Caramel Apple Pie

This almost homemade caramel apple pie is an easy and delicious way to use up those apples sitting in your fridge!  

I’m so excited to share a new link-up with you today!  Every week, Ashley from Hello Nature and I will be sharing a new theme that can either be made into a recipe or a DIY project. Ashley and I have become really good friends through our blogs. The past couple of months, we’ve been collaborating on this link-up idea and thought it would be a fun way to boost our creativity and get readers involved. This week’s theme is LEFTOVERS, which means we’ll be using leftover ingredients from our kitchen or supplies that have stashed away in our craft boxes to create new and exciting recipes and projects.

Caramel Apple Pie

I have to confess that this pie wasn’t my initial recipe idea to kick off our first Maker’s Mix-Up.  I originally wanted to use leftover cherry candy canes in a brownie.  I found a recipe for homemade brownie mix on Pinterest that sounded easy.  I added a little cherry flavoring to the batter and wanted to make a ganache for the brownies.  Then, I was going crush up my candy canes and add them on top. 

The brownies never rose.  They became a thin, flat, brownie in my pan.  So then I decided to make brownie bar sandwiches filled with homemade whipped cream.  I’d cover the edges of the cream with crushed up candy canes.  When the brownies were cool enough, I flipped them out of the pan.  They completely fell apart and I was unable to salvage most of them (although the piece or two I ate did taste pretty good!).

I was still determined to use up my candy canes in a recipe, so I thought about making infused vodka.  But I woke up with a cold and didn’t feel like going to the store other than to get cold medicine.  And, honestly, I don’t really like the taste of vodka anyway.  Then, I tried to go back to my original idea of making brownies and tried making a brownie in a mug.  Again, my brownie fell flat and I burned the crap out of it.  It was a disaster!

As I started to panic over what I’d make in time for this post, I remembered the bag of Granny Smith apples I had sitting in the fridge.  I decided that the leftover bottle of heavy cream in the fridge would come in handy to make a caramel apple pie. 

I’ve made this pie before, but I basically whipped up a quick caramel sauce using butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.  It all came together really well and it was one of the best pies I had ever made!   So I decided to try making it again with a different caramel recipe.  My caramel apple pie might be even better this time around!

 
One thing is certain about the way I make pie.  I will always use refrigerated pie dough.  I haven’t had much luck trying to make my own (that seems to be a pattern lately).  However, the homemade caramel sauce makes up for it completely!  I made sure to put aside a little dish of the apple infused caramel sauce I made for dipping! So good!