Caramel Apple Crumble Pie Recipe by Schy's Pies for Peace

Schy, owner of Schy's Pies for Peace, makes and sells pies in Lincoln, Nebraska, giving a portion of her earnings to non-profit organizations. She seeks to use healthy, locally grown ingredients as much as possible. She created this recipe for Caramel Apple Pie, using Butter Caramels, which are available from Licorice International.  She made this recipe without any other sweeteners besides the Butter Caramels, except for a little bit of brown sugar in the crumb topping. Butter Caramels have an excellent quality of melting, she said, and their excellent flavor give this pie a gourmet taste.  

Ingredients for whole wheat pie crust:

• 2 ½ cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 8 tablespoons cold Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or local organic sweet cream butter
• Pinch of sea salt
• 4-5 tablespoons of ice water

Directions for Pie Crust:
The key to getting the flakiest crust as possible is using cold ingredients and cold equipment. An hour or so before starting the baking process, put the mixing bowl, flour, Buttery Sticks, and pasty blender all in the freezer. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl that you will be able to get both of your hands into while you mix the dough. Add the pinch of sea salt to flour and mix well by tossing with your hands. Cut up the Buttery Sticks into small pieces and use the pastry blender to cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture is well blended coarsely together. Add ice water to the mixture and begin mixing the dough and water together with your hands. Do not overwork the dough; it will make the crust tough. Form the dough into a ball and place in freezer while you make the pie filling. 

When you are ready to assemble the pie, lightly dust flour on two 16-inch pieces of wax paper and place the ball of dough in the middle with the floured sides of the wax paper touching each other. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a 13-inch in diameter circle. Once the crust is rolled out, remove the top layer of wax paper and invert the pie crust into the center of the pie pan. Once it is in the pan, remove the 2nd piece of wax paper and press the pastry into the pan. Cut the excess edges off with a sharp knife and create a design with the crust edge. (This can be done with your fingers or using a fork.) Rolling out a perfect pie crust, of course, is easier said than done, but with some practice and viewing of Martha Stewart on youtube.com, you will be a pro in no time.

Ingredients for crumb topping:

• 1 cup organic unbleached flour
• ¾ cup organic brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons organic sweet cream butter
• 3 tablespoons organic cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground organic ginger powder

Directions for crumb topping:

Put the flour, sugar and spices in a bowl and cut the butter into small pieces. Place the butter in the bowl with the other ingredients and use your pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Work the mixture until small crumbles form and the butter is fully mixed in.

Equipment Needed:

wax paper, pastry blender, rolling pin,  mixing bowl, sharp knife, 9 inch glass pie plate

Ingredients for Caramel Apple Crumble Pie

• 1 premade whole wheat crust
• 2 cups crumb topping
• 6-8 local apples (I prefer to bake with Granny Smiths or Jonagolds)
• 10 butter caramels cut up into small pieces
• 3 Tbsp. organic lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. arrowroot powder or cornstarch

Instructions for Caramel Apple Crumble Pie
First, preheat your oven to 375 and roll out crust. After you have crust rolled out and in the pie pan, place cut up caramels in the bottom of the crust. Next peel, core, and slice apples into 1 inch pieces and immediately cover in lemon juice to keep from turning brown. Next add cinnamon and cornstarch to mixture and let sit for 5 minutes.Pour the apple mixture over the caramels and place in the oven for 20 minutes without crumb topping. After 20 minutes pull the pie out of the oven and check to see that the caramel has fully melted around the apples. If so, sprinkle the crumb topping over everything. Turn your oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 30 minutes.  The crust will be a dark shade of brown and the caramel will bubble up a little through the crumb topping when the pie is finished baking. Remove pie from the oven and let cool. Enjoy this spectacular autumn treat! 

Schy works as  a women's advocate at the Friendship home, a shelter for abused women and children. During the Celebration of Motherhood Support Group at the Friendship Home, Schy had the women and children make pies together using this recipe.  

For more information about Schy's Pies for Peace, see her Facebook Page.