Salted Caramel Apple Crumb Pie

As I perused my many, many, many, many cookbooks looking for a new pie to make for pi day on March 14, I came to realize the following two things: 

1) Pie is not a very popular recipe to include in cookbooks 

2) A surprisingly large percentage of cookbooks have an apple pie recipe

Since I was looking for something new and fun, I was a little frustrated by the numerous and almost identical apple pie recipes I found....I mean apple pie is apple pie.  A classic of course, but really so classic that every cookbook is obligated to include the same apple pie recipe?

So then of course that got me thinking about what we could do if we really wanted to shake up the apple pie arena a bit. There were quite a few somewhat crazy combinations running through my head, but each time I asked myself "but what if it doesn't taste like apple pie anymore?"  I guess a classic is a classic in my mind. 

This is a standard apple pie recipe with a bit of salted caramel thrown in.  Since my salt tooth is about a 100 times stronger than my sweet tooth--the caramely saltiness was perfect while still allowing the pie to retain it's essential "apple pieness."  It's a real thing. 

For the salt caramel, I use this recipe for bourbon salt caramels and only let the caramel cook to 190-200 degrees or until it's a slightly thickened consistency.  I learned awhile back  that our caramel temps at altitude are a bit different than those cooking at sea level so the 190-200 is just a guide (and much less important than when you are making caramel candies).  Really you just want the sauce to be thick like a caramel sauce.  When cool, store in a jar and use to drizzle on brownies, ice cream, and of course, salted caramel apple crumb pie. 

The crumb topping is optional--you can opt to to top your pie with another crust.   I think the oatmeal crumbs add a nice bit of texture to the pie.

The result is an ultra juicy pie with creamy bites of caramel...just a teeny tiny twist on a classic.  Now what to make for Pi day?

Salted Caramel Apple Crumb Pie

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
6 c peeled and sliced granny smith apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup salted caramel

Crumb topping ingredients:
1/4 c flour

1 c oats
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  
2. Roll out pie crust and lay into standard pie dish.  Trim edges and crimp to create a fluted edge
3. Place apple slices in a large bowl.  Add flour and spices and stir to coat apple pieces
4. Addvanilla and lemon juice and mix well
5. Fill pie crust with apple filling
6. Drizzle salted caramel over apple slices
7. To prepare crumb topping, combine flour, sugar, spices and oats in a medium bowl.
8. Pour cooled melted butter over flour and oats mixture. Toss and cut until small to medium sized chunks form. 
9. Sprinkle crumb topping over entire pie.
10. Cover pie loosely with foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes
11.  Reduce heat to 375, uncover pie and continue baking for an additional 35 minutes.
12. Cool pie before slicing