November 3, 2013
updated
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These mini apple pies are the perfect bite sized treat for fall. Bonus: they are super easy to make.
I love apples. I often buy 10 pounds at a time and we spend a week or two eating “everything apple”. I hope you like apples too because in the next couple of weeks I will be sharing a couple of my favorite recipes.
One thing I love about these mini apple pies is that they are perfectly portioned. When I make them, my guests (friends) always say that they don’t feel as guilty eating these small treats as they do eating a slice of apple pie.
Don’t let their “bite sized” look fool you. They are not labor intensive at all… the trick is using that mini muffin pan and the oven does the rest. If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, you can make these in a 12 cupcake sized pan. The baking time will be about 12-18minutes longer but start checking around minute 45.
When you try these apple pies, come back and let me know how much you enjoyed them. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy!
Mini Apples Pies
Ingredients
Filling:
- 3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into ¼ inch dice
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Crust:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or
- whole wheat baking flour, soft wheat
- Pinch of salt
Topping:
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of Salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
- ⅓ cup finely chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
Filling:
- In a medium pan, cook the filling ingredients over low heat, stirring until butter has melted. Raise heat to medium-high; cook for 5 minutes until apples soften and release its juice. Remove from heat and cool.
Crust:
- In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese and butter until thoroughly combined. Add flour and salt; mix just until dough forms.
- Divide into 24 1-inch balls. Press 1 ball in each cup of a miniature muffin pan so dough cover sides and bottom evenly. (If dough is very soft, chill for 10 minutes before dividing and shaping.)
Topping:
- Mix flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt. Rub in butter with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Toss in walnuts.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Divide filling among 24 mini muffin cups, leaving juices behind. Gently press topping over apples. Bake until golden, 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow mini pies to cool down for 10 minutes, remove from mini muffin pans and let them cool on a wire rack.
Anne
I made these mini apple pies for a party and they were a hit! And the recipe is super easy. Thank you Laura! New follower here!
Mina
I was just wondering if freshly made chopped candied pecans would work in the crumble topping? I’m allergic to walnuts but I still love that crispness that the nuts would bring to the topping.
Laura Fuentes
Those will work great Mina!
Sabung Ayam Online
Thanks for recipe
Karen
All other pie crust recipes say that you need to refrigerate the dough before using it. Will it make a difference for this recipe? This is my first try at baking something.
Laura Fuentes
No need to refrigerate these mini pie cruts. Enjoy!
Karen
Do you grease the muffin tin before you form the mini crusts in them?
Laura Fuentes
yes. lightly. although sometimes I’ve forgotten and they still come out great.
Stacey
Would there be a huge quality change if these were made with Fuji apples instead if granny smith? Already to make and no apples 🙁
Laura Fuentes
absolutely not! I love Fujis!
Kara Kramer
I made these for school lunches a few weeks ago and kiddo loved them! The big kiddo who takes them to work in his lunches enjoyed them as well. They froze very well and I have now run out of them. I’m making a double batch this weekend. One for my school lunches and another to contribute to the family thanksgiving!
Laura Fuentes
Good thinking Kara! double up and freeze! Glad everyone loved them (big and little kids alike 😉
Polly
Is there a way to make these gluten free? Can I just replace the flour? I’d love these if I could!
Laura Fuentes
I have made them gluten free with cup4cup flour. I cannot verify the others.
Jodi
These look delicious!! Does it really use that much butter? Any suggestions on how to decrease the amount of butter used?
Laura Fuentes
Jodi, they are bite sized… and a treat. I have not tried reducing the amount of butter. Sorry!
April
I realize these are already easy, but do you think you could use pre-made pie crust?
Laura Fuentes
You sure can April!
Jessica
Do the mini apple pies freeze well? They seem like they would but I was just wondering if you had tried it. I think they’d be a great little treat to have stocked away for all year round.
Laura Fuentes
they sure do! I freeze them unbaked.