Caramel Apple Pie with Cookie Crust
I developed this one back when I was baking apple pies by the dozen every November in a restaurant kitchen, and a cookie crust was my way of putting my own stamp on the classic.
Why Is My Caramel Apple Pie with Cookie Crust So Good!
- The soft sugar cookie crust bakes up chewy instead of flaky, so every bite feels like an apple pie cookie bar.
- I drizzle dulce de leche under the filling and over the finished streusel, so caramel flavor runs through every bite.
- I first fell for apple streusel over a lattice crust while baking pies at Cracker Barrel as a teenager.
- Cookies have always won out over cake and pie crust for me, so this pairing felt inevitable once I tried it.
- Every layer, cookie, caramel, apples, and streusel, bakes together in one dish, with no blind-baking or lattice crimping required.
- As a food safety certified, professionally trained chef, I use par-baking to keep fruit desserts like this one from turning soggy.
Table of Contents
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Apple pie spice – This is used in both the crust and the streusel, so double check you have enough on hand. To make your own, combine 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon ground allspice. Store it in a small airtight jar.
Unsalted butter – The crust and the streusel use butter in two different states. Mixing them up is the most common reason this recipe goes wrong. The crust needs softened butter that you cream with the sugars until light and fluffy. The streusel needs melted butter that you fold in gently. If your crust dough feels loose or slides down the sides, your butter was likely too soft or starting to melt.
Gala apples – Gala apples bake up sweet and tender, which is what gives this filling its soft texture. For more tang to balance the caramel, swap half the Gala apples for Granny Smith. Honeycrisp and Fuji also work well.
Dulce de leche – This is a thick, caramelized milk confection, essentially cooked sweetened condensed milk, with a deep, toasty caramel flavor. (My favorite memory from my childhood!) Look for it near the sweetened condensed milk, in the baking aisle or the international aisle. If you can’t find it, a thick jarred caramel sauce works as a substitute, though the flavor will be less rich.
How to Make Caramel Apple Pie with Cookie Crust
- Cook the apple pie filling first. Melt butter in a medium pot and add the diced apples. Sprinkle with flour, then stir in brown sugar, apple pie spice, and vanilla. Cover and cook until the apples are soft. Cooking the filling down ahead of time drives off extra moisture so it won’t turn the crust soggy later. You can make this up to two days ahead.
- Cream the cookie dough. Beat the softened butter and both sugars for a couple of minutes until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Add the vanilla, flour, apple pie spice, baking soda, and salt, and mix until smooth.
- Press and pre-bake the crust. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a greased pie dish. Pay extra attention to the seam where the bottom meets the sides, since that’s the thinnest spot. Pre-bake for 10 minutes. If any dough slips down the sides while hot, press it back into place with the back of a spoon.
- Layer the dulce de leche and filling. Drizzle about half the dulce de leche over the warm crust. Spread the apple pie filling on top and press it down gently so it settles evenly.
- Make the streusel. Combine the brown sugar, white sugar, apple pie spice, and flour in a bowl. Measure the melted butter carefully and pour it in. Fold it in with a fork just until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, not a paste. Too much butter turns streusel into a paste instead of crumbles, so stop folding as soon as it holds together in loose pieces.
- Top, bake, and rest. Scatter the streusel over the filling and bake until golden and bubbling around the edges. Drizzle the remaining dulce de leche over the top as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let the pie rest for about 30 minutes before slicing, so the filling has time to set.
Ways to Serve My Caramel Apple Pie
- A scoop of vanilla ice cream melting into a warm slice.
- A dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.
- A drizzle of extra dulce de leche warmed until pourable.
- Alongside a mug of hot apple cider or a cup of coffee for a fall dessert table.
Caramel Apple Pie Recipe FAQs
Because of the dulce de leche and the moist apple filling, it’s best stored covered in the refrigerator. It will keep well for about 4 to 5 days there. It’s fine at room temperature, covered, for the first day if you’re serving it the same day it’s baked.
Yes. The apple pie filling can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated. You can also bake the cookie crust and let it cool completely, then keep it covered at room temperature for a day before filling and finishing the pie. You can make the whole pie ahead of time and just reheat it when serving.
It usually comes down to too much butter. Fold the melted butter into the dry ingredients just until it forms loose, coarse crumbs. Make sure to cut the ingredient together, creating crumbles. If it starts looking like a paste, stop mixing and add another tablespoon of flour to dry it back out.
This happens when the butter in the dough was too soft or partially melted going into the oven, or when the dough was pressed too thin at the seam between the bottom and sides. Use properly softened (not melted) butter, and press the dough a little thicker right at that seam before pre-baking.
More Apple Recipes to Try
- Dutch Apple Pie
- Apple Pie Cheesecake
- Apple Pie Bread Pudding
- Apple Pie Monkey Bread
- Dulce de Leche Apple Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Caramel Apple Pie Recipe with Cookie Crust
Ingredients
Cookie Crust:
- 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 Tbsp. apple pie spice
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- Pinch salt
Apple Pie Filling:
- 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2.5 lbs gala apples
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 Tbsp. apple pie spice
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp apple pie spice
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 4½ Tbsp unsalted butter melted
Additional Topping:
- 6-7 oz Dulce de leche divided in two
Instructions
Apple Pie Filling:
- Apple pie filling can be done ahead of time. You can make it a couple of days before or a few hours before you need it.
- Peel, core and dice the apples.
- In a medium pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Add diced apples and stir well.
- Sprinkle flour over apples and stir well.
- Add brown sugar, apple pie spice, and vanilla, stir and cover with a lid.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft.
- Set aside until ready to use.
Cookie crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease a pie dish with butter or non-stick baking spray.
- Beat butter and sugars for a couple of minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in egg until incorporated.
- Add vanilla extract, flour, apple pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low until mixed and then finish mixing with a rubber spatula until smooth.
- Spread cookie dough all over the bottom and up the sides of the pie dish by patting it gently.
- Pre-bake the cookie crust for 10 minutes. If some of the cookie dough settled down on the sides of the pie dish, you can gently push it back up with your hands (be careful, it will be hot).
- Drizzle about 3 oz of dulce the leche over the cookie crust.
- Spread apple pie filling in the cookie crust. Press it down gently.
Streusel Topping:
- In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, white granulated sugar, apple pie spice, and flour. Mix well until all ingredients are incorporated evenly.
- Pour in melted butter and carefully fold it in with a large fork. You will want to be careful so you don’t over-mix. Streusel should look like large crumbs and not paste.
- Spread streusel topping over the apple pie filling.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Take the pie out of the oven and drizzle remaining dulce de leche over the top.
- Let the pie rest for about 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Categories:
Apple Recipes, Christmas Dinner Recipes, Cookie Recipes, Dessert Recipes, Fall Recipes, Pie Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Does this pie need refrigerated?
What is your recipe for apple pie spice? I’ve never used this before.
Hi Pamela,
You can actually buy apple pie spice or you can make your own. To make your own apple pie spice, simply combine 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon with 2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of ground allspice. Mix it all together and store in a small glass jar with a lid.
Thank you so much for posting this kind of content, your content delivery is awesome, would like to bookmark your site on my browser for reading out your new posts. Keep posting these kind of posts. I just found this blog and have high hopes for it to continue. Keep up the great work, its hard to find good ones. I have added to my favorites.
The cookie crust soaked in apple flavors is everything!
You made such an interesting piece to read, giving every subject enlightenment for us to gain knowledge. Thanks for sharing the such information with us to read this.
Wow! that looks so yummy, I will try it soon. Thanks for sharing, your recipes are very delicious.
My all-time favorite, thanks for sharing this recipe. I will try it on weekend for my kids.
I hope they love it, Richard!
Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe, I really love apple pie and the touch of caramel and cookies make it more delicious.
Thanks! 🙂
Had several issues with this recipe. The dough for the crust was very soft before baking, and instead of some of it sliding down from the sides, all of it did. I had to dump it into the trash. The streusel topping would not ‘crumble’ in spite of everything I tried. Thankfully, I had a frozen pie crust in the freezer, so I pre-baked it for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, tried to add some Dulce de leche to the bottom, even though it would not drizzle as indicated in the photos even after heating it in the microwave, poured the filling into the crust, topped it with the streusel mixture, and baked it about 40 minutes. I have not tried to cut it yet. Hopefully, it won’t be a complete failure. Lots of work and ingredients invested for an apple pie. Evidently, I lost this one in the translation. Any feedback would be welcomed.
i like this
I did it! I’ve finally found my favorite pie!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for stoping by!
I shared your yummy recipe on Pinterest. I would like to try the Homemade Chocolate S’mores and the Oreo Cookie Truffles.