Mini Apple Pies

One of my best friends, Denver, went apple picking and she offered to share her bounty with me for a baking date. These mini apple pies are perfect for sharing. It was a great way to catch up with a good friend and cover the entire kitchen with flour. My friend’s dog Moose joined us and it’s safe to say Winston enjoyed her more than Moose enjoyed him.

It has been fun to see both of us become dog moms. We met freshman year of college and we have seen each other through the good and the bad. She is the kind of person that will tell it to you straight every time and you’ll never get any BS. We all have those friends that just ‘get us’ and she is that friend for me.

So, make these mini apple pies and cuddle with your furry friend. And yes, you can use store bought dough to speed up the process, but nothing beats homemade dough. I used a large mason jar (turn it upside down) to cut out the dough circles, which is just the right size for a muffin tin.

Recipe via a Passionate Palate

CRUST (Martha Stewart):

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling dough
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons ice water, plus 2 more, if needed

FILLING

4-5 apples
½ cup sugar
2 tbsps flour
2 tsps cinnamon (I overdo it a bit)
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
2 Tbsps unsalted butter

CRUMB TOPPING

½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsps unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

CRUST: In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces remaining. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time).

Turn dough out onto a work surface; form dough into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. Roll out into a large, flat circle and cut out into smaller circles to fit inside a muffin tin.

Spray the muffin tin with nonstick baking spray first. Press them down in each muffin cup to create the crust for the mini apple pies.

FILLING: Peel and core the apples and cut them into pieces. Combine the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a medium bowl and gently toss to combine.

CRUMB TOPPING: Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the butter, and cut it into the flour mixture with your fingers, until the mixture resembles small crumbs.

ASSEMBLE THE PIES: Divide the apple mixture between the 12 pies, filling each all the way to the top of the cup. Sprinkle each pie generously with the crumb topping.

Bake the pies at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until the crumb topping and crust are brown and the apple filling is bubbly. Let the pies cool completely, then gently remove from the muffin pan.

Serve the pies at room temperature, or reheat them on a baking sheet before serving. Pies can be refrigerated for 3 days, or wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 1 month.