Spiced Apple Mini Pies

Kids love these hand held pies and it’s not much more work to make 4 mini pies instead of 1 standard. Apple pocket pie molds can add whimsy to shape these little treasures, but feel free to construct them as traditional discs. This recipe comes to us from Colleen of Foodie Tots.

Serves 8

For the crust:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 7 tablespoons very cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 7 tablespoons very cold shortening, cut into pieces
• 6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
• 1 egg, beaten to an egg wash with 1 tablespoon water
• maple sugar

For the filling:

• 1 apple, diced small
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch salt

To prepare the crust:

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Drop in cold butter and shortening. Using your hands, a fork, a pastry cutter, or two knives, work butter and shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal with some small pea-size pieces.

Using a fork, quickly stir in 1/2 cup ice water (mixture will not hold together). Turn dough and crumbs onto a clean surface. Knead just 5-10 minutes or until dough starts to hold together but some bits still fall away.

Divide dough in half and pat each half into a 6 inch disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight. If you’re in a hurry you can place dough in the freezer for 30 minutes instead, but you’ll get the best results from leaving it in the fridge for a few hours.

To prepare the filling:

In a medium bowl, combine diced apple, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside while dough is chilling.

To complete the mini-pies:

Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness and use the mold or a medium bowl to cut out 8 shapes.

With a small knife, cut a leaf-shaped vent into 4 of the dough pieces. These will be the tops of each mini pie. The non-cut pieces will be the bottom of each mini pie.

Place one of the bottom dough pieces in one of the molds or on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place 2 tablespoons of apple filling in the center of the bottom piece of dough.

Brush a little egg wash around the edges. Lay a top piece of dough (with vent cut-out) over the bottom piece and filling. Gentle press the dough pieces together with a fork, sealing together with the egg wash. Brush the top with a little more egg wash and sprinkle with maple sugar.

Repeat process to make the 3 remaining mini pies. Place unbaked mini pies in the freezer for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

After 30 minutes, remove mini pies from freezer and bake for 22-24 minutes, or until crust is golden. Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes before eating.