We came home with a large bag of apples from Lynd Fruit Farm the other day and my wheels started turning.  My girls claim that they don’t like apple pie but they do like apple crisp or apple crumble.  And they definitely love caramel dip with apples.

Every year I feel like I try a different type of apple dessert with my fresh picked apples. I have never kept any of the recipes because none of them were outstanding (once I even tried to make Pearled Barley Apple Pudding with Raisins….it may go without saying it was NOT a hit with my family).  This year I spent some time looking for the perfect recipe that met all my needs.  I searched Pinterest and googled all sorts of combinations of Apple + Pie + Crumble + Caramel + Crisp.  I finally happened upon this Caramel Apple Crumb Pie on a food blog called Back to the Cutting Board.  The pictures were awesome and it looked exactly like what I wanted to make; a nice alternative to your standard apple pie.  I adapted it slightly and it turned out great….my only complaint was that I didn’t have vanilla ice cream in the house. Shame on me!!  The brown sugar and caramel topping combined for a perfect compliment to the tart crunchy apples.  This recipe is a keeper!

Caramel Apple Crumb Pie (Serves 8)

Ingredients:

1 9 in pie crust

Filling:

5 cups tart apples, peeled and chopped (Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Jonagold)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 Tbsp sour cream

1 Tbsp flour

4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

5 Tbsp caramel topping or caramel dip

Topping:

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium sized bowl, mix together apples, brown sugar, melted butter, sour cream, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.  In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Add cold butter and mix with a fork until it forms a “crumble.”  Pour apple mixture into 9 in. pie crust.  Drizzle caramel topping over apple mixture (may need to microwave caramel dip so it is thin enough to drizzle).  Add crumb topping.  Place pie on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (makes for easier clean up).  Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the crust and crumb topping are golden and the filling is bubbly (if you can see any of the filling under the crumb topping).  Cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.

Adapted from Back to the Cutting Board Food Blog