Confession time: We love mini food and We love apples, especially crisp, sweet, crunchy Pacific Northwest apples. So it was a no brainer to combine the two to create these adorable Mini Apple Pies.
Mini Apple Pies
So, apple pie. The husband and son are both fans. For me, there's something weird about a big huge round mound of baked apples and carbs. We think it's the disproportionate ratio of pie filling to pie crust that We can't seem to get on board with.
That's why We love making mini apple pies. We've made mini apple pies-in-a-jar before and apple hand pies, and those are more the kind of dessert. We love the crust-to-filling ratio that you get with smaller pies. More crust, more sugar, less mushy fruit.
These adorable mini apple pies can easily be adapted to your particular tastes. Put more or less apples, more or less spice, more or less sugar, depending on how you like it.
A word first on mini pies vs. tartlets. We debated whether We should call these mini apple pies or apple tartlets. They are technically neither: We used shallow, 5″ diameter creme brulee ramekins to bake these; they have short sides which puts them in the tartlets category, but they have a full crust on top (the lattice), which puts them in the pie category.
Therefore, We'm calling them mini apple pies. Boom. Done. You may simply call them tasty.
How to Make Mini Apple Pies
To start, peel, deseed, and chop 3 green apples into small cubes.
Side note: We truly don't like extra kitchen tools. We believe a chef's knife is all you need for most kitchen jobs. That said, We use an apple slicer when We make apple pies. It simply goes faster.
Using the best kitchen tools that you have –your hands– mix apple pieces together with cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, and both sugars in a large bowl.
Unroll one of the prepared pie dough rounds and, using either a large pastry cutter or, as We did below, use the actual tartlet pan, to cut out round dough shapes for each pie.
Gently place the dough rounds into the individual pans and press against the bottom and up the sides of each pan.
Place a generous heap of filling in each tartlet pan on top of the dough.
To make the lattice top, roll out the second pre-made dough round and use a a knife or a ravioli wheel, as We did here (totally falls under the "extra kitchen tool" category, which We don't normally like…but if you've got one, use it. These are great!), to cut thin, even strips.
Lay the dough strips on top of one of the pies, then turn the pan 90 degrees and place another layer of dough strips across the top to create the lattice pattern, as shown below.
Repeat the lattice patterns on all four mini pies. Brush the tops with some melted butter, and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Place mini apple pies on a baking sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Mine were done at around 25 minutes, but the oven bakes faster than most, so check yours between 25-35 minutes. We usually rotate the pan halfway through.
Once the tops are golden brown, remove from the oven. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before diving in and devouring. 
Serve these with a scoop of ice cream or dollop of coconut cream or whipped cream.
Mini Apple Pies
By Marlynn Schotland Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 30 mins Total Time: 45 mins Servings: 4 pies These cute mini apple pies make a great fall or holiday season dessert.Ingredients
- One package of two rounds of pre-made pie crust, thawed at room temperature
- 3 green apples, peeled, seeded, cut into quite small pieces
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground all spice
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- Cinnamon Sugar mixture: 3 tablespoons granulated sugar mixed well with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease the bottom and sides of four mini pie or tartlet pans.
- In a large bowl, combine cut apple pieces, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice until spices are evenly dispersed among the apples. Set aside.
- Unroll one of the pre-made pie crust dough rounds.
- Using a large round pastry cutter or the edges of one of the mini pie pans, cut out large circles of dough.
- Gently place each circle in the bottom of a mini pie pan and press up the sides.
- Scoop generous helpings of the spiced apple filling into each tartlet pan and spread evenly.
- Unroll the second pre-made pie crust dough. Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut strips that are slightly less than 1/2" wide and simply slightly longer than the circumference of each apple pie round.
- Lay strips over the pie filling in a lattice pattern. Brush the top of one mini pie with melted butter, then immediately sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over it; repeat on remaining mini pies.
- Place prepared mini pies onto a shallow rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes, until the tops of the lattice pie crusts are golden brown.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes out of the oven before digging in.
- Makes 4 mini apple pies.
Notes
Substitutions: You can substitute palm coconut sugar for brown sugar and Stevia for the granulated sugar, if you wish.Nutrition
Calories: 181 kcal, Carbohydrates: 46 g, Protein: 1 g, Fat: 1 g, Saturated Fat: 0.3 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1 g, Cholesterol: 1 mg, Sodium: 17 mg, Potassium: 184 mg, Fiber: 4 g, Sugar: 41 g, Vitamin A: 95 IU, Vitamin C: 6 mg, Calcium: 39 mg, Iron: 0.3 mgNutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you grow up in a house where homemade apple pie was standard comfort food? What's your favorite fall dessert?
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