Mini Apple Pies

Mini Apple Pies

Oven Temperature: 425 Degrees

Prep. Time: 1 Hour

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Total: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

I have something to admit. I have never made a pie before. It wasn't until last month that I made my first pie. Of course, the credit has to go to Pinterest. You see, I lovvvvvveee babies. Personally, I think if you take any regular size anything and make it into a mini baby size, it's just automatically cuter. So, you can imagine how I ooooohed and awwwwed when I saw these babies. I was determined to make them. Fortunately for me, we had a ton of apples and enough butter to make these little masterpieces. I'm not gonna lie; I was more enthusiastic to try making a pastry crust for the first time then I was to actually eat the pie. It's not that I hate Apple Pie. I like Apple Pie; I really do. I'll eat it if it's the only dessert there, or if I have to choose between it and some baby food pie like pumpkin. That being said, I'm not crazy about it. I mean, if you say Apple Pie, I don't drool like I would over a doughnut, or a lava cake. However, I was still really excited to make it. And, boy am I glad I was, because this has changed the image of Apple Pie in my mind forever.
This Apple Pie has the perfect amount of sweetness. The Granny Smith apples sweeten it perfectly while the Jonagold apples add the perfect texture to it. The brown sugar and cinnamon caramelize the apples so nicely leaving them sticky, tart, and delicious. The apples plump up as they cook and retain the perfect balance of texture. The nutmeg gives this gooey caramel mess a nice little kick. Then, you add the lemon juice. It sizzles. It adds a freshness, and just puts the cherry on top. The dough is ever so flaky and just welcomes the filling as it is poured into these little crust cups. As they bake, the filling sizzles, it bubbles out the top of the crumb topping and a golden brown color shades the top of each pie. You can hear the gooey bubbles as they sizzle and slowly pop. Then, you take a bite. That bite. The crust flakes. The crumb topping crunches perfectly. The apples are soft with a bit of texture. You get the cinnamon, and then the hint of nutmeg. The whole thing together just marries in your mouth. The spices bring in the warmness of the holiday season, and the light crispness of the apples welcomes the cold crisp weather outside. It's the perfect feeling, the best feeling. Nothing can ruin it. Nothing.

Ingredients:

Piecrust
2 1/2 Cups Flour
3 tsp Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (Cubed and Chilled)
6 tbsp Vegetable Shortening (Chilled)
5-6 tbsp Ice Water

Filling
2 Pounds Apples (Personally I use whatever I have. Granny Smith and Jonagold work great!)
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
2 1/2 tsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Egg Wash
1 Egg
1 tbsp Cold Water

Directions:
Start by peeling, coring, and cutting the apples. You want them to be about 1/4 inch slices. In a pot, add the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cornstarch. Cook covered on medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the apples are tender. Uncover and continue to cook stirring occasionally for another 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off the heat and set aside in a bowl until cooled.

You can do this step in a food processor or in a bowl. I did it in a food processor. I will include instructions for doing it by hand.

Begin by pulsing the flour, and sugar together. Add the butter and shortening and blend until you have coarse crumbs. You want this mixture to look like crumbs. If you are doing this by hand, mix the sugar and flour; with a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the butter and shortening through the flour. Now you will add the ice water. Whether you do this by hand or with the food processor, you need to add the ice water slowly. Drizzle the water in and pulse the food processor If doing this by hand, just continue to cut the water through the crumbs. You want the dough to come together. In the food processor, the dough will just all combine and stick to the blade. By hand, you will have to knead the dough to allow it to combine nicely. Either way, do not over-knead! Wrap the dough, and place in the refrigerator or two hours, or in the freezer for 30-40 minutes.
When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough to 1/4" thickness. Spray the cupcake tin and set aside. With a cookie cutter or glass or tupperware or anything you have on hand, cut circles slightly larger then the cupcake opening. Work quickly so the dough doesn't dry. Fit the circles into the cupcake openings and gently fill with the apple filling. Fill it generously because the filling will shrink as it bakes. Dot the top of each pie with a little butter.

You can make the crust topping in many different ways. You can use small cookie cutters and just place shapes, or you can lattice the top crust. Personally, I have recently found it easier to place the leftover dough in the food processor to get little crumbs. I top each pie with a generous amount of crumbs, and OMG they are perfectly crisp when they come out of the oven. Whichever route you decide on is fine, just make sure to blend the egg with the water to make an egg wash and brush the tops of each apple pie. This will help the crust to brown evenly.
Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow the pan to cool for 5-10 minutes. With a knife, go around each pie to loosen. Use a spoon to gently remove the pie. Enjoy!

Mini Fruit Tartlets

Mini Fruit Tartlets

Oven Temperature: 400 Degrees

Prep. Time: 1 Hour
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Total: 1 Hour 10 Minutes

We have a family friend that brings a fruit tart each time she comes over. The presentation of it is just stunning, but I have never been fond of the tart itself because of the fact that it has custard. I never actually tried it, I just assumed it was gross. Boy was I wrong! One night we were invited to my uncles for dinner, and my monstrous siblings had devoured all the french silk pie. You all know I have an insane sweet tooth, so I was kinda forced to eat the fruit tart. It was either that or no dessert for me. I ate every last bite of it, each bite testing better and better. I was inspired. I knew I had to replicate this myself; of course it had to taste better and it had to be in the mini form, because anything miniature is just better. So I did. The finished tartlets: Phenomenal.

The crust has a cute little rim I achieved with a flower cookie cutter. The crust itself is flaky with the perfect crisp to it. The ground pistachio adds a bit of color and a nutty undertone. The custard is creamy and rich. You get the slight hint of vanilla and the citrus from the orange zest. It all balances so well. The fruit itself is great and the apricot glaze not only adds a shine, but also a hint of sweetness. These bite size tartlets are perfect, because you get everything at once. The custard to crust ratio is perfect and the glazed fruit adds a subtle freshness to this surprisingly light dessert. The textures balance each other so well. You get the flakiness of the crust, the crunch of the pistachio, the creaminess of the custard, and the bite of the fruit. These are definitely worth the time. Although they disappear quickly, their flavor never leaves your mind. You will be hooked. I am. 

Ingredients:

Tart Shells

1 1/3 Cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Finely Ground Pistachios

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 Stick Butter (Chilled)

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

For Baking

PIE WEIGHTS or BEANS

Foil

Orange Vanilla Infused Custard

1 Cup Milk

2 Egg Yolks

3 tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch

Zest of half an orange

1/2 tbsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 tbsp Butter

Pinch of Salt

Fruit Topping

3 Strawberries (Diced)

1 Kiwi (Diced)

20 Blackberries (Split in Half)

3 Slices of Pineapple (Diced)

Glaze

1 tsp Apricot Jam (Or any other light jam)

1 tsp water

Directions:

Begin by making the crust as it needs to chill before you can roll it out. In a food processor, place the ground pistachio, flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix together. With the food processor running, add the butter in cubes from the top of the food processor. Allow it to mix until you get fine grains. Now, take off the lid and crack the egg. Put the lid back on and run the food processor until it all combines and you have large crumbs. Dump the crumbs on a clean counter and smash them all together to achieve a ball of dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. 

Next, you make the custard. Pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat on low heat till boils. As the milk heats grab another bowl and crack the eggs. Separate the yolks and throw them in bowl. You don't need the whites. Either discard or save for another use. To the yolks, add the sugar, cornstarch, orange zest, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk well until you have a smooth mixture. The milk should be boiling by now. Slowly temper the yolks by adding a small spoon of hot milk while whisking the eggs vigorously. With one hand whisk vigorously, and with the other pour small amounts of the milk. This will keep your yolks from scrambling. After this is all incorporated pour it all into the saucepan and whisk continuously until the custard thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl. Whisk in the butter until it melts into the hot custard. This will put your custard over the top! After all, a little butter makes anything better!
Leave the whisk in the bowl. You need to put the bowl in an ice bath till it cools completely. Mix every once in a while to keep a layer from forming on top of the custard. 

Now you need to make your tartlets. I used two mini muffin pans. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and clear a table or counter for the rolling. Dust it with a bunch of flour. Split the dough in two and pat into a circle. Turn over the dough to dust both sides with a generous amount of flour. Believe me, this will keep your dough from breaking and sticking. Roll the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness flipping it every once in a while so it doesn't stick. You can cut them into circles with a cup pr biscuit cutter, but I used a flower cookie cutter because of the crimped edges it gave the tartlets. Spray the pan and place the crust into the tins pressing gently to you have a little cup. Continue doing this until you finish the dough. I ended up with 40 tartlets. You need to place pie weights or beans in the tartlets so the middle doesn't inflate in the oven. I cut little pieces of foil and put 4 beans in each placing them in the center of each tart. If you have kids, this a great little fun way they can help out. Bake the tartlets for about 8 minutes, or until you see the top edges start to become a golden brown. Remove them from the oven and take the foil bowls out immediately so they don't stick to the inside of the tart shell. Remove the tartlets with a spoon and place them on a cooling rack. 

As the tartlets cool dice all your fruit. You can use any fruit you have on hand, this is just the fruit that I had available the day I made these. Smaller fruits like blueberries probably won't need to be cut. 

Assemble the tartlets by placing 3/4 of a tsp of custard into each one. You can know arrange the fruit any way you want. Originally, I wanted to put some of each of the fruits, but I didn't realize how small these tartlets are. In the end I just toppled each tartlet with a different fruit. For the glaze I mixed a tsp of apricot jam with a tsp of water and microwaved it for 15 seconds. I used a pastry brush to glaze each tartlet. After that I just threw them in the fridge. You can store them in a closed Tupperware for up to three days, but I don't think they'll even last that long. Mine disappeared within the hour. I'm sure yours will as well. Enjoy these little shells of goodness!