This semi-homemade apple pie is a brilliant shortcut to apple pie pure bliss. The crust is flaky, the apple filling is caramelized, perfectly spiced, and bursts with fall flavors.

Why easy and semi-homemade apple pie should get your attention 

Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for a large crowd calls for plenty of resourcefulness and serious time-planning skills.

As I mentioned in my previous post: Thanksgiving Dinner Made Easy: Lessons Learned the Hard Way,  store-bought quintessential ingredients rush to our rescue when we are totally overwhelmed by the number of dishes we have to serve on this special holiday.

This apple pie calls for store-bought puff pastry. Making a pie crust from scratch while you and your kitchen are steaming could be quite tricky and frustrating. Thanks to the handy puff pastry, this pie takes no more than 30 minutes of active prep time.  

For the pie filling, the apples are seasoned with warm, pungent spices and sweetened with brown sugar that gently cooks and caramelizes on medium-low heat. The swirls of golden strips on the surface of the pie add a special festive appearance.

To perk things up, I serve the pie with a good quality vanilla ice cream. I also propose here a shortcut for a luscious salted caramel-bourbon sauce! I bring a cup of store-bought salted caramel sauce to below simmering point and add two tablespoons of bourbon, turn off the heat et voila, I get the sauce handy.

Childhood Memories of Apple Pie 

Apple pie is a foreign dish to the traditional Egyptian repertoire. Growing up in Egypt, apples were a rarity up until the nineties.    

I recall my family, among others, driving for a few hours to Port Said— a charming port city in the north-east of Egypt—to purchase imported Lebanese and American red apples.  

Thanks to an agricultural revolution and open market policies, locally grown and imported apples are now omnipresent in wide varieties across Egypt. 

My first encounter with apple pie was a revelation. Growing up in cosmopolitan Alexandria, Egypt, I vividly recall our neighbor Auntie Adria. The first person who introduced me to Apple Pie.

She grasped the recipe of American apple pie from her time spent in the US with her immigrant kids. And she was able to adeptly replicate it and serve it to her friends and neighbors in Alexandria, Egypt.

T. Andrea’s apple pie was a sensation. The filling was a concoction of perfectly caramelized apples, spiced up by cinnamon and cloves and studded with sultanas. This scrumptious filling was sandwiched between two flaky crusts which shatter and melt in your mouth once you bite into them. That unique food experience remained my reference point for what a perfect apple pie could be.

How to Make this Semi-homemade Apple Pie 

This pie is a perfect shortcut for beginners. You will wow your Thanksgiving guests without breaking a sweat. It comes together so quickly, and the steps are crystal clear.

Step 1

Cook the apples. In a heavy-bottom dish, cook the apples tossed with spices and sugar. When the apples are soft and bubbling, turn off the heat and let the filling come to room temperature.

Step 2 

Place one puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to a 9-inch circle.

Step 3

Assemble the pie. Wipe the bottom of a round 9-inch Pyrex heat-resistant dish with softened butter and line it with the rolled puff pastry dough. Trim the excess dough. Keep it in the fridge to remain cold. With a dough cutter or a sharp knife, cut strips of dough (3/4 of an inch) and twist them.

Keep them in the fridge until you are ready to use them. Get the baking dish out of the fridge, sprinkle a layer of granola to absorb the saucy apples, and prevent the crust from getting soggy. Fill up the crust with the apple filling.

Lay down, in a spiral shape, the twisted strips over the filling, starting from the edges of the round pan, until you cover the entire surface of the pie. When you are done, place the pie back in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 4

Brush the surface of the pie with egg wash and place it immediately in the preheated oven at 400 °F for 20-30 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown and the caramelized filling is oozing in between the twisted strips.

Step 5 

Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of Bourbon-salted Caramel Sauce.

The Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce

1. Microwave a cup of a store-bought salted caramel sauce for a minute. Add two tablespoons of bourbon. Turn off the heat. Let it cool. Drizzle it on top of the apple pie.

In the recipe below, I listed a recipe for made-from-scratch Salted Caramel Bourbon sauce if you feel tempted to make it from scratch.

---

Apple Pie and Bourbon Salted Caramel

Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS

The Crust 

• 2 sheets of puff pastry
• 1/2 cup flour or more for dusting the work surface
• 1 tablespoon of butter

The Filling 

• 5 apples, Granny Smith, cored and quartered
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 spoon ginger
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sultanas, almonds, or walnuts (optional)
• 1/4 cup toasted granola
• 1 egg, beaten for the egg wash

The Bourbon-Caramel Sauce 

• 1 cup granulated (white) sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Cook the apples. In a heavy-bottom dish, cook the apples tossed with spices and sugar. When the apples are soft and bubbling, turn off the heat and let the filling come to room temperature.
3. Place one puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to a 9-inch circle.
4. Wipe the bottom of a round 9-inch Pyrex heat-resistant dish with softened butter and line it with the rolled puff pastry dough. Trim the excess dough. Keep it in the fridge to remain cold.
5. With a dough cutter or a sharp knife, cut strips of dough (3/4 of an inch) and twist them. Keep them in the fridge until you are ready to use them.
6. Get the baking dish out of the fridge, sprinkle a layer of granola to absorb the saucy apples, and prevent the crust from getting soggy.
7. Fill up the crust with the apple filling.
8. Lay down, in a spiral shape, the twisted strips over the filling, starting from the edges of the round pan, until you cover the entire surface of the pie.  When you are done, place the pie back in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9. Brush the surface of the pie with egg wash and place it immediately in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown and the caramelized filling is oozing in between the twisted strips.
10. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of Bourbon-salted Caramel Sauce.

The Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce

1. Microwave a cup of a store-bought salted caramel sauce for a minute. Add two tablespoons of bourbon. Turn off the heat. Let it cool. Drizzle it on top of the apple pie.