These adorable little pies are super easy to make and the filling is so delicious.
Before I start telling you about these adorable little mini apple pies, I told you in my last post how yesterday was John's 2nd birthday party and that I would share pictures. It was such a great day! The day before, I baked/cooked everything starting at 7AM and ending at 1AM - talk about EXHAUSTED! My Friday included: baking a huge cake, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, making truffles, making two HUGE trays of manicotti (from scratch like I do for almost every occasion using my Grandmother's recipe - SO good!), and buffalo wings. Oh yeah and decorating for almost three hours after everything. I literally felt like my back was about to break in half by the end of the night!! It was all worth it though, because the next day was a BREEZE and my little birthday boy was absolutely thrilled with all of the trucks and decorations, he had a blast! Well, here are the pictures! (Sorry, they're iPhone photos!)
You can find recipes for all baked goods pictured above below:
Chocolate Cupcake recipe (not the frosting)
Nutello Oreo Truffle recipe: coming SOON!
Chocolate Donuts.. courtesy of Entenmanns 😉
I hope you enjoyed the pictures! If you have any questions about where I purchased the printables from and what not, comment below!
Now, onto the reason you're actually here, these mini apple pies! For ease, I used store bought pie crust but you can totally make a scratch one and use that. I am lazy. The filling is gooey, and so flavorful! You're going to love it. There are notes of cinnamon and nutmeg swirling through giving it the most delicious, cozy flavor. Is there anything more cozy than apple pie on a cold day/night? Don't think so.
First, make your apple pie filling and let it cool a bit. Then, start cutting out the first 9" pie crust dough 3 ½-4"circles with a cookie cutter or glass that's around that size. Place them in well-greased muffin tin cavities and press them into the sides. Fill with apple pie filling. Take the second 9" pie crust dough an cut it into ½" strips. Cut the long strips into abut 2 ½" strips. Lay them out on a flat surface and arrange them three across and three down into a lattice pattern. Press down, flattening them slightly with the palm of your hand like this:
Then, lay flat on top of filled pie cups. Trim off excess and press edges down slightly. Sprinkle with some sugar, bake them up and taaaaa-da! The most adorable personal mini apple pies!
These are so cute to serve for dessert at a small gathering or even to little kids. I'm sure they would be ecstatic to have they're own tiny pie!
[pinterest]
📋 Recipe
Mini Apple Pies
Ingredients
- 5 cups peeled cored and chopped small Granny Smith Apples
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 package 2 9" store-bought pie crust
- sugar for sprinkling
- 1 egg beaten for egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin thoroughly and set aside.
- Peel core and chop apples into small pieces and toss with some lemon juice. Set aside.
- Combine sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small saucepan. Pour in water and stir until incorporated. On medium heat, bring mixture to a gentle boil for 3 minutes stirring frequently to prevent scorching on the bottom. Once mixture is thickened slightly, add apples and toss bringing he mixture to a gentle boil once again. Reduce the head to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples are tender. Take mixture off heat and allow it to cool slightly.
- While mixture is cooling, thaw pie crusts if needed and unroll one crust onto a flat surface. Start by cutting 3 ½ - 4" circles with a cookie cutter or rim of a glass/bowl. Place each disk into each muffin tin cavity, pressing them into the bottom and up the sides. Fill with apple pie filling about ⅔ to the top.
- With the second pie crust, unroll and cut into ½" strips. Cut the long strips into 2 ½" smaller strips. On a flat surface, place three strips vertically and three strips horizontally, creating a lattice pattern. Press down slightly with the palm of your hand so that they stick together. Refer to the picture in the post for a visual. (You can skip this step all together and just create the lattice pattern the traditional way and place them individually on top of the mini pies. Alternately, you can even just skip the lattice all together and just cut out a bunch of circles, place them on top and cut vent holes in the tops.)
- Transfer lattice crust to the muffin tins and place on top of the apple pie filling. Press down slightly around the edges and trim away the excess with a sharp knife.
- Brush the tops of the apple pies with egg wash, sprinkle them with some sugar and bake for 15-17 minutes or until tops are lightly golden and cooked through.
- Mini apple pies are best served the same day made but will keep for up to 2 days stored in an airtight container.
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
[pinterest]
Marci says
How would I adjust baking for pies a bit bigger but not full size?
Sarah says
What's the size of the muffin tin? Would a cupcake tin work?
Jessica says
Standard works just fine.
Mari says
Hi! They look good, I can’t wait to try and make them, one question before placing the crust in the tin, do you grease the tin?
Jessica says
Yes
Marilin Martinez says
Do they have to be granny Smith apples?
Jessica says
Nope! Use your favorite kind of apple. I like the tartness of the Granny Smith with the sweetness of the other ingredients. It's personal preference!
- Jess
Brenda says
I have made these a couple times (used my own pie crust recipe). While I like the ease of pre cooking the filling which takes away juice over flow while baking and makes it much easier to remove the mini pies from the pan. I think you lose the fresh apple taste of a fresh baked apple pie. The filling is a little flat tasting. I have made them with a brown butter oat crunch in place of the top crust which did add extra flavor. Maybe I will try the filling once more but with less cornstarch.
Maria says
These are great, but the measurements are off. I just made them. 5 cups of apples yields enough fillings for twice as many as the recipe calls for-- I made 12 little pies and there was a ton of filling left over.
Karen says
I'm still thinking of your manicotti; do you share that recipe as well?
Robin duncan says
Made these for Christmas desert. Everybody liked them! I had some filling left over and we used it on waffles and in oatmeal. Very tasty.
Jessica says
Sounds delicious!
Ashley says
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were a huge hit!! SO delicious! I'd like to try making a full sized apple pie using this recipe. Have you made a full sized version of these? Do you think I could use the same amount of everything for the filling and just put it all into one pie? Thanks!! 🙂
Jessica says
Yay! You can absolutely make this filling into a full pie!
Ashanti says
I made this last night for thanksgiving and they were absolutely delicious. They are so easy to make and the directions were clear and very easy to follow. I would post a picture but I don't know how. Anyways, I definitely will be making this again! Thank you
Eloisa says
They look delicious!! Do I think I could freeze them though?
Jessica says
Yes! I'd prepare the pies and freeze them just before baking. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and bake.