Crystal's Caramel Apple Pie

Wednesday wass the 23rd Birthday of a very special friend and co-worker, Ms. Crystal, a.k.a "the hammer."  She requested a pie, and told me she likes apples and nuts.  We brainstormed and came up with a caramel apple pie with pecans as her birthday treat.  I looked around for various recipes but didn't find one I really liked, so I decided to wing it.  What we have is a standard apple pie, into which I have mixed toasted pecans and cut up caramels. 

 I had no clue what the caramels would do- would the dissolve? Would they clump together? Would they melt, leaving little pockets of gooey caramel?  Who knows?  Well, they dissolved, leaving a delicious caramel-y coating over everything.  It wasn't overpowering, but a nice addition to your normal apple pie.  I wasn't a huge fan of the nuts in it, but hey, it's not my birthday.

Caramel Apple Pie

Your Favorite Pie Crust (I like Martha's Pate Brise)

5 granny smith apples, cored, peeled, sliced

2 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

pinch allspice

pinch salt

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tbs butter

15 caramels, quartered

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

preheat oven to 350

roll out pie crust, place bottom crust in pie pan

toss apple slices in a bowl with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, cornstarch.  add caramel pieces and nuts, mix.  Place in pie shell.  scatter pieces of butter on top of apple mixture.  Place top crust over apples, seal edges, cut slits in top crust for venting.  Bake at 350 for around 40 minutes until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. place on a rack to cool.