Pie Crust Odyssey: The Ultimate Caramel Crumb Apple Pie

The air in my kitchen is deliciously scented, because I have a Caramel Crumb Apple Pie cooling on the counter! That’s right, I’ve combined all sorts of yummy things into one ultimate pie! It’s mom’s apple pie, but with caramel sauce drizzled in the filling, topped with a cinnamon crumb topping, and baked until golden brown and fragrant!

It’s the end of the Pie Crust Odyssey, and of course the last pie had to be apple because, well, apple pie is a staple! I’d say there’s nothing quite as American as apple pie, but I’m Canadian, so really, I should be serving the pie with cheddar cheese, eh? I’m not a fan of mixing sweet and savoury, as least not in my apple pie, so I just added caramel and crumbs to the classic that I grew up with.

Oh, it smells soooo good! The DH is hovering around the kitchen and asking if the pie is cool enough to eat yet. It’s not, so I shall type up the recipe while it cools a bit, and then we shall eat pie!

The redolent-of-cinnamon recipe:

Butter and Vinegar Crust

• 2 c. flour
• 1 c. butter
• 3 tbsp. vinegar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp. ice water

Mix all the ingredients up in a mixer (what, you think I’m going to do this by hand? You do that. I’ll use a mixer.) until a dough is formed. Rest in fridge while filling is assembled. Then roll out and place in pie plate. And it’s done, and on to the filling!

Caramel Sauce

• 6 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• ½ c .white sugar
• ½ c. brown sugar
• ¼ c. water
• Pinch salt

Melt butter in a pot on medium heat. Add in flour and whisk until bubbling. Add in sugars, salt, and water, and stir. Cook until caramel sauce just *starts* to stick to the bottom of the pot. Set aside.

Filling

• 6 Gala apples, or your favourite
• 1 tbsp. flour
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Peel and roughly slice the apples. Toss with the flour and cinnamon. Set aside.

Crumb Topping

• 1 c. flour
• ¼ c. white sugar mixed with 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. butter, cut up into small pieces

Mix up the white sugar with the molasses. Dump in everything else and mix until a soft crumb forms. Set aside.

Now we get to assemble our luscious layers!

Dump the apple filling into the pie shell. Sort of spread it around, and heap it slightly in the centre. Evenly pour the caramel sauce all over the top. Lick the caramel pot clean. Top  filling with the crumbs, sprinkling evenly over the top. It’ll look like a lot of floury crumbs, but it bakes down. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and then cover with foil if crumb topping is getting brown. Bake for a further 40 minutes, covered, at 350 degrees, or until the apples are soft when a fork is stuck into the pie. Uncover during the last few minutes and brown the top if it isn’t already golden brown. Cool. Slice, serve, and wow your friends and family.

Ok, I’ve written up the recipe, it’s time to serve the pie! *interruption to eat pie* Oh, so good! I gobbled it right up. And the DH fell asleep while the pie was cooling, so I ate his slice too. I think that’s only fair. The caramel flavour isn’t as strong as you might expect, but that’s actually a good thing because otherwise the pie would be too sweet. It does need to cool a bit before cutting and serving, but I ate it while it was still warm and it was perfect! I think I’ve just created myself a new classic — try it out and let me know what you think!

As for the Pie Crust Odyssey, I’ve figured out that for myself, I prefer a butter AND shortening crust, heavier on the shortening, and made with vinegar. I find that makes for the flakiest and tastiest crust.  Thoughts?

Next Post:  Probably something with vegetables (zucchini? eggplant?), because I’m buttered out after this pie. (Still worth it.)