There is something truly magical about the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg-spiced apples wafting through the house on a crisp afternoon. This Salted Caramel Apple Streusel Pie takes the humble fruit pie and turns it into something spectacular. By swapping the traditional pastry lid for a buttery, golden crumble and drenching the apples in a rich, bourbon-infused salted caramel, we’ve created a dessert that is equal parts nostalgic and sophisticated. The oaky warmth of the bourbon perfectly complements the tartness of the fruit, making this the ultimate weekend bake. It’s best served warm, allowing a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream to melt into those spiced, caramel-soaked layers.
Ingredients
The Key Ingredients for the Salted Caramel Apple Streusel Pie
These ingredients are balanced to achieve the pie’s signature golden crunch, gooey caramel centre, and complex spice profile:
Caramel Sauce
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Caster Sugar: The fine crystals melt evenly and quickly, ensuring a smooth, amber-toned caramel without the risk of graininess.
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Whipping Cream (40% Fat): Provides a luxurious, silky mouthfeel. The high fat content ensures the sauce is rich and stable enough to coat the apples.
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Unsalted Butter: Adds a velvety finish and a mellow, creamy flavour that balances the intensity of the cooked sugar.
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Sea Salt: Essential for depth; the flaky salt crystals cut through the sweetness and make the caramel flavours “pop.”
Pastry (Pie Dough)
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Plain Flour: The low gluten content is the secret to a tender, “short” crust that melts in the mouth rather than being chewy.
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Unsalted Butter: Used cold to create tiny pockets of steam during baking, resulting in a beautifully flaky and buttery base.
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Caster Sugar: Just a touch to lightly sweeten the pastry, helping it achieve a gorgeous golden-brown colour.
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Salt: A vital addition to season the flour, ensuring the pastry isn’t bland against the rich filling.
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Ice Cold Water: Keeps the butter solid while the pastry is being mixed, which is crucial for a crisp, non-greasy finish.
Streusel
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Plain Flour: Forms the structural base of your crumble topping.
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Unsalted Butter: Rubbed into the flour to create those irresistible, irregular “clumps” that provide the signature crunch.
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Caster Sugar: Provides a crisp, sweet snap to the topping as it caramelises in the oven.
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Table Salt: A finer salt here ensures it is evenly distributed, balancing the buttery sweetness of the topping.
Pie Filling
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Caramel Sauce: (As described above) Used as the primary sweetener, binding the fruit together in a gooey, golden glaze.
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Royal Gala Apples: These provide a lovely natural sweetness and hold their shape well, giving the pie its “bite.”
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Bramley Apples: The quintessential British cooking apple. They soften beautifully into a fluffy purée, adding a necessary tartness to balance the sugar.
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Light Brown Sugar: Adds a hint of molasses and a deep, warm colour to the apple juices.
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Cornflour: A thickening agent that turns the fruit juices and caramel into a thick, luscious sauce that won’t run when sliced.
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Unsalted Butter: A few knobs stirred into the filling add extra richness and a glossy finish.
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Bourbon: Brings a sophisticated, oaky warmth and notes of vanilla that pair perfectly with the apples and caramel.
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Sea Salt: Enhances the bourbon and caramel, preventing the filling from feeling overly sugary.
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Ground Cinnamon: The classic apple companion, providing a woody, aromatic warmth.
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Ground Nutmeg: Adds a subtle, earthy spice that rounds out the flavour profile of the filling.
All The Equipment You Need
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9 Inch Pie Dish
Choosing The Right Apples For The Perfect Bake
Selecting the correct apple variety is the most critical step in achieving the ideal pie architecture. For this recipe, a combination of Bramley and Royal Gala apples is used to create a sophisticated “dual-texture” filling. By dicing both varieties into 2–3cm chunks, you ensure that the differing rates of breakdown create a beautifully contrasted interior.
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Bramley Apples: These are the gold standard for British baking. Because of their high acidity and unique cellular structure, they break down during the baking process into a soft, cloud-like purée. When diced into 2–3cm cubes, they transform into a thick, saucy base that binds the filling together.
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Royal Gala Apples: To prevent the pie from becoming a uniform mash, Royal Gala apples are added for their resilience. They have a firm, dense flesh that holds its shape even under high heat. The 2–3cm dice ensures you get a substantial, satisfying “bite” and a natural, honey-like sweetness that offsets the tartness of the Bramleys.
Suitable Substitutes
If you cannot source Bramleys or Royal Gala apples, you can achieve a similar result by choosing one “melter” and one “holder,” keeping to the same 2–3cm dice for consistency:
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The “Melter” (Substitute for Bramley): Granny Smith is an excellent alternative. While firmer than a Bramley, it offers the same high acidity and sharp tang. Because it is less prone to collapsing, ensure your 2–3cm chunks are uniform to help them soften evenly throughout.
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The “Holder” (Substitute for Royal Gala): Braeburn or Pink Lady are both fantastic choices. These varieties possess a high sugar content and a robust structure, meaning they will remain intact during the 50-minute bake to ensure the pie retains its height and texture.
Preparing In Advance & Storing
One of the greatest advantages of this recipe is that every component, including the finished pie itself, can be prepared well in advance. This allows you to manage your time effectively, whether you are prepping for a dinner party or a seasonal celebration.
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Caramel Sauce: This will keep perfectly in the fridge for up to two weeks. For longer storage, it can be frozen in an airtight container for up to three months. Simply reheat gently in the microwave or a small saucepan to return it to a pourable consistency.
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Pastry (Pie Dough): Raw pastry can be stored in the fridge for up to three days. Ensure it is wrapped tightly in cling film to prevent it from drying out or absorbing fridge odours; if the pastry begins to turn grey or develops an off-aroma, it should be discarded. Unlike some delicate doughs, shortcrust pastry freezes brilliantly for up to three months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge before rolling.
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Streusel Crumb: The dry crumble mixture can be prepared and stored in the fridge for up to seven days. It also freezes remarkably well; you can keep a stash in the freezer for up to three months and sprinkle it directly onto the pie whilst still frozen.
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Apple Filling: Once combined with the sugar, spices, and bourbon, the filling will last for up to four days in the fridge. To freeze for up to three months, use an airtight container or, ideally, a ziplock bag with as much air removed as possible to prevent freezer burn.
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The Baked Pie: Once baked and cooled, the pie will remain fresh for up to three days at room temperature in an airtight container. For longer storage, keep it in the fridge for up to seven days.
Pro Tip: For the best texture when eating stored pie, we recommend a quick 10-minute refresh in a warm oven (160°C/320°F) to recrisp the streusel before serving.
Salted Caramel Apple Streusel Pie
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a saucepan bring cream to the boil. Once the cream has come to a boil take off the heat and cover.1
- Into a clean saucepan, make a dry caramel. Place the pan on a low-medium heat, add in about a ¼ to ⅓ of the sugar, just enough to make a thin layer to cover the base of the pan. At this point do not mix the sugar, leave it to melt on it own.Once to start to see parts of the sugar start to caramelise you can start mixing gently by bringing the sugar from the outside of the pan to the centre. Once all the sugar has caramelised sprinkle in the next portion and gently stir in to the caramel, repeating the process until all the sugar has been added in and caramelised.2
- Once all the sugar has been caramelised, turn the stove down to a low heat and in small increments add in the hot cream constantly stirring between additions. CAUTION: It is important to add cream in small amounts as adding the entire volume of cream you risk the caramel boiling over and potentially burning yourself with hot sugar!When all the cream has been incorporated boil the caramel to 104-105℃ (219-221℉). Then off the heat stir in the knob of butter, followed by the sea salt.Decant the caramel into a heatproof container, surface wrap with cling film and leave to chill in the fridge.
- Into a large mixing bowl add in flour, sugar and salt. Give it a quick whisk to evenly distribute the sugar and salt.
- Next add in the cold, cubed butter. Rub the butter into the flour until the flour start to resemble a sandy texture. (You should still have clumps of butter)
- Pour in half the ice cold water and bring together with a spoon, as the flour takes on the water the consistency will start to change, almost like a crumbly dough. TEST: Press some of the dough in the palm of your hand, if it crumbles apart add a little more water, if it holds together and feels like a shaggy dough you have added enough water.
- Gently press the dough against the wall of the bowl until it all comes together being careful not to overwork the dough and melt the butter, this will result in the pie crust shrinking in the final bake and having a tough bite.Once the dough has come together, flatten in to a inch thick disc and wrap in cling film and into the fridge to chill for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Add all the ingredient into a mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour, as you get to the sandy texture like withe pie dough you can start to mixing a little more aggressively. Keep this going until a dough starts to form. Stop mixing once you get to a point where dough crumbles when lightly rubbed with your fingers. By hand this will take 3-4 minutes. Keep covered in the fridge to chill and set firm until it comes time to bake.
- Start by peeling and coring all the apples. The dice them into 2-3 cm pieces, I normally cut the apples into quarters and the cut each quarter into 4-6 pieces depending on the size of the apple.
- Once all the apples are diced add them to the stock pot along with light brown sugar, cornflour, butter, bourbon, sea salt, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Place the pot onto the hob on a medium heat and cook, stirring every so often. We are only partially cooking the apples here to release the juices and thicken the filling, if your pierce a piece of apple with a knife and it penetrates with minimal effort without breaking the apple the filling is ready. This will take around 8-10 minutes.
- Leave the filling to cool of the hob for about 30 minutes until it is lukewarm.
- Preheat the oven to 170℃ (338℉).
- Onto a lightly floured work surface, place your chilled pie dough, lightly flour the top of the pie dough and the rolling pin. Working in a north to south direction roll the dough, making sure to lift and rotate the dough every couple of rolls to keep it as round as possible. keep this process doing until the dough is about 30cm (12 inches) in diameter and 5mm thick. Transfer the dough to a baking tray and set in the fridge, covered, for 5 minutes.
- Lightly grease the pie tin with butter or cooking spray. Dust with flour, shaking the tin to coat the base and sides evenly, then tap out the excess onto your work surface.
- Remove the pie dough from the fridge and place over the pie tin. With on hand, lift a part of the dough towards you and with the other hand gently press into the base and side of the tin working your way around.
- Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, trim the pastry to leave a 1cm overhang, then tuck this excess under itself along the rim of the tin. To crimp the crust, use the index finger of one hand to push the pastry from the inside between the thumb and index finger of your other hand on the outside. Repeat this around the entire circumference.
- Stir the caramel sauce into the apple filling until well combined. Transfer the apples to the pastry-lined tin, spreading them into an even layer.
- Evenly sprinkle the streusel over the apple filling, ensuring the fruit is well covered. Place the pie onto a baking tray—this will catch any caramel that bubbles over—and bake for 45–55 minutes until the topping is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
- For the neatest slices, let the pie rest for a minimum of two hours so the caramel filling can firm up. If you are making this in advance, let it cool completely at room temperature, then chill in the fridge overnight. It can be easily reheated in a warm oven before serving with vanilla ice cream or crème anglaise.
Notes
Caramel Sauce
- Heating the cream is an important step to stop the caramel from seizing when the cream is added in.
- when it comes to a dry caramel, add sugar un small increments to the pan will allow you to make the caramel faster and give you more control. Adding all the sugar to the pan in one go will cause a portion of the sugar to burn before the rest has started to melt leaving a very bitter taste. This is purely dependent on the size of your pan.
- The caramel sauce recipe provided is sufficient for the filling; however, if you would like extra for drizzling, simply double the quantities. When ready to serve, gently heat the reserved sauce in the microwave until warm and pourable, then drizzle generously over each slice.
Pie Dough
- You can make the pie dough in a food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment. I recommend making it by hand since it is a small quantity to give you more control and reduce the risk of overworking the dough.
Apple Filling
- Partially precooking the filling is going to release the natural juices in the apple, this will prevent the filling from shrinking in the final bake, which you result in either a sunken pie top or a hollow spot between the pie top and filling.
- If you wish to make this alcohol free simply replace the bourbon with apple juice.
- If you find the filling is catching to you pan in the early stage of cooking, add a splash of water or apple juice to help you along, however as the apples release their juices, the juice will deglaze the pan.
- You can use any apple variety you like, but each has a different flavour profile and behaves differently from one another. The secret to a complex apple pie filling is using two types of apples for balance. We start with the Bramley, it's super tart and breaks down beautifully, creating a thick, rich sauce. Then, we add the Royal Gala. It's sweeter and holds its shape, so you get that lovely mix of saucy filling and chunky fruit in every single bite.