Mini Apple Pies

This week is one of our best friend’s birthday so naturally Matt and I wanted to cook his favorite dinner. When I started talking to his wife about this we decided it had to be a surprise party. We totally pulled it off!! Anyways…when I asked what his favorite cake was her reply was Apple pie! I knew I didn’t want to do just an ordinary apple pie so I decided to make everyone their own mini pie using my muffin pan! These turned out so good and not to mention they were super cute!

A couple of things about making mini apple pies:
1) you have to cook your apples first
2) apples shrink when they bake so fill them past the top of the muffin tin
3) when baking set the muffin tin on a cookie sheet to protect your oven from spills

This recipe makes 24 mini pies using a traditional size muffin pan.

Ingredients:
7 pounds baking apples (I used gala)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg ( fresh is best but you can use whatever you have)
Cornstarch
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions
1. Peel and core all the apples. Then cut into 1/4 inch pieces. I did mine in cubes
2. In a large Dutch oven stir together all the filling ingredients.
3. Cook covered over medium heat stirring occasionally until the apples are tender. This could take about 30 minutes
4. Uncover and cook until the liquid thickens and becomes similar to syrup. Remove the apples from the heat and let cool for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Take a deep breath because your house will smell fantastic!!!

* I did this step the night before and refrigerated the apples over night if you do this make sure to let the come back to room temperature before filling your pies

Now let’s talk pie crust. For this recipe you can buy pre-made pie crust or your can make your own. The pre-bought crusts are already rolled out to the perfect thickness for these mini pies. You would need about 4 regular size pies worth of dough for 24 pies.  If you want to make your own pie crust you can find that recipe here https://wineanddineathome.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/millionaire-and-pecan-lets-talk-pie/.

Next you need to spray your muffin tin with cooking spray.  Don’t skip this step you do not want your pie crusts to stick!

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

If you are using homemade pie crusts roll them out to about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Carefully cut round pieces of dough and gently press them into your muffin tin.  Cut off any extra crust.  The crust needs to be even with the top of the muffin tin.

Now fill the muffin tins with the apple mixture.  You need to mound the apples up in the center.  The apples will shrink in size once they are cooked and cooled.  Just go a little bit over the top of the muffin tin.

DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR MUFFIN TIN ON A COOKIE SHEET!!

Cook for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the apple mixture is bubbling.

While the pies are cooking make the crumble:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 room temperature butter

In a medium bowl combine all the ingredients. Using a fork mix until you have a coarse crumble.

When the pies are almost done.  Carefully cover each one with some of the crumble.  Continue cooking for about 10 more minutes or until the crumble is lightly browned.

Now comes the hard part… Let the pies cool completely!!!  If you do not let the pies cool and set you risk them sticking to the muffin tin or the bottoms of the pies falling out.  You don’t want this to happen!  So walk away and let them cool!

When they are cooled run a sharp knife between the pie crust and the muffin tin to loosen them up.  Then gently ease them out.  Now eat!!!  We of course had to eat them warm with some vanilla ice cream.

I hope you enjoy these little pies!  They taste great and like I said they are so cute!

~Cheers