Brown Butter Caramel Crumble Apple Pie

Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF).

Peal, core and slice apples. Toss in a large bowl with lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside for the flavours to come together and apples to become juicy.

Grease and flour pie dish (I used a 26cm or 10-inch round springform pan). Roll out pastry to the right size for your pie dish and line the dish or pan with the pastry (go all the way up the sides of the dish or pan). Cut off the excess with a knife. Score the bottom of the pastry several times with a fork and bake for 8 minutes until it is very lightly golden.

While pastry is baking, prepare caramel crumble. Place butter into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer until it browns—watch it closely so it doesn’t burn. Add brown sugar and vanilla and simmer until sugar dissolves. This sauce should thicken and become a bit like caramel. Stir in the oats and flour.

Place apples in the pastry case. You can arrange them in circles like I did, or just pile them in—it doesn’t have to be perfect! (Don’t pour in the excess juices.) Top with the caramel crumble. I like to crumble it on with my fingers to get a nice even layer.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 160ºC (320ºF) and bake for another 20 minutes until apples are tender and topping is golden brown. Take pie out of the oven and leave it to cool in the pie dish or pan for about 15 minutes before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.