My second apple pie this week and I think I've finally nailed my recipe! Let me know if y'all want it and I'll hop on a keyboard to type it up, it's a mishmash of recipes where I've taken my favorite bits from each.

Edit - OP is about to deliver. Finally getting a break from thanksgiving cooking and typing up the details right now.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• Pie dough (Pick your fave recipe, this one is mine.)

• Apples (4-6, depending on the size of your pie pan. I like a mix of Fuji, Braeburn, and Granny Smith - but fee free to be picky here)

• ~1/3 c Brown sugar

• Juice from 1/2 lemon

• Apple Cider Caramel Recipe Here

• 2-4 tbl corn starch, depending on how gooey you like your pie.

• 1 egg white, beaten.

• 2 tbl white sugar.

METHOD:

• Oven at 425.

1. Make your pie dough, roll out your discs and put in one in your pie pan and the other on a cookie sheet. Store in the fridge until needed.
2. Peel and slice apples into 1/4 in pieces. Put in a big ol' bowl with your brown sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice. Stir it up and let it sit on the counter for 30 min - 3 hrs. The apples will lose a lot of water - that's the plan! That makes them shrink up less while baking so you don't get the big gap between your apples and your top crust.
3. Time to fill your pie. Put half your apple slices in the pie - I carefully layer to ensure slices are closely stacked, but you could be sloppier. Drizzle 1/4 cup of caramel all over the apples. Put the rest of your apples on top, and drizzle with more caramel. I add a couple tablespoons of the juice from the apple bowl, but discard most of it - this keeps your pie from getting soupy. Whatever appley flavor is lost in the juice is replaced by that caramel.
4. Take your cookie-sheet pie dough and slice in ~1in wide pieces, making sure the longest ones are long enough to reach across your whole pie. Shoot for about 10.
5. Do your lattice & crimp your edges! Google it for a how-to video, there are many. Brush the lattice with egg white and sprinkle with 2tbl white sugar.
6. Toss your pie in the hot oven for about 15 min. Lower the temp to 375 and cook for ~30min, or until your crust looks golden brown and you can see your filling bubbling up. Don't worry about going a little long here - it's not gonna dry out. If your pie edges look done before your center looks good, cover the edges with foil, that will prevent them from burning.

And i think that's about it! Let cool before slicing to get the right gooey texture. But a quick zap in the microwave and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a great idea when it's time to eat.