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Apple pie with vanilla ice-cream and salted caramel sauce may just be one of my favorite fall/winter recipes. It‘s difficult for me to choose one favorite fall recipe, but this one fore sure is in my top 3.
Apple pie paired with warm homemade caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream just embodies the cozy warm feeling of fall/winter. It‘s an absolute comfort food if you ask me and this recipe is really easy to make.
This recipe consists of a flaky pie crust, a sweet tender apple filling and rich caramel vanilla sauce. To top it off you can add vanilla ice-cream or for example my recipe for Fior di latte ice-cream which would pair fantastic in this recipe as well.
This apple pie recipe for sure is more of an American style baked good rather than something typically Swiss or German or even Finnish. But I love a cake that has a lot of fruity filling paired with a crunchy dough. Add some homemade caramel sauce and ice-cream and it‘s a favorite of almost everyone.
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| Homemade vanilla caramel sauce |
Choosing the right apples for an apple pie:
When it comes to apple pie you want to pick the right kind of apples for the filling as the consistency and sweetness of the different types of apple varieties makes a difference in the filling. I usually like to go for a mix of 2 different types of apples.
I chose one that is rather sour and tangy such as the Braeburn and another variety that is sweet and tangy to have a good balance of both sweetness and texture.
You want to use apples that will hold their shape when cooking and not break down into mush too quickly, because in this recipe it calls for a cooked apple filling that will later then also be baked.
In this recipe I went for a Braeburn variety which is tangy and has more sour notes with a firm consistency. The other variety was a called a „Jazz apple“ which is popular here in Switzerland.
Alternatively I would recommend a golden delicious which is also sweet and tangy in flavor, but softer in texture.
Making the pie crust:
It is crucial to have a good pie crust for your pies that can resist a lot of moisture and still hold its shape as well as have that crunchy, flaky pie crust characteristic.
One important factor to keep in mind for the pie crust is to always keep it chilled. This will help hold its shape better for rolling out and also for after baking with all the filling. It will also keep that flaky texture.
Making the apple filling:
Start by washing and peeling your apples. Cut them into roughly 0.5cm thick pieces and place them into a large bowl and add 30g of lemon juice. Mix well and set aside for about 20-30 minutes (the lemon juice will prevent the apples from oxidizing which results in browning of the apples)
Drain your apples and squeeze out some of the excess liquid.
In a large pot put together the sliced apples, sugar, spices, flour and butter. On medium low heat bring the filling to a slight simmer and allow to cook for about 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften.
Take off the heat and allow to cool down for 15 minutes. Place the apple filling on a sieve and let the excess liquid drain.
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Vanilla caramel sauce:
This is my favorite caramel sauce recipe. I also have a vegan caramel sauce that is just irresistible as well but requires a few special ingredients.
This recipe comes from my time working in a 5* hotel. It has been adapted through the years but I love it because it has an intense caramel flavor (depending of course on how much you caramelize your sugar) but you have an amazing caramel even if you go much lighter in the caramelization.
The texture is so smooth and silky! This recipe will also last you weeks in the fridge.
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| Made using Dr.Oetker vanilla paste and pods |
Tips of storing the apple pie / leftovers:
If you have any leftovers ( unlikely 😉) you can easily store this apple pie in the fridge covered in plastic wrap for up to 4-5 day or in the freezer in a sealed tupperware for up to 2 months.
When storing in the fridge make sure to store it without the caramel sauce on top as this will make the pie crust soggy after about a day.
Reheat the pie in the oven before serving and drizzle with warm caramel sauce and ice-cream of choice or a dollop of whipped cream.
THE RECIPE:
Makes about a 20cm ring mold
The pie crust:
2g salt
75ml cold water
230g flour, all purpose
150g butter
Instructions:
1. Mix the salt with the water and give it a stir and set it aside (keep it in the fridge until ready to use)
2. Add the flour and the cubed butter into the bowl of your standing mixer. With the paddle attachment mix on low speed until you reach a crumble like consistency. Add the cold water-salt mixture and mix until you achieve a cohesive dough. The dough can still have small clumps of butter (it doesn’t need to be completely smooth)
3. Take the dough out of the bowl and shape it with your hand into a disc and wrap in cling film. Place the dough into the fridge and let it rest for at least 2 hours, better yet overnight.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface or between 2 pieces of baking paper. Either way works well you just need to make sure to use enough flour on the surface of your table if you roll it out without baking paper and make sure to rotate the dough so it doesn’t stick to the surface. Make sure to roll out from the center outwards onto all side to have an even dough.
Roll out the dough until about 3cm thickness.
5. Place the dough into your ring mold. (I didn’t have a proper pie dish so I used a round baking cake tin 20cm) so you’ll need to cut out the bottom part of the pie and then make a long strip with the rest of the dough the line the edge. Press the edges to the ring and to the bottom part of the dough so you dont have any wholes where the apple filling can leak out of.
6. Roll out the rest of the dough to use as decorative strip on top. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
6. Place the ring lined with dough into the fridge until you are ready to fill it with the apple pilling.
Apple pie filling:
500g apples, peeled and chopped
1/2 lemon, juice
30g sugar
1 vanilla pod, scraped (Dr.Oetker)
1 tsp vanilla paste (Dr.Oetker)
2 tsp cinnamon powder
50g butter
65g brown sugar
20g flour
35g sugar
3g cornstarch (maizena)
Instructions:
1. Wash and peel the apples. Cut them into quarters and then thinly slice into about 0.5cm thick pieces. Place into a large bowl and add the juice of 1/2 lemon and the brown sugar. Let the apples sit for about 10 minutes.
After about 10 minutes sieve out the excess front he apples (it normally won’t be too much, but you want to remove it to avoid a too soggy filling)
2. In a medium pot bring the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to a simmer. Add the flour and cornstarch and mix well while constantly stirring. You want the flour and cornstarch to start binding the liquid. Once it has come to another boil add the sliced apple pieces and let it simmer on low heat four about 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften.
Remove from the heat and place into another bowl to cool down for at least 20 minutes before placing into your pie dish.
*You don't want the apples to cook for too long otherwise they will loose too much of their texture as they will still continue cooking when baking in the oven.
3. Once cooked let the apple pie filling has cooled down add in into your prepared pie tin. Decorate the top with the remaining pie dough. I made strips of dough and laid these across the top of the pie in a checkered patter.
4. Bake the apple pie in a preheated oven at 170-175°C for about 35-45 minutes. Depending on your oven.
(I use the fan mode) the pie should have a nice golden brown color.
5. Let the apple pie cool down completely before cutting. Serve with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream and caramel sauce or with a dollop of whipped cream.
The apple pie can be store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Store in an airtight container to keep the moisture. Reheat the apple pie before serving.
Caramel vanilla sauce:
Makes about 550g of caramel
200g sugar
20g glucose or honey
330g cream 35% full fat
35g butter, cold cubes
2 pieces vanilla pods, scraped out
1g salt
Instructions:
1. In a small pot place the cream, scraped out vanilla pods and the glucose or honey. Place on low heat and slowly bring to a boil while caramelizing the sugar. Once the cream has come to a boil set aside but make sure it to keep it warm
2. Caramelized the sugar in a medium pot little but little mixing well with a heat proof spatula. Caramelized the sugar until you reach a dark caramel color. Using a whisk carefully! Add the hot cream mixture little by little. The caramel mixture will bubble and splatter vigorously when adding the cream so please be careful.
3. Once the cream has been added bring the heat down to a medium and allow to simmer while mixing for about 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the caramel to cool down for a few minutes before through an sieve into a heatproof jug/container. Add the butter and the salt.
With a hand blender blend until you have a smooth and shiny caramel. Store in an airtight container.
*Depending on how dark you caramelized your sugar you have either have a darker and hence more intense caramel flavor or a a sweeter and more subtle flavor.
*The longer you let the caramel simmer after adding the cream you can also influence the consistency of the caramel. The longer you cook it the thicker the consistency will be.
*If your caramel gets too thick in the fridge after a day or so you can easily heat it up in the microwave to make it thinner and easy to drizzle.
Happy Baking! 🍎
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