Best Caramel Apple Cobbler
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Best Caramel Apple Cobbler is a sweet taste of fall baked into a dessert. This recipe is comfort food at it’s best. Tart apples, sweet caramel, and warm cinnamon combined with a buttery crust is the quintessential recipe to make during the fall months.
This dessert tastes like an apple pie but is much simpler to make, especially if you’re not an expert pie crust maker.
I enjoy the “bready” cobbler part of this dessert, it’s buttery and the brown sugar and water create a caramel sauce that really makes the dessert. The apples I chose retain their shape but are soft in texture. It’s a great combination of flavors and textures.
Just a note, I highly recommend serving it warm with a big scoop of good guality vanilla bean ice cream!
When baking with apples the variety is important. I prefer a sweet, tart flavor and an apple that doesn’t cook to mush. After all, I want Apple Cobbler not Apple Sauce Cobbler.
The Best Apples for Baking
I used Honeycrisp apples for this recipe. They are one of the top recommended apples for baking. Other apples that are good to use in baked recipes are Granny Smith, Gala, and Mutsu (Crispin).
First of all, for Best Caramel Apple Cobbler results, try using two different varieties of apples for optimum flavor and a more complex-tasting cobbler, cake, or pie! (These same tips apply to my Apple Fritter Cake, Fresh Apple Cake, and other apple recipes.)
Also, cut your apples into varying sizes so that some pieces cook down into the cake while the larger pieces provide a nice, bright apple flavor.
Best Caramel Apple Cobbler Tips
- You can substitute
all-purpose flour for the self-rising flour in this recipe. That substitution is 1 cupall-purpose flour , 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Obviously, adjust according to the recipe amounts. - I’m not a fan of nutmeg. If you aren’t either, you may omit it in this recipe.
- If you haven’t baked one of my other highly popular cobblers, you may not be familiar with the hot water trick. You may even think it doesn’t work, and you’ve completely ruined the dessert. Have faith. It will work. Now, I know these cobblers have a lot of sugar, but the brown sugar and hot water are what create the caramel sauce. I don’t recommend reducing the amount of sugar. It’s a dessert, after all. Enjoy it and do extra cardio to make up for it.
- I recommend fresh apples. I have not tested the recipe with apple pie filling.
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Best Caramel Apple Cobbler
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Ingredients
APPLES
- 2 cups apples peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg optional, omit if it’s a spice you don’t like
COBBLER MIXTURE
- 1 and 1/2 cups self-rising flour read post for substitution
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
SAUCE
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a saute pan.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer until sugar is melted, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour apples and sauce into a 9×13 inch oven-safe pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, whole milk, and vanilla. (It should be the consistency of pancake batter. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons milk if necessary.)
- Carefully pour batter over the apples in the casserole dish.
- Evenly sprinkle 1 cup brown sugar over the top.
- And then carefully pour 1 and 1/2 cup hot water over the mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees 50 to 55 minutes or until cobbler is set in the center and golden brown on top.
- Serve warm or room temperature. It’s great with vanilla ice cream.
- Store in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. (It won't last that long)
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
Has anyone tried this with a gluten free flour? What adjustments did you make to liquid volume and bake time and temp?
Yes I made it with gluten free flour and we all enjoyed it, it was delicious. There was enough for the next day and it tasted even better!
I was a little skeptical as I got to the end steps, but I’m so glad that I followed through to the end. What an amazing recipe! This has become our go to every fall when we pick apples. Thank you for sharing this with us, and for those of you who are wondering how it can possibly work, just do it!
❣️Thank you so much!! It does seem crazy but, wow, we love it too. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Have a great day!
Where’s the space for 10 stars? I had my reservations, after reading the comments from people who said it was “runny” or otherwise didn’t work, but I did what you said, and it’s delicious! I made it as a gift for a neighbor who did an enormous favor for me; betcha he and his wife will love it!
Now to make them some ice cream to “go with.”
Thank you for this recipe!
My apples all kinds floated to the top. Seemed like a lot of water at end
I haven’t tried it just yet, but I was wondering if Blackberries could be used in place of the apples??? If so, do I use the same process, ingredients, etc.,? Please let me know as soon as you are able to. I’m looking forward to making it. Thank you so much.
Yes, you can sub any fruit. I did it with peaches in this post: https://www.callmepmc.com/peach-pecan-cobbler/
I just made your apple cobbler and it is very runny. I’ve put it back in the oven to bake some more. Does yours do what it’s supposed to after 55 min?
It gets thicker as it cools.
I like to control my sauce until i see how the base recipe is — so if i veto the final step with the hot water and brown sugar will that ruin the setting of the cobbler?
Yes. The recipe won’t work without that step/ingredients.
I follow this recipe As written. It came out absolutely beautiful and it was so delicious. I would highly recommend trying this recipe.