Food Time: Baked (pocket-size) Apple Pies

As part of my 12 Things, my goal was to make pie. And boy I did make pie. But not your traditional pie in a pie dish. I'm too lazy. I'm a person on the go, so why not make some hand-held pies?

My fat father is a big fan of Apple Pies. When he's craving, he goes to Mickey D's for some of their Apple Pies. I, too, do the same thing. A quick fix, you know?

So in the spirit of 4th of July, I did made some Apple Pies. Not too bad for my first try. Of course they were gone within a day (I made enough for 8-10 people. We're a party of 4. Family of fatties). Then my mother texted me on Friday while I was at work.

Ma: "Rim... buat pie lagi dong.... hhmmmm" translation: "Rim, can you make more pie... hhmmmm"
Me: "Lol. I'll make it again. Penasaran soalnya" translation: "Lol. I'll make it again. I'm still curious."
Ma: "Make it yang manisan kayak sirup itu apelnya or bluberries..." translation: "Make it sweeter like syrup for the apple or bluberries..."
Me: "Blueberries!"
Ma: "or strawberries?"
Ma: "Or banana..."
Ma: "Hhhmmmmm... yuummm"

From there I can tell that she has a mouthgasm just by texting to me about pies. My phone went crazy from her single texting. Grr.

Anyways, so I did make pies. Apple pies, since I have left over apples. The pie crust recipe that I used for this one is from Deb of Smitten Kitchen (LOVE HER LOVE HER LOVE HER). Like her, I don't really like using shortening. I only use it for vegan recipes and for making Whoopie Pies. I'm all about butter, people. And her recipe came out flawless. Love the flakiness of the crust. Hmmmmmm...

And for the filling, I used Betty of Yummy Workshop's version, but I added a little more of Cinnamon and used Gala Apple in addition to the Granny Smiths. It's similar to McDonald's fillings. Yum.

Of course, knowing me, I love Muffin/Cupcakes. I have a tons of muffin tin so I made some in it. It turned out so cute.

I used a Sakura cookie cutter for the topper. Yum.

Baked (pocket-size) Apple Pies
Makes about 8 - 10 squares handheld Pies or 20 - 24 Muffin Tin Pies

Crust: I recommend just clicking here to follow Deb's recipes and method on how to make that awesome flaky, buttery pie crust. She explains it really well.

And yes I followed her method to the T. The dough was pretty sticky but moldable. I split the dough in half. Used 1 half for the handheld pies (I got 4 pcs) and the other half for the Muffin Tin (I got 12 pcs).

Filling: you can follow Becky's here or my adapted version below

• 2 Granny Smith Apples & 1 Gala Apple - washed, peeled, cored and cut in to 1/2" cubes
• 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of grown Cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 3 tablespoon of Water
• 1 tablespoon of Cornstarch

Topping: Egg Wash, Turbinado Sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw) and Cinnamon

In a medium saucepan, mixed in apples, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Heat under medium-heat until butter melts. Toss well, coating to make sure all apple bits are evenly covered with sugar & cinnamon. Once butter is melted, add the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of water. Reduce heat to low-medium and cover for 10 minutes. Occasionally stir the apple.

Then whisk the cornstarch with the remaining 2 tablespoon of water and add to the apples. Stir well and cover for another 2 - 3 minutes. You will see the juices to become more jelly/syrup-like. Turn off heat and set aside. 

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and/or spray coat a muffin-tin

Once your crusts are ready to use (I left mine in the fridge over night), start shaping them! 

tip: your dough must be cold and so does your surface. If your dough becomes too soft and gooey, place it back in to the freezer for a couple of minutes, until semi-hard. It is a pain in the ass. Thank goodness I have a marble pastry board. I've read around, some people would put ice packs on top of their surface to keep it cold.

Using my rolling pin, on a floured surface, I rolled 1 half of dough to about 1/8 inch, and cut them in to 4 rectangles. Egg-wash the edges (this will be your seal), and fill the dough with about 1 heaping tablespoon in 1 half of the rectangles. Fold the dough, covering the apples, and seal the dough with a fork. Then cut 2-3 slits on top of the pie for ventilation. Egg-wash the pies, sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and cinnamon. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes. (for more info on how to assembling the pie, Deb has a great method here)

For the Muffin-Tin, just like above, roll the dough to about 1/8 inch and I cut the dough using a biscuit cutter or a wide-mouth mason jar, making about 10 - 12 circles. I flattened them with my fingers, egg-wash them and place them in the prepared muffin-tin. Then spoon a heaping tablespoon in to the pie cups. Then with the scrapes, I use a sakura-shape cookie cutter to cut the toppings for the pie-cups. Then egg-wash again and sprinkle with turbinado sugar & cinnamon. Bake for 20 minutes and let rest in pan until cool on top of a wired cooling rack. 

Deb's crust recipe came out so good. Flaky and yummy. Top your pie with Vanilla ice cream. Whoa.

moonbeams,

Rima