Easy as Pie!

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping


Ingredients:

1 9-inch deep dish pie crust

Crumb Topping:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) at room temp

Filling:

5 medium to large baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Granny Smith and liked it, but next time I think I'll mix them with a slightly sweeter variety of apple)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp flour
3 Tlb melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Caramel Sauce:

1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tlb butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. To prepare topping, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand or with a pasty blender until crumbly.

3. To prepare filling, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour into pie crust. Pile topping thickly on top (like a second crust). Bake 1 hour or until a knife easily slides into center of pie with no resistance. If pie is browning too quickly, reduce temp to 350 degrees after 30 minutes (I did end up doing this). Let cool.

4. To prepare caramel sauce, combine all ingredients, except vanilla, in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaching 244F on a candy thermometer (firm-ball stage). Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool and drizzle 1 tsp over each apple pie wedge. You will have caramel left over.

Serves 8

I chose not to make the caramel sauce because it sounded just as good without it, but I'm sure it would be delicious. I really liked this pie because it gives you the best of both worlds... an apple pie with an apple crisp topping. It was perfect with vanilla ice cream.