Caramel Apple Crumble with Toffee Bourbon Sauce

An easy recipe for the most delicious caramel apple crumble, drizzled with salted toffee bourbon sauce and served warm with a scoop of creamy ice cream.

Looking for more apple desserts? You’ll love this apple cider cake with maple buttercream, baked apple cider doughnuts, brown butter apple crumb bars, and soft and chewy appledoodles.

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Is it a Crumble, Crisp or a Cobbler?

These terms can sometimes be used interchangeably, and all three involve fruit baked with a crumbly topping, but there are distinct differences. Unlike pies, there is no bottom crust in a crumble, crisp or a cobbler, just the fruit and the topping. A cobbler is the most distinctive, since the topping is more doughy and sugary, like a dense cake or a sweet biscuit. A crisp and a crumble are very similar, with a brown sugar streusel topping, but a crisp tends to include oats and/or nuts in the topping (which “crisp” up while baking), while a crumble usually doesn’t.

Why You’ll Love This Apple Crumble

Salty and Sweet. I love a good salty sweet combination, and with the salted crumble topping and salted caramel sauce, with the sweet, gooey apples, it’s just the best.

Bourbon. While I don’t enjoy drinking bourbon straight, it adds wonderful flavor to desserts. It’s totally optional, though, if you don’t want to add it.

Easy to Make. There’s a few different elements to this dessert, but each one is simple to put together. Your family will absolutely love this caramel apple dessert.

Ingredients

Apple Filling

• Apples. I like to bake with firmer apples, like Granny Smith, but for this recipe I used Honeycrisp, which are fantastic both for eating and baking.
• Flour. Thickens the juices.
• Dark Brown Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture to the apples.
• Spices. To complement the apples, I spiced them with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.
• Liquid. To add moisture and create a syrupy filling, I added lemon juice, water and bourbon. If you don’t use the bourbon, just add more water instead.

Crumble Topping

• Flour. Thickens the topping and gives it structure.
• Dark Brown Sugar. Sweetness.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Nutmeg. Flavor.
• Butter. Adds moisture, and makes the topping crisp and crumbly.

Sauce

The “caramel” part of this caramel apple crumble is all about the sauce, and I have two delicious options for you.

• Toffee Bourbon Sauce. Toffee sauce is a a quick and easy sauce to make, and pretty much foolproof. It’s a simple mixture of butter, brown sugar, salt, cream, and a splash of bourbon and vanilla, which only needs to be cooked on the stove for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. It’s smooth, rich and tastes fantastic drizzled over this apple dessert.
• Salted Caramel Sauce. Caramel sauce is slightly more difficult than toffee sauce, but if you follow all the tips in my recipe, you’ll love the results. It’s rich and buttery, with the most incredible caramel flavor.

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Instructions

Filling

• Preheat the oven to 375. Butter an 8-inch baking dish, or spray it with non-stick spray.
• Peel and core the apples, and slice them between 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick.
• In a bowl, toss the apples with the flour, sugar and spices until evenly coated.
• Add the lemon juice, water and bourbon and toss to combine.
• Pile the apples into the baking dish.

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Topping

• In the same bowl, combine 3/4 cup of flour with the sugar, salt and nutmeg.
• Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until crumbly, then use your hands to work the butter into the crumb mixture until evenly moistened and crumbly. If it seems too moist, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tbsp at a time.
• Sprinkle the topping over the apples.
• Bake on the center oven rack for about 35-40 minutes, until the apples are softened, the juices are bubbling and the topping is golden brown.
• Cool for 15 minutes and serve warm with ice cream and either the toffee sauce or caramel sauce.

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Sauce

• Prepare the recipe for either the Toffee Bourbon Sauce or the Salted Caramel Sauce.
• Note, if you’re new to caramel making, the toffee sauce is much quicker, easier and foolproof.
• You can make the sauce several days in advance, and rewarm it in the microwave on 50% power until warm and drizzly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of apples should I use?

I like to bake with firmer apples, like Granny Smith and Honeycrisp, which have a great flavor and don’t break down into applesauce as they cook.

What’s the difference between toffee sauce and caramel sauce?

Toffee sauce is a quick, easy sauce to make, simply by briefly cooking brown sugar, butter and cream, just for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. I add a pinch of salt and a little bourbon for added flavor. Salted caramel sauce is a bit trickier, and involves cooking granulated sugar until it’s deeply caramelized, then adding cream, butter and salt for a rich, velvety texture and flavor. If you’re new to caramel making, the toffee sauce is a great option for an inexperienced cook. Both sauces are incredible with this caramel apple crumble.

If I double the recipe, what size pan should I use?

This is a pretty modestly-sized recipe, making just 4-6 servings smallish. If you double the recipe, you can bake it in a 9×13 pan.

What ice cream would you recommend to serve with this dessert?

I have SO MANY fantastic ice cream recipes, both traditional custard-based ice cream and no churn options. You can never go wrong with vanilla bean ice cream, but I’d also recommend cinnamon, salted caramel, eggnog or pumpkin ice cream.

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