Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust

My church went apple picking last weekend, and I went with the express purpose of picking apples to make this pie.  Or more precisely, so I could make this pie crust from America's Test Kitchen.  I first made the vodka pie crust three years ago with Tammy.  It made the flakiest, most flavorful pie crust I had ever eaten, but it uses shortening, an ingredient I don't usually have on hand.  Luckily, my new roommate had some from when she made this same pie crust (it's her favorite, too!).

*photo by Tammy Hui

According to America's Test Kitchen, the addition of the vodka helps to keep the pie dough tender because it inhibits the formation of gluten while still acting like a binder for the dry ingredients.  The shortening also helps to prevent gluten from forming because unlike butter, it doesn't contain any water.  Yay, science! 

*Pro-tip:  If you don't have a rolling pin, the vodka bottle works!

I adapted the filling and salted caramel sauce from Sally's Baking Addiction.  Sadly, I took my sugar off the heat too soon, and my sauce is more of a blond sweet butter sauce than a caramel, but it still tastes uber delicious!

If you can, try to use a variety of apples for the pie so you have some sweet and some tart, some softer and some firmer.  I picked Macintosh, Golden Supreme, and Honeycrisp apples for this pie.

Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust
makes 1 pie

For the pie crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
8 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces and chilled
1/4 cup vodka, chilled
1/4 cup ice water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, and salt together in food processor until combined.  Scatter butter and shortening over top and continue to process until incorporated and mixture begins to form uneven clumps with no remaining floury bits.  Sprinkle remaining 1 cup flour over dough and pulse until mixture has broken up into pieces and is evenly distributed around the bowl.

Transfer mixture to a large bowl.  Sprinkle vodka and ice water over mixture.  Stir and press dough together, using stiff rubber spatula, until dough sticks together.

Divide dough into 2 even pieces.  Turn each piece of dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten each into a 4-inch disk.  Wrap each piece tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the caramel sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup room temperature water
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Combine the granulated sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook without stirring, until the syrup becomes a medium dark amber caramel, about 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and immediately stir in the room temperature butter and cold heavy cream. Do not worry if the butter starts to separate; it will come together as the caramel cools. Transfer the caramel to a medium bowl and whisk until the caramel begins to come together.  Set aside.

For the apple pie:
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6 large apples, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced (use a variety for better flavor, such as Macintosh, Golden Supreme, and Honey Crisp)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

Put the lemon zest and lemon juice into a very large bowl. Add the apples and toss gently. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar. Pour over the apples and gently toss to combine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

On a floured work surface, roll out one of the balls of chilled dough (keep the other one in the refrigerator). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle about 12" in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9"x2" pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth.

Fill the pie crust with the apples. There are a lot of apples, but pile them tightly and very high. Drizzle with 1/2 cup of the salted caramel, reserving the rest for topping.

Roll out the other ball of dough to a 10" circle.  Carefully place on top of the pie.  Fold over any excess dough and crimp all the way around.  Cut a few slits into the top with a sharp knife.

Make an egg wash by beating the egg yolk with the milk.  Brush the top with a very thin coating.

Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350°F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes. If the top of your pie is getting too brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil. The pie will be done when the caramel begins to bubble up. A small knife inserted inside should come out relatively clean.

Allow the pie to cool for 4 hours before serving. Drizzle the pie with the extra caramel sauce to serve.

Previously:   Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Swirl
Next:  Apple Cider Donuts

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Vanilla Passion Caramels

When I went to Paris for the first time this past summer, one of my friends gave me a list of food recommendations, and one of the most highlighted items were the mango passion caramels from Jacques Genin.  So Ellen and I made sure to make it one of our first stops in the city, and omg, was it so worth it.  You already know about my obsession with the passion fruit ice cream, and this caramel was basically the best caramel ever infused with the purified sunshine of passion fruit and mangoes.

I've been hoping to try to recreate this treat but all my web searches only turned up really complicated recipes that needed some weird ingredients or recipes for making passion fruit caramel sauce.  I wasn't confident enough to try adapting a regular butter caramel recipe since the only other time I had made caramels were the bacon fat caramels, but then I saw Smitten Kitchen's apple cider caramels post.  First I made the apple cider caramels according to her recipe to get familiar with the process and figure out how soft the caramels were.  They turned out exactly as she had promised--a burst of apple cider and buttery goodness--except that I ended up with a mouthful of cinnamony sharp salt at the end.  I'm guessing it's because I used Maldon salt (as recommended in the recipe), which has pretty large salt crystals, and you don't add it until the very end along with the cinnamon so there isn't a lot of time for the salt to dissolve.

I adapted the recipe by switching in passion fruit puree for the apple cider and using kosher salt in the beginning instead of the end.  I also decided to throw in vanilla bean to partially temper the tartness of the passion fruit and also add a little crackle from the seeds.

I'm super impressed with the results:  not only does it taste super delicious, it's also pretty easy to make, for caramels.  I love that everything is cooked together instead of caramelizing the sugar first and then adding in the butter and cream.  The latter process can get a little scary when the caramel explodes in volume, especially if you underestimated the size of the pot you're using.  I would recommend using a candy or instant read thermometer because you want to make sure the mixture cooks to 252°F, right in between the firm ball and hard ball stage.  If you don't cook it long enough, the caramel will be too soft, but if you cook it too far, it will be too hard.  I've taken pictures of what the caramel looks like every 10 degrees above 220°F to give you an idea of what it looks like, and you could, of course, just drop a bit into cold water to figure out which stage the sugar is at, but a thermometer is really just the easiest way to figure it out.

 
Vanilla Passion Caramels
makes 60 pieces

1/2 vanilla bean
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup passion fruit pulp (the easiest to find is the frozen Goya brand, sometimes with the frozen fruits, sometimes with the frozen ethnic foods)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup white sugar or vanilla sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
Neutral oil (like grape seed or canola) for the knife

Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside.

 
Make a lengthwise slit down the side of the vanilla bean and open it up. Scrape out the seeds and add it to a small saucepan along with the cream and butter.  (Tip:  Instead of throwing away the vanilla bean, store it in your sugar to make vanilla sugar!)

 
Heat on medium just until the butter is melted and turn off the flame. Gently stir to break up the vanilla seed clusters. Let steep for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the passion fruit pulp in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced in volume by half. Stir occasionally, making sure that it doesn't burn.

 
Once you are finished reducing the passion fruit pulp, remove it from the heat and stir in the salt, sugars, and vanilla cream mixture.

 
Return the pot to medium heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252°F.

 
Immediately remove caramel from heat and pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge.

 
Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well-oiled knife, oiling it after each cut, to cut the caramel into batons about 2" long and 3/8" wide. Wrap each one in waxed paper, twisting the sides to close.

I keep the caramels in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and let them warm to room temperature before eating.  They will also last a couple of weeks at room temperature.  These are so good, I can barely bear to share them, but if so inclined, they would make great Christmas gifts!

Three years ago:  Stuffed Delicata Squash
Four years ago:  Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

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Bacon Caramel Maple Ice Cream

I wasn't planning on doing another post on bacon and caramel after posting about bacon fat caramels and bacon caramel corn. But then I met the girl behind 3am Confections, Erika, and she started telling me about the bacon caramels that she makes, and I just knew I had to have some. These actually aren't on her website, but she made me a batch anyways and even hand-delivered them to me! Like the caramels I made, they're topped with Maldon salt and diced bacon. Unlike mine, they're butter based instead of made with bacon fat, which means they're not as soft at room temperature. Another huge difference is that she fries the bacon with a secret ingredient that gives the bacon a subtle kick.

After eating four of these in a row (because I couldn't stop myself), I decided to assert some self control because I wanted to immortalize these in an ice cream. At first I was thinking of just dicing them up and adding them to a sweet cream base so as to really highlight the caramels themselves. But then I came up with the idea of adding them to a maple ice cream since I do so love dipping my bacon slices in maple syrup. I based the maple ice cream on the maple walnut ice cream recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Bacon Caramel Maple Ice Cream

makes about 1 pint

1 large egg
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons maple syrup, grade B
1/2 cup 3am Confections bacon caramels, diced (about 8 caramels)

Whisk egg until light and frothy. Add sugar, a little at a time and whisk to dissolve. Add heavy cream, milk, and maple syrup. Cover and chill.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm, then fold in caramels. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

I found the maple flavoring to be really subtle; if I had some, I probably would add some maple extract to the ice cream base to bring out the maple flavor even more. The recipe in the Ben & Jerry's book suggests using a grade C maple syrup which would probably help as well.

The caramels get pretty hard, but not to the point where it will crack your teeth or anything. If it's something you're wary of, though, I'd suggest dicing the caramels finely so that you don't get a big hard gob in your mouth.

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Bacon Fat Caramels

When I first read about Humphry Slocombe's lard caramels, my first thought was, why didn't they just use bacon fat instead of lard? After all, candied bacon was all the rage already, and wouldn't bacon fat caramels sound so much more appetizing than lard caramels? And for those of you who think bacon fat caramel sounds disgusting, well, we don't have to be friends anymore. ;)

So I made sure to save as much bacon fat as I could from the bacon I used for the bacon caramel corn. I ended up with a little over 7 tablespoons of fat from about 10 oz. of uncooked bacon. I searched on-line to see if anyone else had posted a recipe for bacon fat caramels, but the only one I found used sweetened condensed milk instead of cream. I usually like sweetened condensed milk in my desserts, but it is a pretty strong flavor, and I really wanted the bacon flavor to shine through, so I ended up using a recipe for fleur de sel caramels and just replaced the butter with bacon fat.

Bacon Fat Caramels (adapted from a recipe on Epicurious)
makes about 40 candies

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons bacon fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.

Bring cream, bacon fat, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 3 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Optional: Sprinkle diced, cooked bacon and/or sea salt on top of the caramel when it is still slightly soft.

I actually didn't have any wax paper but found that wrapping the caramels in parchment paper worked fine. The caramels were pretty greasy, but I think that was more because of the oil I used to grease the parchment rather than from the bacon fat itself. I did notice that at room temperature, the caramels are really quite soft, so I would definitely keep these chilled until you serve them.

As for the taste, some people have said it tastes like bacon drenched in maple syrup. Others have said that they didn't even taste the bacon until they bit into the part that had a bit of diced bacon in it. I did prefer the pieces that I sprinkled sea salt (I used Maldon sea salt) on more than the pieces that just had diced bacon because I think the texture worked better with the sea salt. Although, I did press all the fat out of the diced bacon, so maybe if they weren't so dry, it would have worked better.

Oh, and since I had two leftover butter wrappers after making the bacon caramel corn, I cut them up to wrap some of the caramels. I kind of like how they look, even though it's false advertising.

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Bacon Caramel Corn

Author's note: I just woke up from this beautiful dream where I was staying at this hotel (true) in NYC (also true) where I was possibly going to be snowed in (dreadfully true), and the hotel had a restaurant run by Tony Maws (owner of Craigie on Main and so, so disappointingly false). See, if that were true, I would have had absolutely no problems with being stuck in that hotel because I knew I would at least be fed well. But alas, I am staying at a hotel that doesn't even have a true restaurant attached to it. And if I get stuck anywhere in NYC, it will probably be at LaGuardia, which has even less of a restaurant attached to it. Anyway, I think Chef Maws might approve of this recipe because not only does it not waste any part of bacon (and I even used Trader Joe's uncured bacon), I also used organic popcorn!

It starts with the best and healthiest of intentions. When I saw that Boston Organics was offering organic popcorn as an add-on, I thought, "Ooh! I love popcorn; I should order some!" And then once I received it, I thought, I could use my air popper (thanks, Susan, I'm still using it after all these years!) to pop this. But then the evil food fairy that sits on my left shoulder said, "Yes, you could, but what's the unhealthiest thing you could do with this?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you bacon caramel corn.

With all the hoopla over bacon the past couple of years, I figured (correctly) that I couldn't have been the first person to come up with the idea and googled for a recipe. I used the one I found on bunrab.com, and the only changes I made were omitting the almonds, using a cup of light brown sugar and a cup of dark brown sugar instead of 2 cups of golden brown sugar, and popping the popcorn in bacon fat, just because I had some and wanted to see what popcorn popped in bacon fat tasted like.

Bacon Caramel Corn (based on bunrab's recipe)
makes 3 pints

1/2 pound bacon
1/3 cup organic popcorn kernels*
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar (I used 1 cup light and 1 cup dark just because)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cut bacon into a fine dice and fry until crisp. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.

Heat the bacon fat in a large pot with a cover. Add 3 popcorn kernels and cover. Listen for all three kernels to pop, and add the rest of the popcorn kernels. Cover and shake until popping stops. Put popped corn in a non-stick roasting pan, making sure to remove the unpopped kernels.

Preheat oven to 200°F.

Heat butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan over medium high heat until it reaches 300°F on your candy thermometer.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda and bacon (the caramel will explode in volume at this point so make sure you use a large enough saucepan) and pour this caramel mixture over the popcorn (do this quickly so that the caramel doesn’t cool and stiffen).

Stir the mixture with a couple wooden spoons and place in the oven for a total of an hour rearranging the popcorn to evenly distribute the caramel and bacon every 15 minutes. Add more salt (if necessary) during this process. Cool and break into bite-sized pieces.

*Popping 1/3 cup of organic popcorn kernels gave me ~6 cups popped corn plus quite a few unpopped kernels. I'd guess if you are using a gourmet popping corn you may need to use less than 1/3 cup of kernels to get 6 cups of popped corn, which is the amount you need for this recipe.

So I tried some of the bacon fat-popped corn before dousing it with the caramel, and while I could taste a whiff of bacon, I personally think butter pairs better with popcorn. Bacon and caramel, however, pair together wonderfully (a fact which I will devote the next post to). Do I really need to describe how awesome bacon, caramel, and popcorn taste together? It's so good I had to hide this from some of my vegetarian friends for fear they'd give up their convictions just to try some. See what a good friend I am?

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Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

I don't remember when I first stumbled upon this recipe, but I do know that I've been wanting to make it ever since I first heard of it. I guess it was the whole making caramel thing that scared me off--one second too long on the stove and you end up with burnt sugar (although the burnt caramel ice cream flavor from Toscanini's is actually one of my favorites). But after I ran out of my last pint of Haagen-Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream, I needed something equally as decadent so I decided to finally try to make this, and I am so glad I did!

Let not the caramel making process scare you off, although I would shy away from it if you only have an electric stove as you really need to be able to control the heat. Just make sure you pay attention with your eyes and your nose. As soon as you start to smell something like burnt sugar, take it off the heat. As I read somewhere else, it is better to err on the side of burnt than to have only slightly browned sugar.

I didn't have any fleur de sel so I just used kosher salt, but whatever you do, do not use regular table salt; you need something refined and flaky here. I also didn't have any salted butter so I just used unsalted and added a pinch more salt, even though I still can't taste the salt in the finished product, so perhaps next time I will add a little extra. (Yes, it may sound gross, but I'm the girl that adds a sprinkle of sea salt to my chocolate ice cream; it's so good, you must try it!) The most drastic substitution I had to make was half and half for the heavy cream, but I think the ice cream turned out just fine and in fact maybe hardens a little more because of the greater water to fat ratio. This is a good thing because the large amount of sugar in the recipe keeps the texture very creamy and not as hard as I usually like my ice cream.

Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream (based on David Lebovitz's recipe)
Makes one generous quart*

For the caramel praline (mix-in):

½ cup (100 gr) sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher or sea salt, such as fleur de sel

For the ice cream custard:

2 cups (500 ml) whole milk, divided
1½ cups (300 gr) sugar
4 tablespoons (60 gr) butter
scant ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cups (250 ml) heavy cream (or half and half)
5 large egg yolks
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. To make the caramel praline, spread the ½ cup (100 gr) of sugar in an even layer in a medium-sized, unlined heavy duty saucepan. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or brush it sparingly with unflavored oil.

2. Heat the sugar over moderate heat until the edges begin to melt. Use a heatproof utensil to gently stir the liquefied sugar from the bottom and edges towards the center, stirring, until all the sugar is dissolved. (Or most of it—there may be some lumps, which will melt later.)
Continue to cook, stirring infrequently, until the caramel starts smoking and begins to smell like it's just about to burn. It won't take long.

3. Without hesitation, sprinkle in the ¾ teaspoon salt without stirring (don't even pause to scratch your nose), then pour the caramel onto the prepared baking sheet and lift up the baking sheet immediately, tilting and swirling it almost vertically to encourage the caramel to form as thin a layer as possible. Set aside to harden and cool.

4. To make the ice cream, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl about a third full with ice cubes and adding a cup or so of water so they're floating. Nest a smaller metal bowl (at least 2 quarts/liters) over the ice, pour 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk into the inner bowl, and rest a mesh strainer on top of it.

5. Spread 1½ cups (300 gr) sugar in the saucepan in an even layer. Cook over moderate heat, until caramelized, using the same method described in Step #2.

6. Once caramelized, remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt, until butter is melted, then gradually whisk in the cream, stirring as you go. This is one of the most dramatic reactions in the kitchen so please be careful and go slowly!

The caramel may harden and seize, but return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until any hard caramel is melted. Stir in 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk.

7. Whisk the yolks in a small bowl and gradually pour some of the warm caramel mixture over the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook the custard using a heatproof utensil, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture thickens. If using an instant-read thermometer, it should read 160-170 F (71-77 C).

8. Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk set over the ice bath, add the vanilla, then stir frequently until the mixture is cooled down. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

9. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. While the ice cream is churning, crumble the hardened caramel praline into very little bits, about the size of very large confetti (about ½-inch, or 1 cm).

11. Once your caramel ice cream is churned, quickly stir in the crushed caramel, then chill in the freezer until firm.

Note: As the ice cream sits, the little bits of caramel may liquefy and get runny and gooey, which is what they're intended to do. One day after I had made the ice cream, the caramel was still quite hard, but I'm hoping that will change as it continues to sit, although I'm not sure how long it will last!

*One of hardest parts of making ice cream is the patience factor. Not only do you have to wait for the mixture to chill in the fridge before you start churning (can take up to 8 hours!) but you have to wait again after you churn it for it to harden up. However, I've found that after transferring the just-churned ice cream to a container to freeze, the leftover ice cream stuck to the sides of the ice cream maker cannister is already hard enough to eat! This recipe is perfect because after filling up a quart-sized container there is enough left in the cannister for a full serving of the yummiest ice cream you may ever make. Thanks so much for the recipe, David!

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