Easy Caramel Apple Pie with All Butter Crust

Thanksgiving is coming, y'all. Don't be the person serving Patti Pies at your table or the guest bringing a sad, store-bought dessert to the potluck. Don't get roasted by your friends and family. Don't have your coworkers talking behind your back after the office potluck. I don't want that for you. So today, I'm serving up an easy caramel apple pie recipe that only tastes like you slaved for hours to produce it. You don't even have to make a pie crust if you don't want to. That's right. I said it! I've tried this recipe two ways--with homemade crust and with pre-rolled pie dough and most people can't tell the difference. I've still included my all-butter pie crust recipe below, though.

Now let's get into this caramel apple pie. This ain't ya mama's apple pie. No offense to her, of course. 🙂 It's easy to make and you can definitely do it--I believe in you! If you have any questions along the way, drop a note in the comments section below or shoot me an email. I won't leave you hanging. Now, there's no caramel to be made here. Just drop little caramel candies in with the filling. See? Easy. I used the same trick to make this bourbon caramel apple cider, which is another recipe you have to try before the season is over. Most of the time when I make apple pie, I incorporate a mix of brown and granulated (white) sugars into the pie filling. Here, I stuck to brown for a deeper, more caramel-like flavor.

The apples in this pie are a mixture of sweet Honeycrisp and tart Granny Smith so as to not wear out your sweet taste buds between the apples, brown sugar, and caramel. If caramel apple pie isn't your speed, you might like this bourbon sweet potato pecan pie. Of course, you have to serve this caramel apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream. Trust me. You must. I recommend Haagen Dazs dulce de leche or Talenti vanilla caramel. A dollop of whipped cream won't hurt either. 🙂

This caramel apple pie can be made ahead and chilled until showtime. If you go this route, I recommend setting it out on the counter top for a few hours before dinner in order to get it back up to room temperature. Nobody likes cold apple pie, right? You could even make this way ahead of time and freeze it for up to six months. Just be sure to wrap it up tightly in foil or plastic wrap. Making pie crust is not my favorite thing to do, so I tend to make it in batches. Freezing pies or pie crusts comes in clutch when I just cannot be bothered.

I have a couple more classic Thanksgiving pie recipes up my sleeve this season so stay tuned for those next week. Also, let me know what your favorite pies are or if there's a type of Turkey Day dessert you're looking for in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading!

📖 Recipe

Easy Caramel Apple Pie

Jazzmine Woodard

Tender Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples layered with caramel candies between a flaky, all-butter crust made from scratch.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 35 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 slices

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

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Pie Filling

• ▢ 2 large Honeycrisp apples peeled, cored, and sliced
• ▢ 3 XL Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced
• ▢ ½ cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ▢ 5 ounces caramel candies unwrapped

Pie Crust

• ▢ 3 cups flour
• ▢ 1 ½ cup cold butter cut into cubes
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cold water
• ▢ 1 egg white
• ▢ 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

 

• Whisk together flour, sea salt, and cinnamon. Add in chunks of cold butter and work mixture with your hands until a coarse meal forms. (Alternatively, you can add flour mix and butter to a food processor and pulse until coarse meal forms.)
• Add cold water and continue to mix (or pulse) until dough comes together. Separate dough into two pieces and shape each into a disc (about the size of a hockey puck). Wrap in plastic and place in fridge to chill at least 30 minutes. Can also be left overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add apple slices, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, flour, and lemon juice to a large bowl and mix until apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
• Unwrap pie dough and roll out each piece into a round about 15 inches in diameter. Lay the first piece into a 9-inch pie pan.
• Add about ⅓ of apple filling over top of pie dough then drop in a few caramel candies. Repeat until all filling and caramels have been added to pan.
• Add remaining dough piece over top of filling. Press edges of top and bottom dough together to seal in the pie filling. Cut four slits in center of top crust.
  
• Beat egg white and milk together then brush over top crust. This will help the crust become a beautiful golden brown color while baking.
• Bake for about one hour and 15 minutes. Let cool and set for an hour before slicing and serving.
  

Notes

Pie can be baked ahead of time and chilled.

Pie can be frozen up to six months.

Place a baking sheet on the lower oven rack beneath the pie in order to catch drips.

Did you try this recipe?Leave a comment to let me know how it turned out!