Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie

Posted on March 17 2017

Generous layers of tart / sweet apple slices tossed in cinnamon nestled in a thin pastry crust with crunchy browned-butter and brown sugar nutty-caramel-crumble GOODNESS covering the top of the pie, this is an Irish inspired Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie, and it is to DIE for…

Quite a few years ago I spent a week in Ireland and there was nothing about the place that I didn’t like.  The people were cheerful and friendly, the countryside was greener than anything I’ve ever seen before!  And the weather was…while a little rainy (ok a lot rainy!), not too cold and mostly pleasant.  When the sun was out it was extra beautiful. 

BUT the absolute highlight of my trip and the thing I remember most of all when I think about Ireland…you guessed it!  The APPLE PIE.  Before I tasted Irish apple pie, I had no idea how amazing it could be. 

Looking for more fruity dessert recipes?  Try my Rustic Bumble Berry Crumble Crisp, my Honey Vanilla Nutmeg Summer Fruit Bake and my Baked Vanilla Cheesecake with Cherry Coulis.

The Irish make their apple pie in a thin, crumbly pastry case with layers and layers of fresh, TART apple slices with a little lemon juice and sugar.  It’s simple, fresh, zingy and sweet (but not too sweet)…it’s perfect.  They serve it with whipped cream or ice cream, and you get a large, TALL slice of apple pie AWESOMENESS just about everywhere you go!! 

We did quite a bit of driving around while we were there, and we tried the apple pie at just about every tea or lunch spot, always to be presented with something similar to what I have described and we were never disappointed. 

THIS, however is my take on an Irish Apple Pie….And I’ve chosen to call it Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie because instead of covering the top of the pie with pastry I decided to make a brown butter caramel crumble! 

It’s crunchy butter and brown sugar nutty-caramel goodness all over the top of the pie…Mmmm mmm it’s so good!!  It’s the absolute perfect addition to the layers of zingy, tart apple slices and cinnamon. You’re welcome.

The apple really is the star of this show…as it should be!  It’s APPLE pie after all.

I think I have to plan another trip to Ireland someday just to sample a few more of their amazing apple pies! 

Another pretty awesome thing about this recipe is that you will have only 1 bowl, 1 saucepan and 1 pie dish to wash up!  And it takes 30 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake.  That’s pretty quick for such a big, hearty pie that serves 8! 

I hope you make this Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie soon – today is St Paddy’s day – the perfect day to try this out! Let me know what you think!! 

5 from 1 vote

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Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Generous layers of tart / sweet apple slices tossed in cinnamon nestled in a thin pastry crust with crunchy browned-butter and brown sugar nutty-caramel-crumble GOODNESS covering the top of the pie! This pie is to DIE for...

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Irish

Keyword: Apple Pie, Dessert, Irish, The Best

Servings: 8

Calories: 604 kcal

Author: Berry Sweet Life

Ingredients

• 400 g shortcrust pastry or 1 pastry case
• FOR THE APPLES:
• 8 sour green apples I used golden delicious
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• FOR THE CARAMEL CRUMBLE:
• 1 cup salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp rolled oats
• 6 tbsp cake flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Peal, core and slice the apples. Toss them in a large bowl with the lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside for the flavours to come together and the apples to become juicy.
3. Grease and flour your pie dish (I used a 26cm (10 inch) round springform pan). Roll out the pastry to the right size for your pie dish and line the dish or pan with the pastry (go all the way up the sides of the dish or pan), cut off the excess with a knife.
4. Score the bottom of the pastry several times with a fork and bake for 8 minutes until it is very lightly golden.
5. While the pastry is baking, place the butter for the caramel crumble into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer until it goes brown, watch it closely so it doesn’t burn. Now add the brown sugar and vanilla and simmer until the sugar dissolves. This sauce should thicken and become a bit like caramel. Stir in the oats and flour.
6. Place the apples in the pastry case - you can arrange them in circles like I did, or just pile them in, it doesn’t have to be perfect! (Don't pour in the excess juices).
7. Top with the caramel crumble - I like to crumble it on with my fingers to get a nice even layer.
8. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C. Turn the oven down to 160°C and bake for another 20 minutes until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown.
9. Take the pie out of the oven and leave it to cool in the pie dish or pan for about 15 minutes before serving.
10. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.