This Salted Caramel Apple Pie is a twist on a classic! I took a delicious, comforting apple pie and filled and topped it with homemade salted caramel sauce!
Pour sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk, and keep whisking, as sugar melts. It will clump and you'll think you're doing it all wrong. You're not. 🙂
Once sugar is melted, stop whisking and let sugar cook until it is deep amber in color. *Carefully* add butter (mixture will bubble!) and whisk to incorporate.
Remove mixture from the heat. Add cream (carefully!) and whisk until smooth. Add salt and stir to incorporate.
For Crust:
In a large bowl, combine flour and cold, diced vegetable shortening. Using a pastry blender (see note) or fork, cut shortening in until no large pieces remain.
In a small bowl, combine egg, vinegar, and cold water. Whisk to combine.
Make wells in the flour mixture, and pour the egg mixture into the wells. Stir until a soft dough is formed. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly into a ball. Cut the ball in half to create two discs.
Wrap one dough disc and place in the refrigerator. Roll the second disc out on a lightly floured surface large enough to fit the bottom of your pie place. Ensure that you don't stretch the dough (as this will cause it to shrink when baked). Set lined pie plate aside.
For Filling:
Combine apples, sugar, and spices in a sauté pan. Over low heat, cook the apples until softened and their juice has been released. If you prefer a softer apple filling, nearly cook the apples through at this stage. If you prefer more texture/bite to your apple pie, you need only cook them until juices are released.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apples to the lined pie plate, leaving as much juice as possible in the sauté pan.
Cook juices over medium-low heat until reduced to a syrup. Pour syrup over apples, then pour the salted caramel sauce over top.
Pie Assembly/Baking:
Roll the second disc of dough out on a lightly floured surface and top the pie as desired, ensuring that if you cover the entire pie that you cut holes for steam to escape while baking.
Place the pie on a baking sheet (to save your oven in the event any juices bubble over), and bake 45-55 minutes, or until top of the pie is golden. Serve slices drizzled with more salted caramel sauce, if desired.Enjoy!
Notes
Note on salted caramel sauce: This recipe is completely delicious, and makes enough caramel that you'll have leftovers to drizzle over your slices of pie (a must)! All that said, you can opt for a store-bought salted caramel sauce and it will still be completely delicious!Note on pastry blender: While a pastry blender isn't necessary to cut in the shortening, it does make the job faster and easier. If you're looking to buy one for yourself, you can find one [here].