Salted Caramel Apple Pie

I made this super delicious caramel apple pie the other day. It was absolutely delicious. I don't even want to tarnish its deliciousness with an attempted description. Instead, I'll just tell you how to make it.

But first, let me rant about how stupidly difficult and frustrating it is to try to make your own pie crust. Just buy it. Seriously. Buy it.

First, prepare your ingredients.

2 pie crusts (I used Marie Callendar's frozen).
3 apples, cored, peeled, and very thinly sliced
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg (just a pinch)
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour

1/2 jar of Smuckers' caramel sauce (you could make your own, but really, I'm all about cutting corners)
Sea salt for sprinkling
1 egg, beaten

Allow one pie crust to thaw while you prepare the filling. Keep the other one frozen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F.

Toss the sliced apples in a bowl with the lemon juice. This prevents browning and adds extra flavor.

Mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and flour, then pour over apples and mix to coat evenly.

Remove the frozen pie crust. In the frozen crust, layer 1/3 of the apples so that there are minimal gaps. Drizzle 1/3 of the caramel over the apples. Layer another 1/3 of apples, then caramel, then apples, then caramel.

Pull the thawed crust out of the tin, and flatten on a clean, floured surface. You could do a lattice like I did, which is sort of difficult and time consuming, or you could cut shapes out and place them on the top of the pie. You could even just place the whole crust on top of the pie. If you do that, just make sure to cut several vent holes. Drizzle any remaining caramel over the crust, then sprinkle sea salt to your heart's content!

Brush the beaten egg over the pie crust. This gives the crust a beautiful golden brown color as it cooks.

Place pie on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow. Bake in 375 oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

The caramel will be runny, so the pie will be very saucy. I recommend serving with vanilla bean ice cream.

It would also be amazing with some melted cheddar cheese, cinnamon ice cream, or whipped cream! What's your favorite kind of pie, and accompaniments for pie?