Ingredients
Method
Make the crust
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spread the hazelnuts out on a small baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a food processor. Pulse to a fine crumb, with the same texture as almond flour. Add the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, and cold butter and pulse until the butter is broken up into pea sized crumbs.
- Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add in the water and use a spatula to fold the dough together. Dump the shaggy dough out onto a heavily floured work surface. Roll into a roughly 10 inch circle using a floured rolling pin. This dough is sticky so make sure you are rotating it and re flouring your surface frequently. Transfer the rolled out dough to a 9 inch pie plate. If desired flute or crimp the edges of the crust. Place the crust in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the crust and fill with pie weights. Bake with the weights for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and parchment poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, and bake for another 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool while we make the filling.
Make the pumpkin filling
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla extract, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. Once smooth, whisk in the heavy cream and whole milk. Pour the mixture into the warm pie crust. Bake at 375℉ for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is mostly set, with the filling still being a little wobbly. If the crust is browning too quickly, tent with foil. Place the tart on a wire cooling rack to cool.
Make the apples
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Once melted, it will begin to sizzle and foam, before it starts to brown. Just as it starts to brown, whisk in the brown sugar, followed by the apples. Cook the apples for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, bourbon, and vanilla. And toss to combine.
- Cook the apples on medium heat until most of the liquid has cooked off. This can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes, so just keep it cooking at a boil, stirring frequently. Once most of the liquid has cooked off, take the pan off the heat and let the apples cool while we make the caramel.
Make the caramel
- In a large saucepan, melt the sugar over medium heat. It may not look like it's melting at first, but eventually it will start to melt and turn an amber brown color. I recommend letting it melt untouched until it starts to bubble and melt in the middle, then stir it with a wooden spoon. Once melted, remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the butter. Be careful, it will splatter! Whisk until melted and mostly combined (it may still be a little split, but adding the cream should bring it together). Stir in cream and whisk vigorously to combine. It should even out into a thin caramel now. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Let the caramel cool in the pot for 10-15 minutes before pouring it into the apple mixture and stirring to combine. Set aside.
Make the cream
- Place the crème fraîche, granulated sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whip on high speed until you have stiff peaks.
- To serve, slice the cooled pie and top with a generous dollop of the cream and the warm caramel apples. Enjoy! Pie lasts for up to 5 days sealed in the refrigerator. The apples and cream should each be stored separately, and will also last up to 5 days sealed in the refrigerator.