A wonderful buttery crispy crust and a gorgeous caramel sauce makes this Delicious Caramel Apple Pie Recipe something very very special indeed!
I am truly delighted to bring you this lovely recipe, so many handy tips that you can use to create gorgeous winter warming pies for your family, not to mention how to create a pretty lattice pattern which is much easier than you might think.
This beautiful recipe is bought to you thanks to Westgold Butter teaming up with me to showcase their award winning pure NZ butter. In this case their unsalted butter is in both the base of a lovely light buttery crispy crust and the dreamy caramel sauce that is drizzled over the apple pie before we bake it.
Unsalted butter is made from fresh cream and that is all! In many recipes using unsalted or salted butter does not make a huge difference, however in this one it is lovely to manage the levels of the salt to ensure the rich creaminess shines through, especially for the pastry. This is also the pastry recipe for my Quiche Lorraine – a lovely versatile pastry that can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes.
This pie is a little different than the usual apple pie I make in that it has a lattice top and the special caramel sauce is poured over the TOP of the finished pie before you bake it. Having a lattice top is important as these gaps in the top ensure some of the moisture escapes so the sauce becomes rich and caramelly, great eaten freshly warm and just as good the next day.
This pastry is quick and easy to make, using a food processor it is super easy – cutting the butter into the flour is very easily done a few pulses at a time until it comes together, using a few simple ingredients such as flour, the chunks of lovely Westgold butter, water, apple cider vinegar and a sprinkling of salt.
The filling is basic also, just some lovely chunkily cut granny smith apples with a little flour and cinnamon. The pastry recipe is the perfect amount for the crust and lattice top, takes just 30 minutes to chill before it is perfect to use. Creating a lattice is very easy, you can make the slices as thin or as thick as you like, I went for a medium lattice here as it is easy to work with and quick too.
As you can see from the above photos, you lay 5 strips vertically, and then fold back the second and fourth strip, lay one strip horizontally, then fold the strips back up. The fold down strips one, three and five, place a horizontal strip and fold back up, and repeat with remaining strips. Then simply fold the strips under the base pastry and pinch the edges to form a sealed crust.
The caramel topping is lovely, a simple combination of all the flavours that go well with apples from brown sugar, white sugar, unsalted Westgold butter, cinnamon and some water – this all boils together and creates a beautiful rich dark sauce that you pour over the top – yes the top – of the pie before you bake it.
During baking the sauce boils and drizzles down into the pie coating all of the apple with a lovely caramel sauce. Also as an added bonus the top lattice has a gorgeous crunchy caramel coating which adds such a special finish.
This recipe is adapted from the famous Grandma Ople Apple Pie, with a divine home made crust and a few tweaks to make it my own and even more delicious. Now you can recreate it at home this side of the world with my easy step by step instructions.
So onto the recipe, so easy – I hope you love it too!
Yield: 8
A delicious buttery light crispy pastry crust and a gorgeous caramelly apple filling - this one is truly special.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 225 Grams Westgold Unsalted Butter
- 2 1/2 Cups Plain White Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 7 Tablespoons Ice Cold Water
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
Caramel Sauce
- 85 Grams Westgold Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
- 1/2 Cup White Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/4 Cup Water
- pinch of Salt
Apples
- 6 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
- 3 Tablespoons Plain White Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, ground
Instructions
Pastry
- To prepare the base you will need a food processor
- Add the flour and the cubed cold butter to the food processor and pulse 10 times
- Combine the ice cold water and the cider vinegar and add half to the flour mixture and pulse 5 times, then add the remaining water mixture and pulse until the pastry begins to come together into a ball.
- Stop and turn out onto a wooden board.
- Bring the pastry together and create a large ball, slice in half, one half larger than the other, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into round discs
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes
Caramel
- In a small sauce pan add the second measure of butter, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, water and salt
- Over a medium heat gently combine the mixture and bring it to the boil. Once boiling allow to boil, without stirring, rapidly for 2 minutes, remove from the heat then set aside
Apples
- Peel and core the apples and slice them into thick slices, each apple no more than 10 slices per apple
- Add the apple to a medium bowl and add the second measure of flour and cinnamon and combine well and set aside
Assembly of Pie
Pie requires a 9 inch or 23 cm pie dish
- Preheat the oven to 220C
- Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and use the larger half first
- On a well floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll the pastry to the correct size to fit the base and sides of the pie dish, nice and thin.
- Using the rolling pin transfer the dough to the pie dish and gently press into place, trim the sides of the dough to the outside edge of the pie dish, a slight overhang of a few mm.
- Add the apples to this mixture and spread to an even flat height
- With the second half of pastry dough, on a well floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough nice and thin sized to fit the top of the pie dish.
- With a sharp knife slice the pastry into 1 cm wide strips, you will need 10 strips total
- Lay 5 strips as per image in post above over the pie vertically and evenly spaced, start with the middle strip, then outer two, and last outer two
- Fold back the second and fourth strip all the way back and lay over a strip horizontally along the bottom edge of the pie, then fold back up.
- Fold back the 1st, 3rd and 5th strip and lay the next horizontal strip evenly spaced from the first
- Fold these strips back up, then repeat with the 2nd and 4th and repeat until you have 5 strips vertically and 5 horizontally in a lattice pattern
- Once done, trim the lattice strips using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to the outside edge of the pie dish and fold these over the base pastry all the way around, then pinch the edges to form a pattern around the edge of the pie
- Pour the hot caramel sauce evenly over the whole pie (if your caramel has begun to harden, you can gently heat it just until it is pour-able consistency again)
- Use a pastry brush to gently evenly cover the lattice
- Place the pie into the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 15 minutes (you may wish to add a baking tray in the bottom shelf in case the sauce bubbles over)
- At 15 minutes reduce the heat to 175C and cook for a further 35 minutes until the pie is bubbling and golden brown
- Remove from the oven and set aside, allow the pie to cool to warm before slicing,
- It is easier to slice on day 2 and sauce more 'set' but amazing fresh too!
- Store the pie in the fridge until ready to eat if not eating that day.
- Can be frozen, cool completely to room temperature, wrap well in plastic wrap, then in aluminium foil and freeze.
- Serve with ice cream, cream or custard
- Enjoy!
Notes
You will need a Food Processor for the pastry
Use ice cold water and butter
Use a 23cm or 9 inch pie dish
See my photos above for how to lattice the pastry
There are a lot of steps but trust me when I say it is not time consuming, rather more fun in the kitchen creating deliciousness from scratch.
I hope to see lots of you sharing my recipes on your Insta or Facebook pages! Spread the love.
A huge thank you to Westgold for partnering with me, their quality butter means a divine pastry and caramel apples, a match made in heaven! Be sure to check out their full range in stores.
Thank you so much for stopping by to check out this recipe and others on my blog. If you are not already be sure to follow me onFacebookorInstagramfor more deliciousness, and you can register your email in the subscription box below to receive all my recipes as I publish them.
Happy Baking!
Anna
