Caramel Apple Pie

I love apple pie and this time of year just makes me crave it!! This is my favorite recipe for Apple pie, I've tweaked it a bit from the original recipe because it was way sweet. This one is a nice mixture of sweet/tart with granny smith apples. My picture doesn't do it justice because the top of my pie isn't very pretty, my cinnamon sugar shaker was sabatoged, so when I opened it a big puff of cinnamon shot out onto my pie.... but it was still delicious!! I got the pie crust recipe from Ina(the barefoot Contessa) off of the food network. When I make apple pies I just can't seem to get the apples to cook all the way no matter how thin I slice them. So I tried sauteing for a few minutes before adding to the pie, it worked great!! Enjoy

Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust deep dish pie (see pie crust recipe below)

1/4 cup butter, melted
6 cups thinly sliced apples ( I use Granny Smith apples, use your favorite)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice


1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

20 caramels, cut each carmel into fourths

2 tablespoons milk(for brushing on the top of pie before baking)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large bowl combine brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour and spices together and set aside.
In a large skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add apple slices and saute for about 5 to 8 minutes or until apples are almost tender, toss gently while they cook. Sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon lemon juice and toss to coat. Then add to the large bowl with the sugar, flour and spices, toss gently until the apples are thoroughly coated.
Spoon half of apple filling into pastry-lined deep-dish pan. Top with half of caramel pieces. Repeat process with remaining apple filling, and  caramels. Place top pastry over filling and seal well (this is very important--if edges are not sealed, caramel will leak out all over). Cut steam vents and brush top crust with milk and sprinkle the top of the pie with cinnamon sugar.
Cover pie edges  with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil from pie and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until crust is golden. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Perfect Pie Crust
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold  butter, diced into cubes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon  salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold butter flavored Crisco
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and Crisco. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the mixture is crumbly. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube (start with the smaller amount and add more if necessary) and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Divide into two pieces, and flatten into a round flat 1 inch thick disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll each piece out in between two pieces of wax paper, rolling from the center to the edge. When dough is big enough to fit your pie plate, peel top piece of wax paper off and flip over, placing in the pie plate. Carefully remove the other piece of wax paper. (I learned to use the wax paper when rolling out pie crust from Jim's mom, you use less flour and have a more tender crust that way) Add filling then repeat with the top crust.
Crimp the edges however you desire.
Yield: 2 (10-inch) crusts