Homemade Caramel Apple Pie

A slice of caramel apple pie on a white dessert plate topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: fall baking recipe, how to make caramel apple pie, Thanksgiving dessert

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 1 30

Chill time: 4

Total Time: 5 50

Servings:

Calories: 644kcal

Author: Kris Longwell

Caramel Apple Pie has that classic apple pie taste, but better. The homemade caramel puts it over the top. You'll use a little more than half of the caramel, leaving you extra to re-heat and drizzle over slices of this amazing pie. Make the day ahead of serving to allow you more time to focus on the big feast!

Print Recipe

Equipment

1 9-inch pie dish

Ingredients

1 pie dough for a 9-inch pie dish
2 lbs Granny smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced
1 lb Gala apples peeled, cored, and sliced
2¾ cups sugar divided
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup water
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp Kosher salt

For the Topping

4 tbsp old-fashioned oats
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp brown sugar light or dark
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp Kosher salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter cubed

Instructions

Place the apples in a large bowl and mix together with ½ cup sugar. Transfer to a colander over a large bowl (or in the sink) and let rest for 30 minutes.
2 lbs Granny smith apples, 1 lb Gala apples, 2¾ cups sugar
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, mix together ¼ cup sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
⅓ cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium-sized saucepan, bring 2 cups of sugar and ½ cup of water to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-high, and stop stirring the mixture. Every couple of minutes, gently lift the pan and swirl the mixture. It should be bubbling fairly strongly. Continue this process until it has turned amber in color, usually about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully stir in the butter, heavy cream, and salt. Stir and then let rest for 15 minutes.
½ cup water, ¼ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup heavy cream, ½ tsp Kosher salt
Place the prepared apples in a large bowl and stir in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Stir until fully coated.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pie dough into a 12-inch circle. Transfer the dough to a pie dish and press the bottom and sides into the dish. If desired, trim and then crimp the edges (see video for visual guidance).
1 pie dough
Transfer all of the apples to the pie dish with the dough. There should be enough apples to form a dome. Pour about ⅔ of the caramel over the top of the apples, saving the rest for future drizzling.
In a small bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Use a fork (or two) to work the butter into the mixture. Sprinkle the topping all over the top of the pie.
4 tbsp old-fashioned oats, 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, 3 tbsp brown sugar, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp Kosher salt, 3 tbsp unsalted butter
Bake the pie for 90 minutes. You may need to cover the edges with foil or a pie crust protector if getting too dark (usually after about 1 hour).
Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving.
To serve, slice cooled pie and, if desired, heat the remaining caramel in your microwave on HIGH until pourable. Drizzle warm caramel over the top of the pie slices.

Notes

See the video near the top of the blog post for visual guidance. If you liked the video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

We recommend granny smith apples and gala apples, but you could also use all granny smith or all gala. Other good baking apples are: Fuji, Honeycrisp, Cortland, and Red Delicious.

Be sure to let the pie completely cool before slicing in order to be able to cut nice clean slices. If you want to serve warm, then heat individual slices in the microwave on HIGH for about 15 to 20 seconds.

The pie will keep covered in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days. It will keep out on the counter (covered) for 2 days. The pie can be frozen for up to 2 months. Allow it to thaw before baking.

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