Description
Save time in your pie-making ventures by making your own incredible caramelized apple filling. A bag in the freezer, and you’re ready to make a pie on demand with no fuss.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 pounds apples like Gala or Pink Lady (or about 1.5 kg)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (106 g)
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp apple pie spice or ground cinnamon
- 6 T butter (85 g)
- 1/4cup whiskey or rum (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (optional)
- 1/2cup raisins (optional)
- Juice of half a lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Peel the apples. Next, dice the apples into 1/2″ pieces.
- Mix the sugar, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl. Measure out the other ingredients and keep them close to the stove as you work.
- Melt about 2 Tablespoons of the butter in a large 12” skillet over medium heat. Add just enough apples to cover the bottom of the pan; this should be about one third of the apples. Stir to coat the apples in butter.
- Saute the apples, stirring them occasionally for about 5 minutes. Once they have some brown around the edges and bottom of the pieces, sprinkle them with the sugar mix. Don’t worry about how much you’re adding since you’ll add all of the sugar and cinnamon eventually and mix the batches of apples together at the end.
- Keep cooking until the sugar starts to caramelize—another 5-10 minutes. You’ll notice that the sugar will start making trails along the bottom of the pan.
- Taste the apples at this point. The apples should be close to tender, but if they still need a little cooking, pour a small amount of water into the pan. Stir the bottom to loosen the sugar, then cover the apples for 2 minutes or so. Check the doneness again and repeat adding water until the apples are tender.
- If you’re adding the alcohol, first turn on your exhaust fan. Pour in about 1/3 of the measured whiskey. Stir to coat the apples, then tilt the pan and light the alcohol with a BBQ lighter. Swirl or toss the apples until the flames subside.
- Transfer the apples to a bowl to cool.
- Make the other two batches of apples the same way.
- Mix all the apples together in the bowl, then add the vanilla if you’re using. Add in the raisins if you’re using them.
- You can use the apples straight away, refrigerate them, covered for up to 1 week, or freeze them for up to 3 months in an airtight plastic bag.
Notes
- Raisins: Feel free to skip the raisins, though I always add them for strudel. They’re particularly important in the strudel as they will soak up any extra juices that can make your strudel soggy.
- Lemon: If you like your apple filling a little more tart, add in the juice of half a lemon with the whiskey. Sometimes lemon is a good addition if your apples seem too sweet or if you start with an extra sweet apple like a honeycrisp. Sometimes I add it, sometimes not. You taste and decide.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Baking building blocks
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American, German
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 118
- Sugar: 15
- Sodium: 39
- Fat: 4
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 19
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 11