Confession #41: I've never made apple pie before... Mini Apple Pies

I'm not big on pie. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't have chocolate :-/

So I've never made apple pie before, because I had no reason. That is, I had no reason until a few days ago. I had to realize that when I made desserts for the holiday party I've been talking about, not everything could have chocolate in it, because some people aren't chocolate freaks like me. Some people love desserts with fruit, like pie. But to keep everything bite-sized, I decided to do mini apple pies. Mini pies seem to be all the rage these days, and these are REALLY mini, like mini cupcakes.

I ended up going with the first recipe I found, even though I looked at many others, and the pies were a HUGE hit. And I, the devout chocolate fan, thought they were amazing. I even, ahem, ate two for breakfast the other day.  They had a delicious, light crust, and the slight sourness of Granny Smith Apples blended well with the brown sugar crumble on top. Plus, they'll make your kitchen smell heavenly while they're baking. The recipe is a bit time consuming, simply because you have to press the pie dough into 36 mini muffin tins rather than one round pie tin, but the rest of the process is easy and the end result is to die for.

Mini Apple Pies

adapted from Some the Wiser

makes 36 mini pies

Pie Crust

2 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks (2 sticks)

6 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks

2 egg yolks

Apple Filling

 4 large Granny Smith Apples

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Brown Sugar Crumble

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Oven Temperature: 375 F

Pie crust:

1. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade attachment, combine the flour, butter, and cream cheese. Pulse just until the mixture becomes coarse and crumbly. Add the egg yolks and pulse to a smooth dough.

2. Fill 36 mini muffin cups with about 1 ½-2 tablespoons of dough each, pressing the dough down to evenly cover the inside of the muffin cup. Place the prepared cups in the fridge while making the apple filling and brown sugar crumble.

Apple Filling:

1. Peel and core the apples and slice into twelfths. Use a food processor with a slicer disc to slice the apples into thin pieces. Combine the apples with the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice in a large bowl.

Brown Sugar Crumble:

1. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, softened butter, and cinnamon for the crumble topping. Mix together until you have coarse crumbs.

Finishing the Pies:

1. Remove the chilled muffins cups from the fridge and fill each with as much apple filling as will fit. Sprinkle the tops with the brown sugar crumble. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until top is golden.