Mini Apple Pies in a Pastry Shell

Mini Apple Pies in a Pastry Shell keeps the shopping list focused on all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, and oz cream cheese. It serves 24 Pies.

Count on 30 minutes of prep, 30 minutes of cooking, about 1 hour from the first measurement to the plate.

Ingredients Method

What goes in the bowl

Cream Cheese Crust

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 3 oz cream cheese

Apple Filling

• 2 apples — peeled and diced into small pieces
• ½ cup light brown sugar — not packed
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Pecan Crumble

• ¼ cup unsalted butter — melted
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup light brown sugar — packed
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup toasted pecans — finely chopped

How the cooking goes

Make Cream Cheese Crust

1. Warm the oven to 350°F. Sift the flour into a medium bowl. Cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour using two knives or a pastry blender, continuing past the point where the dough just begins to hold together. Because there is no added liquid, the dough needs to be blended longer than a standard pie crust.
2. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 24 pieces. Shape the dough into a log, halve it, cut each half into thirds, then cut each third into 4 pieces. Pinch dough from larger pieces onto smaller ones to even them out.
3. Press each piece of dough into one cup of a miniature muffin tin using your forefinger to form a thin, even shell.

Make Apple Filling

1. Combine the apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Toss to coat evenly, then taste and adjust sugar, lemon juice, or spices as needed. Add the cornstarch and toss to coat.

Make Pecan Crumble

1. Stir the vanilla into the melted butter. Add the brown sugar, flour, and finely chopped pecans then mix with a fork until evenly moistened. The mixture should hold together when squeezed and break into crumbles when released. If it is too dry, add melted butter one teaspoon at a time.

Assemble and Bake

1. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of apple filling into each unbaked pastry shell, filling to the top. The filling will cook down considerably.
2. Mound crumble generously over each filled shell, pressing it lightly to adhere.
3. Oven-bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling around the edges and the crumble and crust have begun to brown. Cool completely in the tin before removing. To release, spin each pie gently in its cup to loosen the edges, then press down lightly on one side to lift it out.

After it comes off the heat

Let the pan settle before you slice, so the crumb stays together. Cover leftovers once they are cool.

If you want another plate from Apples, open Applesauce Cake with a Soft Crumb and Apple Cobbler after Supper.