Tiny Apple Pies
A couple weekends ago, a friend and I decided to go apple picking. In my mind I saw myself gathering half a bushel of apples in my skirt, walking through the orchard, stopping to let a horse nibble on a sweet treat then strolling along my merry way, apples in tow. I mean, what’s half a bushel anyway? 10 apples? Actually, it’s 21lbs. One bushel is 42lbs. and the orchard gives you a sturdy plastic bag that’s supposed to hold half a bushel - which is approximately 50 or so apples. But if you’re me and someone tells me to take as much as the bag will hold, then flashbacks of Supermarket Sweep come to mind and you go on a mad rampage filling your bag with more than half a bushel and end up lugging home somewhere near 60 - 70 apples. Without a car, mind you. And puny arms. But it was a beautiful day and there was a country band and corn dogs involved and honestly, what could be a better way to spend a Saturday morning than apple picking in upstate New York?
I gave away as many apples as I could, and with the rest, I made apple chips and, of course – the whole point of going apple picking – apple pie. Instead of making a big pie, I decided to make tiny ones in cupcake tins (portioning out then freezing the dough and filling) so I could have single-serving fresh apple pies when ever I want.
I used Ina Garten’s recipe for perfect pie crust and indeed, it was PERFECT. I modified her recipe for filling based on my tastes and honestly, it was incredibly delicious.
TINY APPLE PIES (filling adapted from Ina Garten - crust done exactly as she says)
Will make approximately 12 cupcake-size pies, or one large deep dish pie
Ina’s Perfect Pie Crust:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water
Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Apple Pie Filling
- 4 pounds mix of tart and sweeter apples, peeled, quartered, and cored
- 1 orange, zested
- Orange juice from one whole orange (about 1/4 Cup)
- 1/3 cup white sugar, plus 1 teaspoon to sprinkle on top
1/3 cup brown sugar - 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut each apple into small chunks (remember, this is going into cupcake size pies) and combine in a bowl with the zest, juice, sugars, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Portion out about 12 golf ball sized pieces of dough to line the tin and 12 gumball sized pieces of dough for the tops of each pie. It’s important that the dough stay cold so once you portion them out, wrap them in plastic wrap (I did each by top/bottom) and throw them into the freezer. Or put them in the fridge and don’t work more than 2 at a time (I guess unless you’re quick). Don’t stretch the dough; if it’s too small, just put it back on the board and re-roll it. I rolled it pretty thin (about 1/8 inch) since they’re going in cupcake tins. I did 4 in one batch, lining them first, filling them then rolling out each top. Make sure there’s a little overhang with the inside dough so you can tuck it into the top and make a nice, thick crust.
Fill the pie with about 1/2 C. of the apple mixture. Top with the second crust and tuck the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust and crimp the 2 together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the entire top crust with the egg wash, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar, and cut 3 or 4 slits.
Place the pie on a sheet pan and bake for 45min to 1 hour, or until the crust is browned and the juices begin to bubble out. Serve warm.
