Mini Apple Pies

So, I was invited to a cookie exchange this past weekend.  Well, sometimes I’m not so great at following directions or maybe rules so I decided to make two desserts and neither of them was a cookie.  I thought the other people might appreciate some variety.  Anyway, the first one was mini apple pies.  I heard recently that the new dessert craze might be pies. Move over cupcakes! 

I cheated though and didn’t make my own crust.  For about $2 I was able to get 2 crusts right in the frozen section of my grocery store.  I know, I know, but whatever shortcuts I can get, I’ll take. 

I started out with the pre-made crust, some cookie cutters and some play-doh cutters.  I’m serious, they’re from my nieces play-doh set that I had at my house:

Since I was using things that belong to my nieces, I kept the theme going with the cup I chose to make the little circle pie crusts.

And, I cut out some pie crust tops with the little cookie cutters.  Here’s where things went a little off course.  Initially I wanted to use the play-doh stuff to make cute shapes in the top crust, well that turned into a big fat fail.  You can see in the top of the picture below that I tried cutting out a little star and it did not work.  So I abandoned that idea and just made cute flower shapes with the cookie cutters:

I put all the bottom crusts in my pie pan and started making the filling.  For the filling, I just used one granny smith apple.  I wasn’t making very many pies though, so if you make more than me, you’ll at least need two.  I peeled and cored them, and then cut them into small sticks:

What happened next was a bit of a blur.  I haven’t made pie in YEARS, but for some reason I thought I should just throw some stuff in the pan and do a few taste tests as I went along.  Luckily it actually worked out for me.  To the pan I added apples, cinnamon, butter, white wine and sugar.   And then for good measure I added some honey too.  Not really sure why, but it tasted good.

Once the apple concoction was soft enough, I started to spoon it into the little pie crusts:

Then, I put the tops on and put it into the oven.

I baked them for about 20 minutes at 350F.  Maybe longer though, I kept checking on them and they didn’t seem to be done, so then I’d add some more time. 

Mmmm….

I thought they tasted really yummy, and the crust to filling ratio was good.  The only thing I would change is the top of the pie crust. I wanted something cuter than what I ended up with, but for my first time trying mini pies, I think they turned out pretty good.