Southern Comfort Caramel Apple Pie with (Machine FREE) Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream

Phew that's a mouthful! A delicious mouthful. Mum has been asking me for months to make an apple pie, but I always found something that I wanted to bake more, or needed to bake more urgently (people can be very demanding when they know you like baking!). 

I also found so many apple pie recipes that looked like they would taste good, but not be anything particularly spectacular, and not being the biggest apple pie enthusiast myself, I wanted to find a recipe that would blow my socks off.  

I don't drink much these days, but I love incorporating alcohol into my baking, so a Southern Comfort caramel sounded heavenly. I didn't actually have a bottle of the stuff, but there is now a fairly full bottle sitting in my pantry. Does anyone have any recipes that would call for a good swig of SoCo? Cocktail recipes would be welcome too!

I thought that a cinnamon ice cream would go nicely with apple pie, but sadly I don't own an ice cream machine, so I was just planning on mixing some cinnamon with regular vanilla ice cream. After a very quick search though, I found a super super easy recipe for machine-free cinnamon bun (or any other flavor that you can imagine!) ice cream! It's crazy creamy and not at all icy, like the machine free frozen yogurt I tried to make once. It's actually so creamy that you don't need to eat as much as normal to feel satisfied (and it takes a lot of ice cream to quench my cravings!). I'm definitely going to make it again with different flavor combinations, possibly something with coffee or peanut butter to make it a little less sweet. Let me know of any suggestions you have!

Next time I make this, I think I'll reduce the sugar (I actually only reduced it a tiny bit this time, because I didn't want to mess around with the chemistry of the caramel), and add a bit more Southern Comfort, as the taste didn't come through quite as much as I wanted. I will leave the pecan crumble topping exactly as is though, as it was absolutely perfect. 

Southern Comfort Caramel Apple Pie 

Recipe barely adapted from 20 Something Cupcakes

Pie crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup (10-2/3 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

1. Combine dry ingredients in a food processor, or mixer with a paddle attachment, and mix for 30 seconds.  
2. Add to butter and pulse or mix until the dough becomes crumbly, then add water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Pulse or mix on low for around 10 seconds after each tablespoon. If the dough does not start to come together after all the water has been added, mix for a little bit longer, or add a bit more water if it looks too dry. Mine never quite came into a ball, but all of the dough was the right consistency, so at this point I turned it out onto cling wrap and formed it into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Lightly flour a clean bench top and roll the dough out until it is large enough for your pie pan, and about 1/8 inch thick. I don't actually have a deep dish pie pan, so I used a 9-10 inch casserole dish, and it actually worked really well, because this dough is stable enough that it won't fall all over itself and ruin your beautiful pie. Whatever you do, don't use a shallow dish, because you will have wayyyy too much filling and your caramel will end up all over your oven floor. 
4. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork and refrigerate again until ready to be filled.

Pecan crumble topping

1/2 cup pecan halves
1/3 cup sugar (I probably used 1/6 cup)
3 tablespoons firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (5-1/3 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1.  Toast the pecans at 350F/175C for 7-9 minutes, until darkened but not burnt. Chop them up coarsely and set aside. 
2. Process the rest of the dry ingredients in a food processor (you don't have to wash the processor if you just used it for your pie dough), then add the bitter and process until crumbly. 
3. Pour this mixture into a bowl, and mix in the pecans. Refrigerate until required.

Apple filling

5 to 6 medium-sized tart apples, such as Braeburn, Cortland, or Winesap - I used 6 Granny Smith
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Southern Comfort liqueur
1/2 cup whipping cream

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
2. Peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4 inch thick slices. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high, and when foaming, add the apples and cook for 5-10 minutes, until they have released juices and have softened. Sprinke over the sugar and cinnamon and stir into the apples. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to simmer for another few minutes, then remove the apples with a slotted spoon (try and reserve as much of the liquid in the pot as possible) and transfer to a large baking sheet. If you can place all the apples in a single layer, that's great, but if there is some overlap it's not going to be a disaster.
3. Pour the Southern Comfort into the pot and cook over medium for about 5 minutes, or until the alcohol burns off (you know the alcohol has burned off when your nose isn't stung when you smell the sauce!)
4. Add the cream and continue to simmer until the caramel is thick, about 5-10 minutes. 
5. Take off the heat, then return the apples to the pot and mix until well coated. 
6. Pour the filling into the pie crust and top with pecan crumble. Leave at least 1/2 inch of crust sticking over the top of the filling, or you might get caramel lava all over your oven. 
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the topping has darkened and the filling is bubbling. 
8. Resist the urge to dig in straight away and cool the pie for at least 2 hours before cutting, to give the filling time to set.

Machine Free Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream
Recipe from Kevin & Amanda

2 cups heavy cream, very cold
14 oz/400g sweetened condensed milk (reduced fat is fine)
2-3 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Whisk all the other ingredients together in a large bowl, then fold in the whipped cream in two additions. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart/2L container and freeze for 6 hours, or until firm.

Enjoy!