Irresistible Salted Caramel Apple Pie Recipe

1. Gather all ingredients.

   

2. Make the pie crust: Whisk flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add butter and toss until pieces are completely separated and coated with flour mixture. Using your hands, work butter into the flour mixture until well combined and butter pieces are no larger than a pea.

   

3. Gently stir in 1/4 cup cold water with a spatula until completely absorbed. Add remaining 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time, gently stirring between each addition, until dough begins to form into a ball. Depending on how humid it is in your kitchen or how hydrated your flour is, you might not need to use all of the water.

   

4. Transfer dough to a clean work surface and gently knead, being careful not to overwork it, until smooth and slightly tacky.

   

5. Divide dough evenly into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a flat disk and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. (If chilling for longer than 1 hour, let dough sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before rolling in Step 9.)

   

6. While the dough is chilling, make the caramel sauce: Heat sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and amber in color, 10 to 15 minutes.

   

7. Add butter to melted sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and completely combined, about 1 minute.

   

8. Carefully add heavy cream to sugar mixture, stirring constantly, until bubbly, 15 to 30 seconds. Remove saucepan from the heat and stir in sea salt. Set caramel sauce aside to cool slightly at room temperature until ready to use.

   

9. Make the filling: Stir apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until well combined. Set apple mixture aside at room temperature, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

   

10. Pour apple mixture through a strainer into a large bowl. Set apple mixture aside, and transfer the strained liquid to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Remove saucepan from the heat and set aside at room temperature.

    

11. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Position an oven rack in bottom third of oven. Working with one dough disk at a time on a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll each disk into a 1/8-inch thick circle that measures 12 inches in diameter. Place one dough circle in a 9-inch pie pan and gently press dough into the corners and sides of the pan.

    

12. Stir together apples and reduced apple liquid in large bowl; arrange apple mixture in the pie crust, and drizzle with 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce.

    

13. Place remaining dough circle over top and press into apple mixture and into edges of pan. Using your fingers, fold the edges under and crimp to seal.

    

14. Brush the top and edges of dough with beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut eight 1-inch slits in the dough with a sharp paring knife to allow steam to escape. Place pie on a rimmed sheet pan.

    

15. Bake pie in the preheated oven until the top is light golden in color, about 20 minutes. Without removing the pie, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and continue baking until dough is deep golden brown and filling is starting to bubble, about 25 minutes. Gently cover pie with aluminum foil, and continue baking until a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, about 25 minutes.

    

16. Remove pie from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.

    

17. Serve pie with remaining caramel sauce, if desired.

    

Tips

It’s important to take your time with the various steps to make this pie. Make sure your dough is adequately chilled so that you maximize the number of flaky layers in the crust. If you don’t let your pie cool properly after baking and before slicing, your filling will not set properly and run.

Caramel sauce can also be stored in a refrigerator, covered, for up to a month. If refrigerated, let caramel set at room temperature until ready to use, about 45 minutes, heating slightly in microwave for 30 to 60 seconds if needed to bring to pourable consistency.

The pie dough can also be wrapped tightly and frozen until ready to use.