Mini Hot Apple Pies

One of my favorite cooking blogs is Food Family Finds, written by Cat Davis.  I’ve known her (online) for a few years now and her site has evolved into something magnificent!  I’m always in awe not only of her awesome choice of recipes to share but also her beautiful photography.  Whenever I take a foodie photo I joke that I’m no Cat Davis – this woman has talent!

Cat recently posted a recipe that I not only bookmarked but kept open on my desktop for a week – promising myself that I was going to make it.  The recipe was for Muffin Cup Mini Baked Apple Pies and the recipe in it’s original form along with her fabulous photos can be found at the link (go – and find even more recipes while you’re there!)  On her site you get beautiful photography showcasing the entire process along with a printable recipe.  Here, you get the version from a mom that’s intimidated by baking and has never baked an apple pie in her life (yes, really).

I kept calling them Mini Hot Apple Pies so I changed the name of them in our household!  Thanks to Cat for allowing me to share the recipe here!

Mini Hot Apple Pies

Ingredients:

1 box pie crusts (Contains 2 crusts per box, I learned that it’s better to buy the ones that roll-out instead of the ones already in a pan)
2 granny smith apples
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice blend (I used Epicure Apple Pie Spice)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

~ Peel and core apples, then toss with the sugar and apple pie spice in a small bowl.
~ Roll out pie crusts and cut use a glass to cut out 12 circles total (I ended up with 10 perfect circles and had to re-roll the remaining pieces to get the other 2)
~ Press pie crust into the bottom of 6 muffin tins (I sprayed the bottom with a non-stick spray first)
~ Fill each crust with the apple mixture
~ Top with the other crust circle. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty, as long as the edges are touching (press them together if you can), you’re good!
~ Use a knife to cut slits in the top of each crust, again don’t worry if it isn’t pretty
~ Brush the top of each crust with melted butter
~ Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes (my oven bakes hot so I took it down to 400 bc I was paranoid)

Now, Cat’s recipe didn’t state what to do once the pies were baked (I’m a novice baker and need step by step instructions, lol!) so I’ll give you fair warning here to wait and let the mini hot apple pies cool before trying to remove, otherwise they may crumble on you and the kids will get a bowl of apple pie pieces instead.

I was impressed with myself here – I sort of kind of baked an apple pie!  I think these would be great to freeze for a little treat out of the freezer or in the lunch kit at school too!