Mini and tasty, apple pies perfect for a summer picnic.
The Back Story
I'v made mini peach pies and I've made gluten-free mini cherry pies, so I had to round it out with mini apple pies. I didn't have a recipe but I've made apple pie before so winged it. For the crust, using the cream cheese version from the gluten-free mini cherry pies substituting all-purpose flour.
Ingredients - Bottom Crust
- 115 g (1 stick) Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 85 g (3 oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 227 g King Arthur Baking All-Purpose Flour
- 1/8 tsp (pinch) Diamond Kosher Salt
Ingredients - Top Crust (or double the bottom crust)
- 15 g (1 tbsp) Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 57 g (2 oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 85 g King Arthur Baking All-Purpose Flour
- 1/8 tsp (pinch) Diamond Kosher Salt
Ingredients - Filling
- 1 large Granny Smith Apple, diced
- 1 large SugarBee® Apple, diced
- 2 tsp Cinnamon*
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg*
- 1/2 c Sugar*
*adjust to your personal taste
Used nonstick cooking spray to prepare a 12-cup muffin pan - regular not the mini muffin pan. Tried one with cheddar on top - yum!
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 F / 230 C
- Spray the the 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray - not the baking spray with flour
- Mix together butter, cream cheese, flour, and salt to form a ball. I used a 14-cup food processor and pulsed it a few times until it started to come together in large sections then pulled it out and formed the ball with my hands. It doesn't take a lot, just a minute or two.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal(-ish) parts. I weighed my ball of dough then divided by 12 to determine how big each part should be. You don't have to weigh yours. Cut into fours, then threes and you've got your 12.
- Press the dough sections into your muffin tin bottom and up the sides.
- Divide the pie filling evenly between the crusts.
- Make the top crust. If full coverage, roll out to 1/8 inch thickness and use a 2-1/2 in biscuit/cookie cutter. Or create your own design.
- Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 14-16 minutes depending on your oven. I recommend that you start checking around 12 minutes.
- Cool and serve.
The Result
I ended up doing two batches, adding the top crust. The pies tasted great with or without it. This is first time I mixed apples. Usually I just stick to the tried-and-true Granny Smiths. I purchased a variety but settled on the Granny Smith plus SugarBee for this bake.
What are SugarBee® Apples? Going through my apple options for this bake was the first that I'd heard of them. The sugarbeeapple.com websitesugarbeeapple.com website has some great information about the origins of this apple variety as well as a spotlight on women in agriculture. These apples are sweeter than the tart Granny Smiths and created a nice balance. I was happy to share these tasty bites with friends.
Will I Make It Again
Definitely! I do have to finish the ones I froze to keep from eating them all first though.
You might also like: Mini Peach Pies, Gluten-Free Mini Cherry Pies