Homemade Bourbon Butterscotch Apple Pie

This ain’t your Mama’s apple pie! This easy apple pie recipe features a boozy twist on the American classic by combining the apple pie you love with a homemade bourbon butterscotch sauce.

And with fall in full swing, I have a serious case of pie-on-the-brain. <– Can’t decide if this would be the worst or most delicious medical diagnosis ever…

And nothing screams fall like APPLE PIES, YO! 

But this ain’t your Mama’s apple pie, this is BOURBON BUTTERSCOTCH APPLE PIE. It’s everything you loved about your childhood with a boozy, adult twist!

Prefer to watch the process?

Here’s how to make this apple pie

First, make the bourbon butterscotch sauce.

In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients for the bourbon butterscotch sauce, and cook over medium-low heat.

Once the brown sugar has dissolved, continue cooking the sauce for about 15 more minutes, stirring frequently, until it coats the back of a spatula and has thickened and reduced. 

The sauce should be bubbling but shouldn’t be boiling.

Second, prepare your filling.

Peel and thinly slice your apples. In a large bowl, stir together the sliced apples, cinnamon, and flour. Add the bourbon butterscotch and stir until the apples are completely coated.

Finally, assemble your pie.

Press one pie crust into a pie pan, trimming the edges so only 1/2″ hangs over the rim of the pan. If you’re interested in making your own pie dough, I highly recommend checking out my favorite flaky pie crust recipe.

Pour the filling into the crust. Spread so the filling is evenly distributed.

If you want to do a simple crust, simply cover the filling with your second pie crust, sealing the edges with a little bit of water. If you’d like to replicate the crust I made, I cut the second crust into 1/4″ strips and criss-crossed them in groups of three.

Bake at 425F for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Expert tips

If you’re new to pie making, no worries! Here are some tips to help you make this pie perfectly the first time around.

• Keep your pie dough cold. Because pie dough is mostly butter and flour, you’ll want to keep it cold at every step of the process. And a pie that has cold dough when it enters the oven is less likely to sink down as it bakes. It also produces a flakier crust.
• Handle the dough as little as possible. This goes back to the notion of keeping your dough cold but also because pie dough can get tough if it’s handled too much.
• Use aluminum foil or a “pie shield” to protect your crust while baking. As we all know, the outer edges of the crust tend to brown faster than the center of the pie. You can keep the edges from getting too dark by loosely folding strips of aluminum foil around the outer edge or by using a pie shield.
• Make sure your filling is bubbling. While we often look to the crust as an indication of doneness, we also want to make sure the filling is boiling. Fruit pies, in particular, need to boil in order to thicken properly.
• Brush your crust with an egg wash. Beating an egg and brushing it onto the crust of your pie will help you get that perfect golden brown color with just a hint of shine.
• Shelf life: this pie will keep for approximately 2 days at room temperature.

Frequently asked questions

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it went in the comments below. Better still, snap a photo and tag it on Instagram with #thesimplesweetlife. I love seeing your creations!

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If you liked this, you might also like…

• Cranberry meringue pie
• Caramel apple snack cake
• Cranberry orange pie
• Eplekake (Norwegian apple cake)

Update Notes: This post was originally published in May of 2017 but was republished with an updated format, photos and tips in September of 2020.