I’ve always been in love with caramel apples. They were a special treat from the fair, we made them at home and I loved to dip apple slices into caramel sauce. Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Crisp is one of those caramel apple treats that we love!
The crisp of the apples with the sweetness of the caramel is just so, so good. While I loved caramel apples as a child, it was later in life when I discovered my love of apple crisps. Since I love them both, why not combine those two things together!?
I’ve been using my slow cooker a lot, I finally got a new one and I think that’s why I’ve been trying to make everything in it lately. This is a take on my regular “oven” apple crisp but I’ve added sweet caramel to it and cooked it all in the slow cooker so that dessert can cook but I can still have the oven for dinner.
This slow cooker Caramel Apple Crisp takes about 2 hours to cook. The longest part of the prep time is chopping the apples into wedges and peeling the skins from them.
Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Crisp
Ingredients
- 6 golden delicious apples
- 2 boxes yellow cake mix
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon powder
- 1 stick butter melted
- 1/4 cup caramel sauce
- Ice Cream optional
Instructions
- Slice and peel the apples.
- In a large bowl, combine the yellow cake mix, sugar and cinnamon powder.
- Add in the melted butter and stir to combine and crumbly.
- Pour apples into bowl of slow cooker.
- Set slow cooker to high.
- Pour the caramel sauce over the apples.
- Pour dry ingredients over the apples and caramel. Spread it out with a spoon so that the entire surface is covered.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. After 2 hours, set the slow cooker to low and remove the lid. Let sit for 30 minutes without the lid so that the top of the crisp can harden.
- Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Drizzle.
We love to serve this warm with vanilla ice cream and we drizzle extra caramel over the top for a sweet treat!
Angie is a contributing writer for Eat at Home. She lives in VA with her husband (BigBear) and their 4 dogs (who might as well be their children)! She blogs over at BigBearsWife.com about her favorite recipes, love of travel and she even throws in a few crafts here and there.You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
OH.MY.GOODNESS! I do believe I’m foaming at the mouth! =) I recently made your ‘regular’ crockpot apple crisp…served it to company, and we were all impressed. Can’t imagine why I didn’t think to add caramel, as I’m such a fan. Thanks for sharing this amazing creation. Since I was already going to be repeating the crockpot recipe…next time I will be making this version.
This might be a dumb question but is cinnamon powder the same thing as ground cinnamon? Just making sure–
Yes, cinnamon powder and ground cinnamon are the same.
OH my gosh, yum!!! I can’t wait to try this! thanks for sharing!
I made this last night and it is really BUT I would definitely cut the topping in half, it just was too much. I think 2 boxes of cake mix made too thick (in bulk) of a topping. Has anyone else thought this? You really had to dig deep into the bottom of the crock pot to reach the apples since there was all that topping.
Hey Becky! Glad you got to try it! We like the 2 boxes of cake mix for ours because 1 box didn’t cover all of the apples in the crock pot I used, but depending on everyone’s tastes you could reduce the amount of cake mix or add more apples. 🙂
I absolutely agree with you ! Either cut the topping in half or double the apples. I tried this recipe as printed and I agree, too much topping and not enough apples. However I think that with less topping it would be perfect !
Angie, I think I will make up the 2 cake boxes recipe but use only about 2/3 of it The amount of apples seemed fine but maybe I sliced them too thin.
How many does this serve? I want to make it for a dinner party and want to be sure I have enough for everyone!
I got about 8 servings from this. 6 very big ones
Do you mix the cake according to the box or just put it in?
Bigswife, I think I just emailed you a comment and it’s wrong. I thought you had commented on a different recipe. For this one, you’ll mix the dry cake mix with cinnamon, sugar and then add melted butter to make crumbs. You won’t mix it like it calls for on the box.
Thank you 🙂
This looks awesome. I have volunteered to make this for dessert for thanksgiving this year. Will come back and post on the family’s reaction.
Finally back to comment. This was delicious and a huge hit for thanksgiving. My family wants me to make it next year. I might use a bit more apples next time. Actually my family lines it so much that they have requested I make it for Passover using special Passover cake mix instead of the regular boxed mixes.
How thick is everyone slicing their apples? Maybe mine didn’t come out right when I first made it because.
I sliced the apples too thin. Appreciate the help..
Becky, I think 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick would work well.
Thanks I think I will try it again and make my slices about that size. I probably just sliced the
apples too thin the first time.
Has anyone tried this recipe with a different type of apple – ie., gala or honeycrisp?
I was wondering the same thing. Shouldn’t you use a baking apple like a GrannySmith? Wouldn’t a Delicious or Figi just turn to mush?
I use any kind of apples I have when I make crisps. Some may work better than others, but I’ve never had a bad apple in the bunch (sorry for the pun!) 🙂
Has anyone used brown sugar instead of white sugar?
What size crock pot are you using – I have a standard size and a large Kalorik. My party is for 12 people, should I use the large one and 3 cake mixes and increase the other ingredients?
Anne, I think the large one and increasing the recipe would work well for 12 people.
I made this tonight! I’d say it’s more like a cobbler than a crisp, but it turned out yummy! I used one box of spice cake mix and one box of butter cake mix. I also added some pecans.
Looks Like A Good recipe But It Is A Little ToO Generic For Me. First, ThereAreMultipleSizes OfCakeMixes AtTheStoreAndMultipleSizesOf CrockPots. AmI SupposedToUseThe 8 Oz CakeMix OrThe Appx. 16 Oz Mix. Also, IsThIsRecipe For the SmallRound Pot Or The LargeFamily Size Oval Pot? THanks ForYourHelP. SorryAbout TheFormat Here. = (
Use the 16oz mix. This should work in a 4-6 quart slow cooker.
Has anyone tried this with a gluten-free cake mix? I have a friend allergic to wheat and oats. I haven’t been adventurous with modifying dessert recipes yet, although the King Arthur gluten free cakes pass muster at parties – people have no idea they’re gluten free.
I am gluten free and have modified many recipes. I am trying this one this weekend. But for similar ones I have tried I LOVE the new pillsbury cake mixes. Betty crocker brand works very well too. They have a lot of flavor and are not grainy at all. They also act like a regular cake mix. More so that others I have tried anyway. My husband actually prefers these over regular nongluten free mixes now.
i love the flavor of this its really close to what “po folks restaurant” used to serve BUT i had about 2 inches of apples and 4 of the topping WAY to much! will remake it with a lot less topping. Oh i also made mine with granny smith green apples was great with those 🙂
I’m glad you liked it! 🙂 Sorry about it being way to much topping. We’re split down the middle in my family as half of us like lots and lots of topping and the other half thinks it’s too much. I normally just make it like this and they can choose if they want to eat all of the topping or not.
I made this the other night, and after 2 hours of cooking the dry ingredients were still on top looking just like they did when I poured them in. Totally dry. I had to leave so unplugged the crockpot. I mixed it up after it was cool and stored it in the fridge. Will try reheating it for a while later today. Any suggestions? Should I add just a bit of milk or water?
Did you add the melted butter to the dry ingredients?
Yes.
Hmmm…I’m not sure why it would still be dry on top then. That’s strange. Maybe try adding another drizzle of melted butter before warming it in the oven or slow cooker. Sorry it isn’t behaving properly!
Thanks I’ll try that!
Tonight we tried this and made a few alterations due to what was on hand. We used 1 carrot cake mix, 3 HUGE Granny Smiths, 3/4 stick of butter and caramel sauce in our round crock pot.
While we did not wit for the top to crisp up, we were not disappointed at all! WOW! The carrot cake mix already was full of seasoning. Hubby and I liked it so much, we might just hide it from the kids!
I love the idea of using carrot cake mix!
OMG this was so heavenly good! I didnt let it sit uncovered because I like super soft stuff like this. But it was delish. The only change I would make is to cut the sugar down a bit and the cake mix down a bit so its not as sweet as it was for me, but thats because it hurts my sweet tooth!
But mmmmmmmmm so good!
How do you think Honeycrisp apples would taste? Thanks 😉
Honey crisp are my favorite apples!
Cannot wait for this to come out of the slow cooker. It smells DELICIOUS.
I have made a bit of a blunder…..only used one cake mix (as per some of the suggestions) but forgot to un-double the cinnamon, sugar and butter.
Will let you know how it turns out.
Cheers!
This looks great! I’ll have to try this for the season
Can you bake this in the oven? I’ll have dinner in the crock pot and only have one.
Yes, 350 degrees for 45-1 hour should do it.
Do you think it’s a must to peel the apples? Or would it taste good with? Thank you!
I think the peels might be a strange texture in this one.
How many servings does this yield? Also, if doubled, would it fit in 6qt Crock in your opinion?
Could you use apple pie filling?
You can use apple pie filling – it will have a different consistency and will definitely be sweeter, but probably still delicious!