Salted Caramel Apple Pies

Salted Caramel Apple Pies

Ingredients:
Pastry Dough

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons ice water

Salted Caramel Apple Filling

• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 small granny smith apples, peeled, thinly sliced into small pieces
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Egg wash
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions:
To make the pastry dough, stir together flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Knead in butter, using fingertips, until butter is well incorporated and dough is mealy, with pea-sized lumps.  Toss in ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until well incorporated.  Gather dough into a ball and shape into a disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

To make the salted caramel apple filling, melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Stir in apples and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Stir in sugar, cream, corn syrup, cinnamon and sea salt, and cook an additional 10 minutes or until apples are tender.  Stir in vanilla until combined.  Cool filling completely.  (Speed up this process by placing it in a refrigerator or freezer.)

Roll out the pastry dough, thinly, on a lightly floured surface.  Cut out rounds, using a glass.  Transfer to cookie sheet.  Brush edges of rounds with some water.  Place a spoonful of filling onto one side of round, and cover with dough to create a half-moon.  Pinch edges with a fork to seal.  Transfer to a plate or cookie sheet.  Repeat process with remaining dough and filling.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until cold (I refrigerated mine overnight).

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Transfer pies to cookie sheet if you haven't already.  Lightly brush with egg wash.  Bake 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.  (Mine were very cold, so they took about 30 minutes.)
Brush pies with melted butter.  Stir together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl until combined.  Dip pies in sugar until coated.  Place on a wire rack to cool.