Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, friends!! I hope you're all busy prepping and feasting on some fun creations of your own. To add to the yummy recipes of today, I thought I would share this apple pie recipe with you. I made this yesterday and it's a yummy part of our Super Bowl feast today! I will warn you, this pie probably took me a good hour to prepare and then an hour to bake...it's definitely worth the time and TLC that's required- this is one tasty pie! Bear with me as we go...this one has quite a few steps!

SALTED CARAMEL APPLE PIE

What you need to make the pie:

Pie Crust

1 recipe of your favorite (2-crust) butter pie crust (to be honest, I cheated with this and just got the store bought refrigerated kind. If you want to make one from scratch though, you can use the recipe I blogged here back in October)

Salted Caramel

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup fresh heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Apple Filling

1 lemon, zested and juiced into a large bowl

4 to 5 large apples (I used all Granny Smith but you could mix in some Honey Crisp or Cortland if you can find them)

Apple Filling Seasoning

1/3 cup raw sugar (if you have raw, unrefined that is best- I didn’t so just plain is fine too)

2 heaping tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Assembly

1 egg beaten

Sugar (for sprinkling on top)

1 teaspoon sea salt 

To make the pie:

1. First, prepare one 2-crust batch of your pie crust (or, like me, just buy some!) Roll the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pan, and cut the top crust as a lattice, mine was about 1-inch thick.

2. Prick the bottom crust with a fork and then pop it in the fridge while you prepare the caramel.

3. Cook the sugar and water together over low heat until just dissolved. 

Add the butter and bring to a slow boil. Continue cooking at a low boil until the mixture turns a deep, golden brown color (almost copper). This takes a LONG time...mine cooked for about 25 minutes until it reached the right color. Be sure to keep an eye on it, too, because if it starts smoking you've burned it and you'll have to start over.

This is about 10 minutes in...

After about 25 minutes it's reached a golden/copper color...

4. Once the mixture has turned a copper color, remove it from the heat and add the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble rapidly and steam - be cautious as the sugar will be very hot.

This is after the cream is mixed in.

5. Return the mixture back to low heat and whisk it all together. Then add the sea salt and mix until well combined. Remove from heat and set caramel to the side while you prepare the apples. 

6. Juice and zest the lemon into a large mixing bowl. Core, peel, and thinly slice the whole apples. Be patient- this takes some time but the TLC makes the pie that much better!

7. Mix all the apple slices in the freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent browning and to add flavor. Set the prepared apples aside.

8. In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg.

9. Take your apples out of the lemon juice and either place on paper towels or drain in a colander to remove a lot of the excess liquid. (I didn't do this well enough and I think my pie is a little more wet than I would have liked.) 

10. Sprinkle this apple filling mixture over the apples in the mixing bowl. Get down and dirty and use your hands to gently mix and coat the apple slices.

Now to assemble the pie:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Take your rolled pie crust out of the fridge, your salted caramel and the apple mixture all in one place. 

3. 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. (If you can, save a small portion of the caramel to pour on top of the lattice crust. 

This is after all three layers.

4. Assemble the lattice crust and press your crusts together. Drizzle the last bit of caramel on top, 

then brush the crust with the beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with sugar and sea salt.

5. As you can see, I placed my pie pan on a cookie sheet.(If you don't bake on a sheet the caramel drizzle will drip off and burn on the bottom of your oven.) Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. 

6. After the first 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 325 and bake for another 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown on top. (You can also test the apples for doneness with a long toothpick or small knife.)

YUM!!

Now comes the hard part- let the pie cool and then ENJOY. (If you're like me, you might sneak a bite or two in the process.)

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