How to make the Best Ever Caramel Apple Pie

I had quite a few apples this week – more than we would just eat. Enough for my favorite Caramel Apple Pie!

There are so many apple pie variations. This one makes a caramel base in a 10″ cast iron skillet, then the crust and filing go in on top of it. The caramel in the pan seeps into the crust and apples, making a wonder, flavor-packed apple pie, with a sweet crusty base.

By no means is this “healthy”, though I did use some monk fruit in place of part of the sugar and a little white whole wheat pastry flour in the dough, just to satisfy my “well, partly healthy” yen. I usually use half butter and half lard in my pie crust, but all butter works perfectly fine.

Spray the cast iron skillet with a little spray oil to help prevent sticking. Make the caramel sauce first, as it and the pan need to cool before putting in the crust.

  • butter & brown sugar
  • let it caramelize together

Set aside the pan to cool and work on the pie crust next. It needs to be made and put back in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to make the fat in it cold again. That’s what make flaky crust – the water in the fat (be is butter or lard) expands to create flaky layers of pie crust. I tend to use my food processor to whir dough together, and then drip in the ice water, but it can certainly be done by hand.

  • whir fats and flour together
  • divide in two and wrap in plastic to refrigerate

Once the caramel is cooling and the pie crust chilling, time to get the filling ready. I sue my Kitchen Aid spiralizer attachment. It makes quick work of peeling, coring & slicing apples. Then I just run a knife through the stack of spiralized apple to create perfect half slices.

All the slices go into a bowl, and add in the rest of the filling ingredients, stir well to coat the slices.

Apple pie filing is ready

Now to assemble – get out one package of dough from the fridge and roll out large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the skillet. I use a silicon baking mat – it requires very little flour and mine has ruled measurements on the sides for easy reference. And very easy clean up – shake over the bin to removed excess flour and bits of dough, then wash and hang to dry.

Drape the crust inside the skillet, right over the caramel. Yes, the caramel is UNDERNEATH the dough.

Add in the filling, and top with the second piece of pie dough; if you feel fancy, turn it into a lattice top.

And bake! Nothing like the smell of apples and cinnamon in the kitchen!

Look at that flaky crust!

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Caramel Apple Pie

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword apple pie, caramel apple pie
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2 2/3 c flour I used 2/3 cup white whole wheat pastry flour, then regular all purpose flour for the other 2 cups
  • 2 tsp sugar or monk fruit or baking Splena
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cold butter cubed – I actually had only frozen butter on hand, but I cubed and used, and it worked great – it really was cold.
  • 1/2 cup lard or use all butter
  • 1/4 c apple cider
  • 1/4 c ice water

Caramel

  • 1/2 c butter (1 stick)
  • 1 c light brown sugar packed

Apple filling

  • 1/3 c granulated sugar I used only about 1/4 c
  • 1/3 c brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp corn starch
  • 11/2 tsp apple pie spice I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves, I think next time I will also add in some mace
  • 6 cups of sliced apples
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1 tbsp grated zest
  • 1 large egg whisk with a little water
  • 1 tbsp turbanado sugar
  • vanilla ice cream if desired,

Instructions

Making the caramel base

  1. Start the caramel sauce first, because it needs to cool: in a 10 inch cast iron pan, melt the butter and then whisk in the brown sugar until it’s melted. Let simmer a few minutes without stirring, until it bubbles. Set aside to cool.

Crust

  1. Put into a food processor bowl the flour, sugar and salt, and pulse to combine. Add in the cold butter and pulse until crumbly. With the processor running add in the vinegar and ice water. I found I needed to add a bit more water than called for. Can also be done by hand with a pastry knife.

  2. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead once or twice, and divide into two pieces. Form into a disc, and wrap in plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator to chill. Chilling will re-harden the butter than may have softened while making the dough. Cold butter heated up in the hot oven will turn into a flaky crust – and this much butter makes it flay for sure!

Apple Filling

  1. Here’s where I peeled and sliced the apples.

  2. Whisk the sugars, cornstarch, spices and salt together. Add the apples and lemon juice, & zest, and mix it all up.

Assembly

  1. Roll out one of the pie crust disc’s into a large enough circle to fit into the skillet. Put it right on top of the caramel mix. Yep, that’s what you do.It's also why the caramel needs to cool, so as to not melt the pie crust dough.

  2. Pour in the apple filling.
  3. Top with a crust made of your choice – the original recipes is a lattice top. Not wanting to fuss that much, I rolled out the second disc of dough and put it on top in one whole piece. Don’t forget to moisten the edge of the bottom piece so you can get a good seal and crimp the top crust to the bottom in your choice of design – I use a fork like my Grandma did. Make a couple slits for steam to escape.

  4. If you like, beat up an egg and 1 tbsp water and brush the crust, then sprinkle with the sugar. Or just plain sugar sprinkled on top, a la Grandma style.

  5. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Check after 35 minutes, and tent foil over the crust for the last 10 minutes if needed, to prevent over-browning.

Recipe Notes

Enjoy warm, plain or with ice cream, and any left overs can be heated by the slice for a few minutes to re-warm if desired.
The caramel sauce that is under the crust soaks into it and into the apples – and the crust gets nice a crispy from the heat of the cast iron. Delicious.

Things to help with apple pie: