A fun-filled weekend and mini-apple pies!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous, fun, restful weekend. I sure did!  Well, maybe I could have used a little more rest, but I always want more sleep.

Anyways, this past Saturday was my family’s annual talent show. It was a blast. There was good food, good talent, and lots of fun swimming and playing kickball. Me and Darren did some cheerleading stunts for our talent.

(photo courtesy of Taylor Elchert)

Darren is a seriously patient boyfriend to go along with this. Although, he did almost drop me on my face.

My family and I sang the song “Mad World” for our talent with my little sister Allie on the piano for accompaniment. It was a lot of fun to sing with my family in the weeks leading up to the talent show.

Sunday was spent lounging around with Darren. He had to go back to his apartment that night. After he left, I completely broke out in hives. By midnight, my body felt like it was on fire, I was itching all over, and I was covered in huge raised red lumps. I have no clue what caused me to have such a reaction. I ate tilapia for dinner that night. I’ve had tilapia about 6 or 7 times in the past. Other than that I ate things I eat on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I had my protein shake, an apple, peanut butter, a turkey sandwich, ice cream, asparagus, and potatoes. When I woke up in the morning, thankfully, only a few little red bumps remained on the back of my leg. Now, halfway through the day, my skin is completely clear of hives. Talk about weird!

Now onto some deliciousness…

Mini apple pies.

Yup.

Baked in a cupcake pan.

Because cupcakes are out. And pie is in.

These mini apple pies are so cute and portable! I love them

The recipe I used says that it yields 6 mini apple pies. When I made the recipe, I had enough filling for 6 mini apple pies, but I only had enough dough for 3 crusts! I would suggest doubling the crust recipe to have enough, unless you can roll out your pie dough super thin without tearing it. I can’t.

Mini-Apple Pies

via Novel Eats

Mini Apple Pies
This recipe makes approximately 6 mini pies the size of medium-sized muffins

For the crust:

• 1 cup white all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. cold water

For the filling:

• 2 large baking apples, peeled and sliced into small pieces
• 1/3 cup sugar I used white
  
• 1/8 cup white all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• dash of salt

In a medium-sized bowl put 1 cup of flour. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender/cutter until the mixture has small lumps. Sprinkle the cold water over the flour and butter and stir together until the dough pulls together and away from the sides of the bowl. If the mixture doesn’t seem to be doing this you can add another tablespoon of water. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, then place it in the refrigerator for 20 or 30 minutes so it becomes firm. This will make it easier to work with.

Mix together all of the filling ingredients except for the peeled and sliced apples. After they have been mixed add in the apples (or vice versa depending on your bowl situation) and stir until the dry ingredients have been well incorporated with your apples. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 345 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take your dough out of the refrigerator and split into two. On a floured surface roll out the dough until it is thin (not too thin otherwise it will tear).

Use a small bowl as a guide and slice around the bowl like so. Then take the circle of dough and press it into your muffin pan.

Score the bottom of the dough with a fork a few times. Fill the dough with the apple mixture so that it comes over the top of the pan (when the apples are baking they will loose a lot of their water and sink down).

Cut the excess dough.

Now cut a smaller circle of dough and put it on top of your pie. Pinch the top dough together with the bottom dough (the centimeter part). Score the top with a knife. If you get really creative you can cut little leaves out of your scraps of dough and place those on top. They may fall off, though, so you’ll need to make sure they are secure (gently mashing the ends into the top pie dough).

Continue doing this process until you’ve run out of enough dough or apple filling. There is bound to be leftovers of both so you can just bake the remaining apples in a separate pan, make a pie with no top pie crust, or make a small apple crisp after all.

Place the muffin pan in the oven, and place a sheet of aluminum foil on the rack below to catch any liquid that may fall from the pan. Bake for about 35 minutes, and check to make sure the apple pies are done.

Once they are done take them out of the oven and let them sit for about 15 or 20 minutes so they get cool enough to handle. It’s not easy taking these little pies out of the pan so you may have to be careful while coaxing them out with a knife.

These things are yum-o and perfect for the approach of fall.

XOXO,

Jamie

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