Mini Dutch Apple Pies

Mini Dutch Apple Pie

I am just crazy enough to want to make apple pie and then decide to make mini pies instead of a whole pie.  Why mini?  Because it looks so much neater and cuter than a slice of pie.  Plus, I wanted to see if I could pull it off.  And I wanted to blog about it.
Fortunately, these mini pies have proven to be a great success.  Cute, crusty, sweet, tart, absolutely delicious.  The fact that I ate two of them attests to their greatness.  For me, the best part of a pie is the crust, so this little pie has plenty of it.  The crust to fruit ratio is about 1:1, which is how I like it.  If you're not that much of a fan of crust, this recipe may not be for you.
If you decide to attempt these, make sure you give yourself plenty of time for the task.  Maybe it's just because I decided to make these on a weeknight, but it felt like they took a long time. They were well worth it though.  I think the picture shows that.

2/3/14 Update: I made these again just because I was craving Dutch apple pie, but I didn't have enough people to help me eat them. I placed the uneaten mini pies on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet and froze them until solid (about 3 hours). Then I wrapped each in wax paper and placed the frozen mini pies in a large freezer zip top bag and kept them in the freezer. I just heated one in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes, and it was perfect. I still have about six in the freezer just waiting for me. I must pace myself.
  

Mini Dutch Apple Pies (Muffin Size Apple Pies)

Ingredients:

Crust

• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons cold butter
• 7 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 6-7 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling

• 7 Granny Smith apples
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons KA Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of ground cloves

Crumb Topping

• 1/2 cup KA Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons cold butter
• 3 tablespoons butter cut into 18 small chunks

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Crust

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture looks like sand.  Cut in vegetable shortening until mixture has chunks the size of peas.  Slowly sprinkle 6 tablespoons cold water over mixture while tossing with a fork.   Squeeze some in your hand.  If the dough does not bind nicely when squeezed, add the other tablespoon of water.  Toss.  Form dough into a uniform ball.

Between two floured sheets of plastic wrap (you might have to double up and use four sheets), roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out 18 circles that are 4 1/2 inches in diameter (I had to use a glass lid for a mini cake stand for this).  Gather and re-roll dough after the first round to get your 18 circles. 

Fit dough circles into non-stick muffin pans, pressing sides and folding a little as needed.  Press any overlap over the edge and crimp with a fork.  (I used one 12-cup muffin pan and one 6-cup muffin pan.)  Place prepared crusts in refrigerator while you prepare the filling and the topping.

Filling

Slice apples to 1/8 inch thickness.  Julienne some of them, and cut others into approximately 1/2 inch trapezoids (you know, whatever that shape is you would get if you slice a slice perpendicularly). 

Place sliced apples in a large bowl and toss with flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon juice.  Let sit and macerate while you prepare the topping. (Man, this recipe is  seeming complicated!)

Topping & Final Prep

Mix the half cups of flour and sugar with cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.  Slice the 4 tablespoons butter thinly and add to dry mixture.  With fingers, mix in the butter until it’s evenly distributed and you have a nice sandy-looking crumb mixture.

Unbaked mini pies

Remove crusts from refrigerator.  Stir apples and scoop mounds of them into prepared crusts.  Work as many apples into the cups as you can, shifting and gently pushing.  Once cups are all filled, place one small chunk of butter on top of each and then carefully top each with a generous tablespoon of topping.

Line the bottom of your oven with a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil to catch any dripping juices.  Place muffin pans in oven and bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until juices bubbling out start to thicken.  If the topping is getting too dark before this thickening happens, lightly cover pies with aluminum foil.

Remove from oven and allow to cool almost completely before removing from muffin tins.  You might want to run a knife around the edges to make sure they’re not stuck, which hopefully they won’t be if you used a good non-stick pan.

They look sticky, but with a little coaxing, they came out fine.

Makes 18 muffin-sized apple pies