Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Flaky, buttery pie crust filled with spiced apples and topped with a smooth bourbon-salted caramel drizzle. Did someone say “HELLO FALL?!”

 

Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Picture this with me: it’s mid- September. It’s (hopefully) around 60° outside and you’re wearing the biggest cozy sweater in your closet. The smell of a new pumpkin candle burning in your kitchen is filling the house and the leaves are falling outside. Is there anything that could make your fall day any better? Wellll the answer is yes. And your answer is this Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie.

I haven’t always been a huge apple pie person, but there’s just something about the smell of one baking in your oven on a crisp fall day that just makes my heart (and tastebuds) melt like ice cream on a hot summer day in Alabama.

 

 

What is Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie?

This pie has quickly become one of my favorite dessert recipes, and for good reason. Not only does it have the perfect combination of fall spices and fresh apples, but it’s topped with the most amazing bourbon salted caramel sauce that I’ve like… ever tasted. If you’ve never made your own caramel, head over to this post where I walk you through all the steps. No need to be intimidated, it’s so much easier than you’d think! If you don’t have the time to make this caramel, feel free to use a store-bought jar of salted caramel, but I’m telling you the flavor in making it homemade just goes unmatched.

I also want to mention that this pie uses my always flaky pie crust that will never result in a soggy bottom (shoutout to all my Great British Baking Show fans). I’ll be writing an in-depth, step-by-step post very soon for my pie crust, so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the crust, or just need to troubleshoot, be sure to drop a comment below and I’d love to help!

PS: don’t you love how you can see little pieces of butter throughout the crust! Hello FLAKY.

 

 

Ingredients for This Pie

Before you head to the store, be sure to write all of these down before you go!

  • All-purpose flour
  • Granulated sugar
  • Unsalted butter
  • Vegetable shortening
  • Heavy cream
  • Vanilla bean
  • Honey Crisp apples
  • Granny Smith apples
  • Lemons
  • Ground cinnamon
  • Ground cloves
  • Ground nutmeg

 

 

Recommended Kitchen Utensils

To make your life a little bit easier, I’ve compiled a list of a few things that will make this pie so much simpler! Here are some things I used that I think you should too:

  1. Pie Weights: These are just a good thing to have on hand for any home baker! We’re par-baking our pie crust in this recipe, so these are absolutely necessary (unless you’ll be using dried beans). If we didn’t have anything weighing our crust down to the pan, the crust would begin to shrink. Not exactly what we’re looking for…
  2. Biscuit Cutters: I used these to make my top crust a little bit more fun that the typical pie crust. You’re welcome to do any design you want (even a lattice!), but if you want to follow suit with what I’ve done then you’ll definitely need a biscuit cutter!
  3. Rolling Pin: Always good to have on hand when working with dough, but if you don’t have one just use a wine bottle!
  4. Pastry Board: Definitely not a necessity, but if you’re like me and you don’t have marble countertops (or stone of any kind), then this is a great investment if you bake a lot! Typically it’s important for most doughs to stay as cold as possible when you’re working with them, and a marble pastry board keeps everything really cold (different than most other surfaces). I also use mine for food photos as an added benefit 🙂

 

 

Tips for Making Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie

With anything in baking.. there’s always room to make a few errors. And trust me when I tell you this happens to me alllll the time. I think I’ve probably figured out all the ways NOT to bake cakes, cookies, pies, brownies, you name it. But that’s the beauty of baking, you learn something new every time. Luckily for you, I’ve already made the mistakes for you, so I have a few tips up my sleeves:

  1. Make your dough as quick as possible: The enemy of a flaky pie crust is heat. The magic of flaky layers happens when the pieces of butter throughout the dough melt in the oven and release little air bubbles. If the butter is melted when it goes into the oven, we won’t have any flaky layers. With that being said, just make sure you’re working as fast as possible to avoid melting the butter and shortening.
  2. Get creative with your pie crust design: I chose to cut out little circles for my top pie crust. You honestly can do just about any design you’d like, so don’t be afraid to get creative!
  3. Pile those apples HIGH: I know it may seem like a TON of apples for a regular sized pie, but they’ll begin to shrink when they get hot in the oven so we want to pile them as high as we can!
  4. Make the Caramel first: If you’re brave and have decided to make this caramel, YAY! You’re going to crush it. I’d definitely advise you start with this step first because that way the caramel will have time to cool.

 

 

That’s all from me for now friends, but happy baking and as always be sure to tag me in socials (@sarahsdayoff) if you bake this pie so I can see all of your yummy desserts. 🙂

Love, Sarah

Print Recipe

Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Flaky pie crust filled with spiced apples and topped with a smooth bourbon-salted caramel drizzle.
Servings: 8
Author: Sarah Crawford

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

  • 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter cubed and frozen
  • 3/4 cup vegetable shortening frozen
  • 1/2 cup ice water

For the Bourbon Salted Caramel*

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 vanilla bean seeds scraped
  • 3 Tbsp bourbon
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

For the Spiced-Apple Filling

  • 3 large Honeycrisp apples cored, unpeeled, and thinly sliced
  • 2 large Granny Smith apples cored, unpeeled, and thinly sliced
  • 2 Tbsp freshly squeeze lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp milk

Instructions

For the Pie Crust

  • Add flour, sugar, and salt to a food processor. Pulse to combine.
  • Add butter and shortening; pulse until butter is the size of peas. With the processor running on low, slowly pour water in through the food chute and mix until dough begins to form a ball.
  • Remove dough from food processor and place onto a floured board. Knead dough 3 times; form into a ball. Divide dough in half, and flatten each piece into 1-inch thick discs using your hands.
  • Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 5 days).

For the Bourbon Salted Caramel

  • Heat cream, vanilla pod, and vanilla seeds over medium-high heat in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer, remove from heat, stir in bourbon, and set aside.
  • Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan or high-walled skillet over medium-high heat; stir to combine. Cook, without stirring, 8 to 10 minutes or until 1-inch of the outer edges of the sugar begin browning.
  • Begin gently swirling the sugar around the pan and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until the entire pan of sugar turns a deep-amber color.
  • Remove the vanilla pod from the cream mixture and slowly whisk cream into caramel sauce. Continue simmering mixture until smooth, another 2o to 3 minutes.
  • Remove from heat, whisk in butter and salt until smooth. Transfer to a container and cool completely.

For the Bourbon Salted Caramel Apple Pie

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl combine apple slices, lemon juice, flour, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, gently tossing to combine. Set aside.
  • Place 1 pie dough disc on a floured board. Roll out dough, turning a quarter turn after every few rolls until it's about 11-inches in diameter. Carefully place dough into a 9-inch pie dish.
  • Trim the edges of the dough and crimp the dough with a fork or your fingers. Cover with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown on the outside.
  • Remove pie weights; fill the pie crust with prepared apple filling. Pile the apples high and tight. Drizzle 1/4 cup Bourbon Salted Caramel over apples
  • Place second chilled pie dough on a floured board. Roll out dough, turning a quarter turn after every few rolls until it's about 11-inches in diameter. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut circles out of the crust and cover the apples (as pictured above). Re-roll dough as needed.
  • Whisk the egg and milk in a small bowl. Brush over pie crust. Bake pie 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown, and caramel begins to bubble up.
  • Cool pie at least 4 hours before serving. Drizzle with additional caramel sauce.

Notes

*If you don't have time to make your own caramel, feel free to buy a store-bought salted caramel.