Caramel Apple Pie

Caramel Apple Pie combines a creamy caramel sauces with apples that are the perfect balance of juicy, sweet and tart, and wraps it all in a buttery pie crust. This easy apple pie recipe delivers impressive results that your friends and family will love.

Caramel Apple Pie Recipe

If you are looking for an apple pie recipe that is knock your socks off good, yet easy to make, you’ve found it. I love when a recipe yields ‘impress the guests’ results without a lot of work, and this Caramel Apple Pie does just that.

Apple Pie Crust

While you can make your pie crust from scratch, I promise you this pie is absolutely incredible with the pre-made roll out crusts. They have been my pie baking staple for over a decade. Almost every time I make a pie, someone compliments me on the crust. And without fail, that crust is almost always the pre-made Pillsbury pie crust.

This post is not sponsored or connected with them in any way, it’s just a product I love. So much so that I don’t even have a homemade pie crust recipe on my site. (Puts sharing a homemade pie crust recipe on to do list…)

Best Apples For Apple Pie

My go to apple for apple pie, or any other apple recipes, such as my apple cobbler or apple crisp, is Granny Smith. They have a wonderful tartness that keeps pie, and other recipes, from being overly sweet.

Unlike some other apple varieties (yes, I’m looking at you red delicious) they hold their shape nicely when baked, and don’t turn to mush. They also score points for being easy to find at every grocery store.

While I used Granny Smith apples exclusively in this recipe, as their tartness wonderfully balances the sweetness of the caramel sauce, I often like to combine apples in recipes. A few of my other favorite apples to bake with include Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp and Braeburn.

Ingredients

Let’s go over the ingredients that you’ll need to make this caramel apple pie.

1. Apples – As discussed, I highly recommend using Granny Smith apples for best results and flavor.
2. Cinnamon – Ground cinnamon is crucial to the apple pie flavor we all know and love.
3. Salted butter – While I used salted butter in this recipe, if all you have on hand is unsalted, go ahead and use that and add 1/4 tsp of salt. The bit of salt really helps balance the caramel pie filling.
4. Flour – All purpose flour works well. I have not tested this recipe with any other type of flour.
5. White sugar – Your standard granulated sugar works perfectly.
6. Brown sugar – Light or brown sugar will work, whichever you keep on hand.
7. Water – I always recommend using drinking water when cooking or baking. If you typically don’t drink tap water (we don’t here in Phoenix, AZ) then use what you drink, when you cook/bake.
8. Lemon juice – Fresh squeezed is best, but if not bottled will work.
9. Pie crusts – I’ve shared my love of the Pillsbury premade pie crusts, but I haven’t been quite as fond of other brands or generics. Typically things like that don’t seem to vary much by brand, but for whatever reason, the Pillsbury pie crust wins hands down.
10. Milk – Whatever milk you keep on hand for drinking will work. In a pinch, half and half or cream can be used as well.

Directions

Reminder that the full printable recipe card is found at the bottom of this post. Here we will walk through the steps, with photos to show you exactly what to do.

Begin by preparing your apples. To do this peel them, core them and slice them thin. Thinly sliced apples give a fantastic flavor and texture to this pie, creating layers and layers of apples, caramel and cinnamon.

Place apples in a large bowl, then add cinnamon and give a stir to coat the apples.

After preparing the apples, cover them and set aside.

Next, prepare the caramel sauce.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter then stir in flour. Add and mix in white sugar, brown sugar, and water. Bring these ingredients just to a boil, then lower heat and them allow to simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.

Pour the caramel sauce over the prepared apples, and use a spoon or spatula to thoroughly mix and coat each apple. The sauce will tend to thin out as you stir, as the juices from each apple and will trickle down to the bottom of the bowl. Make sure to combine well!

Place the bottom crust into your pie pan and gently spoon the apple pie filling into the pie crust.

Place the top crust onto the pie and trim excess crust. Pinch or crimp around the edges to seal the two crusts together. Cut slits into the center of the crust, which will allow steam to escape.

Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the crust with milk. Use tin foil or a pie shield to carefully cover just the the edges of the pie to prevent over browning. Place your pie on the center rack and bake for 50 minutes or until the crust is golden. If the top starts to brown with quite a bit of time left on the timer, place a piece of aluminum foil over the pie to prevent over-browning.

Allow the pie to cool for a full hour (or even better, overnight) before cutting.

Tools Used To Make This Pie

• 9″ Pie Dish
• Peeler
• Apple Corer
• Pastry Brush
• Pie Shield

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)

1. Do I need to blind bake the crust? Blind baking, when you pre-bake a pie crust, is helpful with many pie recipes. With this particular recipe I have not needed to blind bake.
2. My pie is looking brown, but there is still 20 minutes to go, can I take it out now? No, as the apples need the full baking time. If you are worried about over browning, simply place a sheet of aluminum foil over your pie.
3. Can I freeze this pie and bake at a later time? Yes, you can tightly wrap the unbaked pie, and place in a freezer for up to four months. To bake, allow it to thaw, then bake as directed. Or, to bake from frozen, bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then continue baking at 425 for an additional 30 minutes.
4. How should I serve this pie? It can be served warm or cold. I personally like a warm slice of pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. You can also drizzle with caramel sauce!
5. Do you have more pie recipes? Yes, I do! Check out all of my easy and delicious pie recipes!

More Delicious Apple Recipes To Try

• Apple Cobbler
• Caramel Apple Chocolate Bark
• Dutch Apple Pie With Crumb Topping
• Apple Crisp
• Campfire Apple Pie Packets
• Apple Fritter Bread
• Caramel Apple Crumble
• Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars
• MinI Caramel Apple Cheesecakes
• Apple Spice Cake
• Apple Fritters