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October 27, 2011

Homemade Mini Apple Pie~almost {recipe}

The scent of apple pie brings back childhood memories for me.  I remember visiting what used to be the apple capital of Sonoma county, Sebastopol, to buy crates of Gravenstein apples.  We would bring them home, and my sister and I would sit at the kitchen counter and watch my mom peel, then slice apples, and roll out dough to make these incredible apple pies. 

I have never baked my own apple pie, or any pie, until this past weekend.  As a 4H cooking leader, I need to come up with kid-friendly recipes that kids aged from five to twelve will find both appealing and challenging.  After baking this mini apple pie in my 'test kitchen', I feel it will be the perfect kick off to the new 4H season in December.   


I did cheat, however.  I used pre-made pie crusts that I had in my freezer, so this was a semi-homemade apple pie.  For 4H, we'll make the dough from scratch, I'll let you know how it turns out.
















The pre-made pie crusts did save me a lot of time and they were SO easy to use.






















I found the mini pie dishes at the Dollar Store.....what a score!  The 4H kids will be able to take them home filled with apple pie they've baked themselves.

All you do is unroll the pie crusts when they've reached room temperature, place the pie crust in the bottom of the pie dish and gently mold it to the dish. 















Trim off the excess dough so it creates a little edge along the rim of the dish.  Set aside.















Along with four medium/small apples, this is what you need.....{recipe below}















Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg together in a bowl.

















Toss in the sliced apples.















Fill up the mini pie dish with the apple mixture.















Take the other pre-made pie crust and lay over the top.















Slice off extra, leaving about an inch that over hangs.
















Tuck the top pie crust under the bottom pie crust to seal and flute the edges.















Put a few slits into the top pie crust.















I used a mini cutter and the excess dough to cut out some fall leaf shapes and added them to the top of the pie.















Beat an egg and brush it along the top and edges of the pie.















Bake and enjoy!















SO good.















But even better with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.


Mini Apple Pie Recipe

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
2 T flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 T lemon juice, {optional}
4 medium/small apples, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions:
Prepare pie crust in the pie dish.  Heat oven to 425 degrees. 
In a large bowl combine all ingredients except lemon juice and apples; mix well.
Add lemon juice and apples and toss to mix.  Add the apples to the dry ingredients and toss gently to mix.
Spoon into the crust lined dish.  Top with second pie crust and seal the edges.  Cut slits into the top of pie.
Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

What's your favorite type of pie?  And have you ever baked one?

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5 comments:

Sarah said...

Yum! Looks good - I LOVE to bake, so I have made many pies! Growing up I would always bake and take everything I made to our neighbors.

For my sister's shower I made apple pies in a half pint wide mouth mason jar - they we so cute! You can see them here. That would be a fun project for the 4-H kids too!

Now, I need to find some mini pans from the dollar store! Thanks for the idea!

Suz and Allan said...

This looks like a great recipe especially for weeks when my husband is traveling and it's just me. I'd never eat an entire pie (ok maybe I would but I don't need to) so this is perfect!

susan said...

Looks delicious! Are Gravenstein apples a local variety and are they sweet or tart?

Buttons Thoughts said...

Hello long time no see :) I love this recipe it is just the right size. This would be great for the lunch box. B

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

Susan, Gravenstein apples are a combination of sweet and tart, that's why I like them so much. They grow nearby but I think they originated in Denmark. I'm not sure where else in the U.S. they are grown..