These adorable Mini Apple Pies have all there is to love about classic apple pie but in perfect individual hand-held form! Serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate indulgent treat.
Looking for more simple apple dessert recipes? My Easy Caramel Apple Crisp always has everyone swooning! Or try my recipe for Apple Crumb Cake.
With their adorable size and delicious taste, mini apple pies are perfect for any special occasion, family gatherings or dinner parties. They are so great to make for holidays. I love making them for Thanksgiving and I know a lot of you do, too! The filling for this mini apple pie recipe is ooey gooey, and full of flavor. This recipe has gone viral for a reason - they're easy to make and the size of these small pies is always a favorite!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Delicious flavor! Along with the tasty sweet crunch of the apples and buttery crust, there are notes of cinnamon and nutmeg swirling throughout giving it the most delicious, cozy flavor.
- This mini apple pie recipe is also a great way to use up extra apples! It makes a ton of filling! Probably enough for almost two full-sized pies.
- Thanks to simple ingredients and straightforward preparation, these miniature treats are surprisingly easy to make.
Ingredients
- Apples: I like to use a mixture of sweet and tart apples. Honey crisp for sweet and Granny Smith for tart are always my first choices.
- Pie crust: Try my simple all butter homemade pie crust or simply purchase store-bought crusts. *The recipe was edited to double the amount of pie dough needed.* If there is any leftover, cut out small shapes and bake them on top of the crust to decorate!
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions.
Substitutions & Variations
- Substitute apples for pears.
Tips making mini apple pies
- In a hurry? Substitute store-bought apple pie filling for this homemade apple pie filling.
- Choosing a mix of sweet and tart apples is ideal for a balanced flavor. Popular choices include Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or a combination of both.
- If using store-bought pie crusts, let them come to room temperature before working with them. This makes them more pliable and easier to handle.
- When placing the pie crusts into the muffin tin, press them gently to avoid air pockets. This helps create a sturdy crust for your mini pies.
- Be sure to properly ventilate your muffin tin apple pies while baking. If not using a lattice crust, a small slit or two in the top crust is needed to allow steam to escape in the oven. This helps the filling stay juicy without making the crust soggy.
- If you'd like to reheat the muffin tin apple pies, microwave them in 15 to 20 second intervals or set in the oven at 350°F until completely warmed through.
Recipe FAQs
Store any leftover mini muffin tin apple pies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freeze cooled mini pies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for a few hours and reheat in the oven at 350°F until warmed through or reheat from frozen in the oven the same way.
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📋 Recipe
Mini Apple Pies
Ingredients
- 5 cups apples* cored and chopped small
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch salt
- 2 cups water
- 4 pie crusts 9" homemade or store-bought crusts
- 1 egg beaten for egg wash
- 1 tbs granulated sugar for sprinkling on top before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin thoroughly and set aside.
For the filling
- Peel, core and chop apples into small pieces and toss with lemon juice. Set aside.
- Combine both sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small saucepan. Pour in water and whisk until incorporated. On medium heat, bring mixture to a gentle boil for 3 minutes stirring frequently until slightly thickened. Stir in apples and bring the mixture to a gentle boil again. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples are fork-tender, not mushy. Take mixture off heat and allow it to cool slightly.
Assemble the mini apple pies
- Unroll 2 crusts onto a flat surface and cut 3 ½-4" circles with a cookie cutter or rim of a glass/bowl. Press each disk into bottom and up the sides of each muffin tin cavity. Fill with apple pie filling about ½-2/3 to the top.
- With the remaining two pie crusts, either prepare a lattice pattern and place it on top or cut out circles for the tops. Press down slightly around the edges where the top crust meets the bottom and trim away the excess with a sharp knife. Be sure to cut two vent holes in the top of each one
- Brush the tops of the mini pies with egg wash, sprinkle them with granulated sugar and bake for 15-17 minutes or until tops are lightly golden, cooked through and the filling is bubbling.
- Carefully remove the apple pies from the muffin tin and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. If serving warm, just let them cool slightly.
Notes
Nutrition
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yesterday was John's 2nd birthday party and I promised I would share pictures! See them below. 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 and buffalo wings. Oh yeah and then I decorated for three hours after everything. It 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! 2014
MG says
This is the first time that I've baked apple pie, this recipes was easy to follow AND most importantly it came out delicious. Received lots of compliments on this so Thank You!!!!
Curious to know if there are any supplements for the sugar though, trying to make a version for my parents who are trying to cut back on sugar intake.
Jessica says
Thanks! Maybe try a sugar substitute? You can probably even get away with using less sugar.
Luisa says
I made these mini pies for thanksgiving last week and they were delicious! I had a lot of filling leftover and at the time I put it in a Tupperware and put it in the fridge to worry about later and forgot about it! Do you think it is still ok to use this weekend (one week later) ?
Jessica says
I think you should be okay!
Athena says
Can you use cupcake liners for these or put them directly in the pan?
Megan says
I cannot wait to make these. Would everything be the same if I were to make cherry or pumpkin pies?
Diana says
I'm looking forward to making these tomorrow for a Memorial Day Barbecue. When you say mini do you mean the mini muffin tins that fit 32 or the regular muffin pans that fit 12
Jessica says
Regular muffin pans that fit 12! Enjoy! 🙂
Diana says
I did make them and they were a great hit. But I had to use 6 pie crusts to your one amount of apple filling. But they loved it.
Tina says
So glad I found this today! Had frozen apples from the fall but I was worried they would get mushy in the oven too long. These were perfect! I didn't have enough crust for both top and bottom, so I just made a quick crumble topping.
Amber says
Why the use of cornstarch, if you don't mind me asking?
Jessica says
Corn starch is used in the filling to thicken it up while baking.
Kathryn McMorrow says
I'm glad I saw your recipe has a pre-cook approach to the apple filling for your mini pies. This, it seems to me, facilitates getting filling consistency and doneness of each mini pie uniform and easy.
I want to try out your apple filling, certainly, for the first mini pies I make in a "mini pie maker" appliance. I bought it second-hand without the user- guide, but I found all the gouge for getting good results easily online, luckily! I will even try your perfect little lattice technique with that method next time I make these, because I have all my already pre-cut mini pie crust dough circles stashed in the freezer! I'll put a link beneath this for anyone who might have one if these little portable mini pie gadgets but little experience with it. BTW, kudos on being such an inspired cook. Your little son has to be getting spoiled with mama's love!
Jessica says
Thank you so much, Kathryn! That mini pie maker is adorable. I've got some mini cherry pies coming to the blog soon too so stay tuned for the recipe. 🙂
-Jess
Laurie says
Just came out of the oven they are almost to cute to eat 🙂 Thanks for the recipe.
Jessica says
You're very welcome, Laurie!
Misty says
I have made these twice and everyone loves them!
Jessica says
That's so great to hear, Misty! I'm so glad you guys love them! 🙂 Happy holidays!
Barbara Boynton says
Can these be baked, frozen, thawed and eaten or will the crust be mushy? Or, can they be assembled, frozen in the tin, thawed (or not) and baked. I like to prepare items ahead for eating later.
Jessica says
Hi Barbara, I cannot say for sure as I haven't tried freezing them myself, but I don't see why not! If I were to try it, I would bake and freeze them then when I wanted to use them, I would thaw overnight in the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature before serving. I hope this helps! If you wind up trying it out, let me know how it goes!