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Michigan Mom's Favorite Caramel Apple Pie

Submitted by: Leah Dowell

This is a favorite among all of my friends and family. It is the absolute most requested at the holidays. The recipe originates from my mother who had originally given it to me for Thanksgiving three years ago. After dinner, we all fell in love with the natural flavor of the Michigan apples mixed with the sweet caramel and pecan shell top.

Michigan Food Used in Recipe: Kapnick Orchards apples (style: McIntosh)

Recipe and directions:

Pie crust
1 1⁄2 cups flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1 stick of butter cut in pieces
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening cut in pieces
1/4 cup water

Combine flour and sugar. Place butter and shortening in the mixture by hand. Cut or rub the flour in until the mixture is in small, fat pieces. Sprinkle water over the mixture while tossing with a fork. Mix from the bottom. Continue tossing until the pastry can be packed into a ball. Knead on a floured surface. Pack into a thick circle and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate until chilled. Later roll on pie plate.

Filling
7-8 cups of McIntosh apples (peeled, cored, and cut up)
1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. of granulated sugar
1 Tbs. of cornstarch
1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1 tsp. of vanilla (Watkins tastes best)
10 caramels cut into small pieces

Top
3/4 cup of flour
1 cup of pecan halves
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
3/4 stick of unsalted butter cut in 8 pieces
Caramel garnish
3 Tbs. of unsalted butter
1 Tbs. of water
bag of caramels
handful of pecans
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2) Place cut up caramel pieces into the bottom of the pie shell. Combine apples, brown sugar, lemon juice. Mix well and set aside for 8 minutes for lemon juice to soak in to the apples. Mix granulated sugar and cornstarch together in separate bowl. Stir in the cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar/cornstarch mix. Pour mixture into the pie shell. Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes.

3) While this is cooking, combine the flour, pecan halves and granulated sugar in a food processor. Nuts are to be chopped coarsely. Add butter and pulse the machine until the mix resembles fine crumbs. Place in a bowl and rub the mix around until you get damp gravel like crumbs and refrigerate until the pie is done.

4) Remove pie from oven and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Take crumbs out of the fridge and evenly distribute them across the top of the pie. Place pie back in the oven and cook 30-40 minutes until the juices bubble around the edge. Place a cookie sheet on bottom rack to catch drips. For the last 15 minutes, cover the pie with foil loosely or pie will burn. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5) Prepare caramel garnish while pie is still warm. Combine butter, about 35 pieces of caramel, and water in the top of a double boiler. When melted, stir the mixture until smooth. Poor the caramel slowly over the entire surface of the pie. Press pecans into the caramel while still melted. Then pour the pecan crumbs over this.

6) Place in fridge for 2 hours before serving.

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Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways
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