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Serving of caramel apple crisp on gray plate with ice cream also drizzled with caramel.

Caramel Apple Crisp

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Resting Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

Apple Filling:

  • 8 cups (1020 g) diced Honeycrisp or other sweet-tart crisp apple variety, about 4 to 5 large apples (see note)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ¼ cup (36 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup (165 g) caramel sauce (see note for storebought or homemade options)

Crisp Topping:

  • 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (212 g) packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup (100 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ cup (170 g) salted butter (12 tablespoons), cut into tablespoon-size pieces

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In a large bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice. Add the flour and cinnamon and toss until evenly combined. Add the caramel sauce and stir to combine. Depending on the thickness of the caramel sauce, it may clump up a bit; that's ok. Just stir to evenly distribute the sauce throughout the apples. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon until evenly combined. Add the butter and use a pastry blender or two butter knifes to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is in tiny pieces (smaller than pea-sized).
  • Scrape the apple mixture evenly into a 9X13-inch dish. Sprinkle the crisp topping evenly over the top.
  • Bake for 60-65 minutes until the topping is golden, the caramel is bubbling, and the apples are tender. Tent the crisp with foil if the topping is browning too quickly during baking.
  • Let the crisp rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and extra caramel sauce, if desired.

Notes

Apples: my favorite apples to use in this crisp are honeycrisp or cosmic crisp apples. If using another variety, you may need to increase or decrease the caramel sauce in the apple filling to compensate for the taste/sweetness of the apples.
Caramel Sauce: homemade or store bought caramel sauce can be used. My favorite store bought brand is Trader Joe's caramel sauce, but any brand will work as long as you like the flavor of it. Look for a caramel sauce that is thick but pourable instead of thin and runny. If you buy a 10- or 12-ounce jar of caramel, you'll have extra to drizzle over the crisp when serving, if desired.
My go-to homemade recipes are this 10-minute caramel sauce and this divine caramel sauce (which requires a bit more time).