Mini apple pies

Apple pie; oh so comforting and brings up oh so many nostalgic memories of Sunday lunches and lazy evenings. Apple and cinnamon is such a classic, cosy combo and so evocative of chilly autumn and winter days. Mini apple pies have all the same comfort plus the happy benefit of being perfectly individually sized, no sharing needed. So delicious; fab served with cream, ice cream or my favourite lashings of hot custard; whatever you want. Such a delicious treat plus these little guys freeze really well, so you can bake up a batch and stash some away for when your need is great. 

Mini apple pies

Recipe 

225g plain flour

100g unsalted butter

Pinch salt

1 tbsp caster sugar

Approx 100g stewed apples (or you can use apple sauce if you don’t have any, or in a rush)

Few tbsp milk for brushing on the pies 

3 tbsp caster sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon for dusting on top of the pies before baking

Makes 10 mini individual pies 

Method

Add the plain flour and salt to a mixing bowl. 

Cut the fridge cold butter into small cubes and then begin to rub the butter into the flour. The butter should be very cold for this as you don’t want the butter to melt into the flour here, just to form a consistency similar to small bread crumbs. 

Once the butter and flour are combined, add the sugar. This isn’t a lot but will just sweeten the mix a little. 

Add in 3-4 tbsp of ice cold water to the pastry until it begins to come together.

Then lightly flour a board and gently bring the pastry together into a ball. Flatten slightly. Cover and leave in the fridge to let the butter firm up again for at least 30 mins. 

You can either use ready apple sauce for the filling or ready made stewed apples. I make mine by cutting up Bramley apples into small pieces and then adding orange/lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger and cloves to a pan with a few pieces of butter and sugar to taste. Then cook until the apples are soft. This takes about 10 minutes. If you are making the apples on the day you make the pies, be sure that the mix is cold before you add it to the pastry. Otherwise the filling will cause the pastry to melt before it bakes, which isn’t what you want. 

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Add a baking tray to heat up at the same time. This will help the bases of your pies cook really well when you place your tray on top of this later.

Let’s get cooking

Flour your board and begin to roll out the pastry until it is roughly 1 cm thick. Move the pastry a few times and add extra flour if needed to help ensure that it doesn’t stick. 

Once the pastry is rolled, use the apple cutter (or a circle one if you don’t have one) and cut out an equal amount for the tops and bottoms of the pie. I rolled the pastry a few times and got 20 apple shaped pieces from this amount of dough. 

Lay half the pastry pieces onto a tray. Fill each piece with approx 1 tbsp of apples, trying not to over fill, otherwise the filling might spill out when you’re baking. 

Once they are filled, take some water and dab all around the edges to help seal the pastry lids to the bottom. 

Place the apple lids onto the pies and press down gently. Then use a fork to crimp the pies and seal them shut. Add milk or a beaten egg to the tops of the pies to help them brown up nicely. Then using a knife make a few cuts into the pastry to help any steam escape when baking. 

Combine the sugar and cinnamon together and then sprinkle some on top of each pie. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the tops have browned and the bottoms are cooked. 

Leave to cool on a cooling rack or serve immediately with cream, ice cream or custard. Whatever you fancy. 

These mini apple pies will keep a few days in an airtight container or you can freeze the pies for a few months.

Looking for other tasty ways to bake with apples? Try our Apple pie muffins or for some cosy comfort try our Pumpkin spiced pancakes with orange maple syrup and toasted pecans or our Get up and go granola – homemade breakfast ideas, so tasty.