashing around the sides of the pan. Place pan over low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved. Your goal will be to try and dissolve the sugar become it comes to a boil.
- Cover the pan, turn the heat to medium, and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook the sugar until it starts to take on some color. Keep cooking until the sugar starts to smoke a little and turns deep mahogany brown. Remove pan from the heat and pour in about 1/4 cup of the hot cream, stirring with a long-handled wooden spoon.. The caramel will bubble, so watch out. Keep stirring and slowly add the remaining cream. Strain the caramel sauce through a fine-mesh strainer. Let cool.
Apple Filling
- Melt butter in a large saute pan set over medium-high heat and add apples to the pan. Stir to coat fruit with butter and cook, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk together the spices, salt, and .75 cup sugar, and sprinkle this over the pan, stirring to combine. Lower heat and cook until apples have started to soften but not completely soft, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle the flour and cornstarch over the apples and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat, add cider vinegar, stir and scrape fruit mixture into a bowl and allow to cool completely.
Assembly of Pie
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- Gather your rolled pie crust, salted caramel, and apple mixture. Begin by layering 1/3 of the apples in the bottom of the crust so that there are minimal gaps. Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the apples. Add 1/3 of the apples and caramel for a second layer, and then add a third layer of apples, and then the caramel again.
- Assemble the lattice crust and flute the edges of the crust. Pour the last bit of caramel on top. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar and sea salt.
- Bake the pie on a baking sheet larger than the pie pan for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, lightly cover with foil, and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake a little longer if your crust is not nicely browned.