Caramel Apple Pie 2003 1st Place Apple Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar, water, cinnamon, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and set aside.
• Roll out half the pastry to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Place bottom crust in pie plate; pour in apple slices.
• Roll out top crust into a 10-inch circle. Cut into 8 (1-inch) wide strips with a sharp paring knife or pastry wheel. Weave the pastry strips, one at a time, into a lattice pattern. Fold the ends of the lattice strips under the edge of the bottom crust and crimp to seal.
• Pour butter-sugar mixture over top of pie, coating the lattice, and allowing any remaining sauce to drizzle through the crust.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake until the crust is golden brown, the caramel on the top crust is set, and the apple filling is bubbling, 35 to 40 more minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• To make the pastry, combine the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the chunks of cold butter with a pastry blender, a little at a time, until the dough resembles cornmeal. Add the egg yolk and the ice water, and blend for a second just to pull the dough together and moisten. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• While the dough is resting, prepare the filling.
• To make the caramel sauce: place the sugar and water in a small pot and cook, without stirring, over medium-low heat until the sugar has melted and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the burner and add the cream and wine slowly. It may bubble and spit, so be careful. When the sauce has calmed down, return it to the flame, add the vanilla bean and heat it slowly, until the wine and caramel are smooth and continue to slowly cook until reduced by half. Remove from the heat and cool until thickened.
• Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze in the lemon juice. Peel the apples with a paring knife, cut them in half, and remove the core with a melon baller. Put the apple halves in the lemon-water (this will keep them from going brown). Toss the apples with the flour and cinnamon.
• Take the dough out of the refrigerator, unwrap the plastic, and cut the ball in half. Rewrap and return 1 of the balls to the refrigerator, until ready for the top crust. Let the dough rest on the counter for 15 minutes so it will be pliable enough to roll out. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Carefully roll the dough up onto the pin and lay it inside a 10-inch glass pie pan. Press the dough into the pan so it fits tightly.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Slice a couple of the apples at a time using a mandolin or a very sharp knife. The apples need to be thinly sliced so that as the pie bakes, they collapse on top of each other with no air pockets. This makes a dense, meaty apple pie. Cover the bottom of the pastry with a layer of apples, shingling the slices so there are no gaps. Ladle about 2 ounces of the cooled red wine caramel sauce evenly over the apple slices. Repeat the layers, until the pie is slightly overfilled and domed on the top; the apples will shrink down as the pie cooks. Top the apples with pieces of the butter.
• Now, roll out the other ball of dough just as you did the first. Brush the bottom lip of the pie pastry with a little beaten egg white to form a seal. Place the pastry circle on top of the pie, and using some kitchen scissors, trim off the overhanging excess from around the pie. Crimp the edges of dough together with your fingers to make a tight seal. Cut slits in the top of the pie so steam can escape while baking. Place the pie on a sheet tray and tent it with a piece of aluminum foil, so the crust does not cook faster than the apples.
• Bake the caramel apple pie for 25 minutes on the middle rack. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar with the freshly grated cinnamon. Remove the foil from the pie and brush the top with the remaining egg white. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar and return to the oven. Continue to bake for another 25 minutes, until the pie is golden and bubbling. Let the apple pie rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour to allow the fruit pectin to gel and set; otherwise the pie will fall apart when you cut into it.

Steps:

• First, rim the lip of a chilled cocktail glass with your crushed graham crackers. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into your chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an apple slice.

Steps:

• For the perfect spiced pie crust: Mix the flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Add the butter and vegetable shortening. Work the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles. Add the white vinegar, egg and 5 tablespoons cold water and stir until just combined.
• Form 2 equal-sized balls. Place each in a large plastic bag (do not seal) and slightly flatten with a rolling pin; this makes it much easier to roll out the crust later. After flattening, seal the bag tightly. Place in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes to chill.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Remove 1 bag of dough from the freezer (save the other dough for another use), remove the dough from the bag and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough starting at the center and working outward. Be gentle and patient; it'll take a little time to get the dough completely rolled out. If you think the bottom is really sticking to the surface below while rolling, use a metal spatula to loosen it. When fully rolled out, loosen again with a spatula and lift the pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan (or you can roll the pastry over the rolling pin, lift it onto the pie pan and unroll it). Gently press the dough against the corner of the pan and tear off any excess dough. Then tuck under the edges and go around the pie pan pinching the dough to crimp the edge.
• For the pie filling: In a bowl, mix the apples, lemon juice, granulated sugar, flour and salt. Set aside.
• For the crumb topping: Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, then add in the brown sugar, oats and salt.
• Add the apples to the prepared pie shell and top with the crumb topping. Bake for 1 hour, covering the edge of the crust with foil if it starts to brown too quickly. After an hour, sprinkle the chopped pecans over the pie, then bake for a further 5 minutes.
• Remove the pie from the oven and pour 1/2 jar (or more, if you're feeling dangerous and naughty) of caramel topping over the top. Allow to cool slightly before serving - or don't if you can't wait!

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Place cookie sheet on bottom oven rack. Make pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie, using 9-inch glass pie plate. In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup topping and 2 tablespoons flour; spread in bottom pie crust.
• In large bowl, mix apples, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and the cinnamon. Spoon over caramel. Gently press apples. Cut small shapes from top crust to allow steam to escape. Place crust over apples. Seal edge and flute. Brush crust with milk; sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. (After 30 minutes of bake time, cover entire pie with foil to prevent overbrowning.) Cool about 2 hours before serving.
• In small microwavable bowl, place remaining 1/2 cup topping. Microwave uncovered on High 30 to 45 seconds or until warm. Top slices of pie with ice cream; spoon topping over top.

Steps:

• Prepare the pie crust: Whisk flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add butter and toss until butter pieces are completely separated and coated with flour mixture. Using your hands, work butter into flour mixture until well combined and butter pieces are no larger than a pea. Add 1/4 cup cold water and gently stir with a spatula until completely absorbed. Add remaining 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time, gently stirring between each addition, until dough begins to form into a ball. Depending on how humid it is in your kitchen or how hydrated your flour is, you might not need to use all of the water.
• Transfer dough to a clean work surface and gently knead, being careful not to overwork it, until smooth and slightly tacky. Divide dough evenly into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a flat disk and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Chill dough in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. If chilled longer than 1 hour, let sit at room temperature at least 15 minutes before rolling.
• While the dough is chilling, prepare the caramel sauce. Heat sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely melted and amber in color, 10 to 15 minutes. Add butter to melted sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and completely combined, about 1 minute.
• Carefully add heavy cream to sugar mixture, stirring constantly, until bubbly, 15 to 30 seconds. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in sea salt. Set caramel sauce aside to cool slightly at room temperature until ready to use.
• Prepare the filling: stir apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until well combined. Set apple mixture aside at room temperature, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
• Pour apple mixture through a strainer into a large bowl. Set apple mixture aside, and transfer the liquid to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Remove saucepan from heat and set aside at room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Position oven rack in bottom third of oven.
• Working with one dough disk at a time on a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll each disk into a 1/8-inch thick circle that measures 12 inches in diameter. Place one dough circle in a 9-inch pie pan and gently press dough into the corners and sides of the pan.
• Stir together apples and reduced apple liquid in large bowl; arrange apple mixture in the pie crust, and drizzle with 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce. Place remaining dough circle over apple mixture and press into apple mixture and into edges of pan. Using your fingers, fold edges under and crimp to seal. Brush top and edges of dough with egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut eight 1-inch slits in dough with a sharp paring knife to allow steam to escape. Place pie on a rimmed sheet pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is light golden in color, about 20 minutes. Without removing the pie, reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and continue baking until dough is deep golden brown and the filling is starting to bubble, about 25 minutes. Gently cover pie with aluminum foil, and continue baking until a knife inserted removes mostly clean, about 25 minutes.
• Remove pie from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours. Serve pie with remaining caramel sauce, if desired.