Sep 21, 20215 min read

Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode

Updated: Jan 6, 2022

Mmmm Apple Pie...I could have just made Caramel Apple Pie, but I was feeling extra and fancy! So I made Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode! "Pie a la Mode" is a fancy French Culinary phrase for Pie served with ice cream. I started off with a my Home-made Flaky Pie Crust, filled it with a classic Apple pie filling, and Drizzled my Homemade Salted Caramel all over the Apple pie filling. After the pie was baked, I topped it off with Vanilla ice cream and more of that Delicious Salted Caramel. The result is this Divine, Decadent Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode! FULL RECIPE VIDEO BELOW⬇️⬇️

One bite of this pie and you will think you are eating a pie at some Fancy French restaurant.

This recipe uses 2 of my other recipes, start off with my "Flaky Pie Crust Recipe" (click the title to go to the recipe) This is an all butter, double layer, flaky pie crust, which is my very own go to pie crust recipe. It also uses my "Homemade Salted Caramel" which is the most amazing, thick, creamy, delicious salted caramel sauce ever, and it balances all the flavors of this pie perfectly!

CLICK TO SCROLL TO INGREDIENTS

I start off by making the crust, dividing it into 2 disks, and refrigerating it for at least 1 hour. The colder, the flakier your crust will be.

I roll out one of the disks for the bottom crust, about 1/4 inch thick enough to cover a 9 inch pie plate. As I state in my Pie Crust Recipe post, I pre-bake my crust to avoid it being raw or getting soggy after adding the filling. When making any baked pie, it is essential to pre-bake your pie crust for at least 10 minutes to avoid raw or soggy crust, and to ensure an evenly baked pie.

I poke holes with a fork to release any air bubbles that may happen while the pie crust bakes. Poking holes also helps bake the pie crust evenly and not rise so much in the center. Read my Pie Crust Post for my tips to the perfect crust without all the extra hassle.

Then I pre-bake the pie crust at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes. Once the pie is pre-baked, let it cool completely before adding any fillings.

Speaking of fillings...it's time to make the Caramel and Apple Pie fillings.

Make the Caramel first, so that it has enough time to cool to room temperature. For My "Salted Caramel Recipe" click the underlined title or picture below.

The salted Caramel is so perfect and really makes this pie the decadence that it is.

For the Apple filling, I am using 7 Honey Crisp Apples because they are my favorite, but Granny Smith or any Apples will work fine. You may have more or less filling depending on how big your apples are, mines were not that big and I had exactly 5-1/4 cups of Apple slices which was a perfect amount for my pie pan.

I washed, peeled, and sliced the apples, then added them into a a large saucepan over Medium heat.

To the apples, I added a squeeze of fresh Lemon juice, brown sugar, and apple pie spice. Then I turned the heat up to High and let the apples cook for about 5 minutes. The apples will get a little softer, and the lemon juice and sugar turn into a syrupy sauce. Then I remove them from the heat and transfer them into a bowl to cool while I roll out the lattice top pie crust.

Now for the Lattice top Pie crust, I am going to roll out the other dough disk about 1/4 inch thick just like the first one. Then with a pizza cutter, i'm gong to cut vertical strips about 1-1/2 inches thick . You can make thinner strips if you'd like, but I wanted a thick lattice style for this.

Before we go any further with the Lattice top, it's time to add the slightly cooled apples into the bottom crust I pre-baked earlier. I used a slotted spoon to drain most, but not all of the liquid the apples were cooked in. After I add all the apple slices, I am going to drizzle about 1/2 cup give or take of the Salted Caramel Sauce all over the apples and give them a quick toss. You could drizzle the apples in the caramel before adding them to the pie pan. that would've been much easier.

Now back to the crust! Honestly for this next part, I had to google step by step pictures on How To Make a Lattice Pie Top. This is something I've had trouble with doing from memory.

So I start off by adding 2 strips criss cross to make an X in the center of the pie.

Then I add 2 strips opposite and on top of the middle horizontal strip, so they align with the middle vertical strip, but are layered on top. If that makes any sense...

I lift up the sides of the only horizontal strip and add a vertical strip under it on both sides.

Finally I lift up both top layer vertical strips on both sides and add a horizontal strip under it. Then I pull those strips back down to overlap.

I hope this made any type of sense to whoever is reading this. If it didn't, I have a recipe video to give a visual down below.

So any who, this is what the pie should look like...

I'm going to give the crust a very light egg wash, which is just a beaten egg with a splash of water mixed together and brushed on to the crust. The egg wash helps give the crust a shiny golden brown color as it bakes. So for this behold...

I have the worlds tiniest brush! It was the only food safe brush I had 🙃.

After about 20 minutes of brushing on the egg wash lol, Just kidding! I'm going to sprinkle on a bit of sugar over the egg wash.