Our Favorite Apple Caramel Pie {Contest Recipe}

“Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton, Bags by Bloom and Harvard Common Press”


All right, I'm in Tidy Mom's 3rd Annual Love The Contest! It's Thanksgiving so I'm chiming into the contest with our favorite Apple Pie. My son and I love all and any apple pie. Apple Pie is our Traditional Thanksgiving pie as well as my son's traditional Birthday Pie (he's not a cake eater so I've been making Apple Pie for his birthday over the past few years).

I've tried bunches and bunches of recipes to get just the right taste and texture. I've adapted and combined different Apple Pie and Pie Crust recipes and this is what I have come up with to be our favorite Apple Pie.

Birthday Apple Pie ... with candles of course!

14th Birthday (wow, he changed alot in one year!)

13th Birthday

Apple Pie in the Makes ...
Here's our favorite apple pie before going in the oven .. see that yummy caramel topping on top - yum .. this is the key for this pie!

Hot Apple Pie right out of the oven! Can you smell it now .. mmmm
Apple Pie
Ingredients:

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar (for apples)
• 1/2 tsp apple pie spice (or a combination of cinnamon & nutmeg)
• 8 Large Apples - peeled, cored and sliced. I use a mix of apples such as granny smith, johna gold, and fuji. Or you may use all Granny Smith Apples

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer until thick and gooey (like caramel). Reserve 3-4 tablepsoons of the caramel mixture.

Place the bottom crust in your pie pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the caramel mixture over the apples. Cover witih top crust. Cut 3 slits on the top crust. Drizzle reserved caramel mixture on the top crust.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Pie Crust
Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup ice water
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix flour, shortening, sugar and salt.
Add ice water, vinegar and egg. Mix until dough forms a ball.
Allow dough to rest in refrigerator for 10 or 20 minutes before rolling.
This dough makes enough for 1 double crust pie and 1 single pie crust. So it's great for Thanksgiving so you can make an apple pie and a pumpkin pie!

Note: This dough freezes well.

Thanksgiving Apple Pie!!

If you have a favorite pie, link up for the pie contest over at Tidy Mom's and maybe you'll win (but I hope I do).

Happy Thanksgiving!!