1 cup solid Crisco (1 stick; original, not butter-flavored)
¼ cup cold water
Streusel Topping:
½ cup packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup cold butter, cut into pieces
Pie Filling:
6-8 apples, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 package (11 ounces) caramels, unwrapped
½ cup chopped Spanish salted peanuts
Powdered sugar (optional)
Vanilla ice cream
Sprinkle of nutmeg
Instructions
For Pie Crust:
Using a pastry blender or two forks, combine the flour, salt, and Crisco until crumbly. Add the water and stir with a fork until the mixture comes together. Form into a ball, then divide in half and pat each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing rest of pie ingredients. (dough can be made a day ahead, if desired).
For Streusel Topping:
In a medium mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter and mix until crumbly; set aside.
For Pie:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch pie pan with one of the refrigerated dough disks, rolled out to fit with some overhang. Place ⅓ of apples in the prepared pan. Heat the caramels over low heat in a small skillet or in the top of a double boiler until caramels are softened, but not completely melted. Drizzle ⅓ of warm caramels over apples. Sprinkle ⅓ of chopped peanuts over caramels. Repeat layers, ending with peanuts. Scatter the reserved streusel topping over peanuts. Roll out remaining refrigerated crust and place on top of pie; tuck under and flute edges. Make several slits on top crust using a sharp knife. Bake pie at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until pie is golden and flaky. Let pie cool a little before cutting. If desired, you can sprinkle the pie with some powdered sugar. The pie is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some nutmeg sprinkled on the ice cream.
Recipe by The Culinary Cellar at https://theculinarycellar.com/taffy-apple-pie/