Dutch Caramel Apple Pie

A thick slice of apple pie with crumb topping on a white plate with the rest of the pie in the background.

5 from 2 votes

Dutch Caramel Apple Pie

A hefty Dutch Caramel Apple Pie piled high with sweet and crisp apples and caramel drizzle in a flaky buttery bottom crust with a decadent crumb topping heaped on top.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1

Total Time2

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 429kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

Bottom Crust

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
9 tablespoon butter, cool room temperature
5-6 tablespoon ice water

Filling

6-7 Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ cup flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice or 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt

Caramel

1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt

Crumb Topping

1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
⅔ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoon softened butter

Egg Wash

1 egg white
1 teaspoon water

Instructions

Bottom Crust: In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, butter. Use your hands to scrunch the dough together. Add water as needed, 1-2 tablespoons at a time until the dough comes together. You may need only 3 tablespoons, or up to 5-6 tablespoons.
Wrap the pie crust in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes while making the filling and topping or overnight.
Apple Filling: Peel and thinly slice the apples and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. Coat the apples in the mixture.
I usually let this sit for about 30 minutes while I work on the rest of the pie so that the water starts to drain out of the apples. Then when assembling the pie you can scrape out the apples leaving the excess water behind.
Caramel: Add the granulated sugar to a medium saucepan at medium heat stirring occasionally until it starts to turn brown and caramelize. Add the butter, continuing to stir. It will bubble and fizz.
Add the heavy cream and stir. It will also bubble quite a bit. Be careful not to burn yourself. Once the heavy cream has been fully incorporated remove the pan from heat and stir in the salt. Set aside and allow to cool.
Crumb Topping: Combine the flour, oats, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter. Stir a few times with a spoon, then with your hands scrunch the ingredients together.
The topping should come together with a crumb-like consistency, some in larger clumps, some in small gravel-like clumps. Your hands will get messy.
Assembling the Pie: Roll out the pie dough for the bottom crust. Fit the dough to the pie dish such that you have a little bit of overhang. Layer the apple slices in the pie crust, so that you have a nice mound of apples in the middle that is higher than the crust.
Drizzle with the caramel, reserving a small amount to drizzle on top of the pie after baking.
Add the crumb topping. You can use a fork to press slightly into the bottom crust around the edge to “decorate” the pie.
Using the egg white and 1 teaspoon water, make an egg wash and brush over the outer edge of the bottom pie crust which sticks out beyond the crumb topping. Place the pie in the freezer while you preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Place the pie dish on a large baking sheet to prevent any overflow from dripping into the oven. Bake for 1 hour. Check the pie about halfway through baking and cover it with aluminum foil to prevent the crust and topping from burning.
Allow to cool fully before serving. You can place it back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to warm through if you like. Top with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of reserved caramel.

Notes

Butter For Bottom Crust: The butter does not have to be cold. It can be at a cool room temperature. However, it should not be melty or overly soft. I have made dozens and dozens of pies both with cold butter and with room temperature butter. I have never found cold butter to make a meaningful impact on the flaky tenderness of the crust.
Apple Thickness: Slice the apples the some thickness so that the thicknesses are all uniform. This helps the apples to cook evenly so that you do not have some apples that are mushy and others that are not fully cooked through.
Rolling Out The Pie Dough
- How To:
  - Place the rolling pin in the center of the dough and roll outwards pressing evenly. Avoid pressing harder at the edges to prevent a tapered (thinner) edge.
  - Pick up the pie crust slightly and dust the counter underneath with a little more flour. Rotate the pie crust 90 degrees.
  - Bring the rolling pin back to the center of the pie dough and roll outwards. Again, pick up the pie dough slightly, dust underneath with flour (and the top if needed), and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat until the dough is the size needed.
  - This does two things. Rolling from the center out creates an even pie crust without thin patches. Dusting with flour and turning as you go prevents the dough from sticking to the counter.
- If you're having trouble rolling out the bottom pie crust there are a couple things that I do. If it's too cold, let it sit to soften slightly to room temperature. But don't wait to let it get too soft.
- If you're having trouble creating a perfect round circle 1) either let it be uneven, there's no such thing as a perfect pie, tasty is better than perfect or 2) tuck the uneven edges under the crust and keep rolling, pinching any pieces together that separate.
- Or lastly, add another tablespoon of water. This will get a little messy, but you can work the water into the dough to soften it up.
Caramel: Reserve a small amount of the caramel to drizzle over the pie just before serving.
Adding Nutmeg: If you like the taste of nutmeg, you can add ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg to the apple pie filling. While I like nutmeg, I always find the flavor out of place in apple pie. I prefer the cinnamon to stand on its own.
Choosing Cinnamon: Cinnamon is the one dry spice where I find it makes a HUGE difference in which brand you use. Choose a high-quality brand. I like Ceylon cinnamon from Simply Organic, which can be found at Whole Foods and a few other grocery stores. It's expensive, but it lasts a while. Some brands of cinnamon taste pretty off and can ruin all your pie-making efforts.
- If you absolutely love cinnamon, you can double the amount in the pie filling from 1 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons.

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