These crispy, sweet and juicy mini apple pies are a great alternative to for those times where you want apple pie but don’t have the time to make one completely from scratch and also want to portion it up so it stays fresh for longer.

Mini Apple Pies

Well, it’s officially October which means we’re fully into not only apple season but comfort food season, and I think apple pie is probably one of the most comforting foods out there. But I do know apple pies take quite a while to make, so I thought I would find an alternative to make apple pie easier by using shop bough puff pastry, and let me tell you, they definitely do the trick!

The puff pastry not makes these mini apple pies super quick and easy to make, but also incredibly crispy when you bite into them. I used delicious pink lady apples and cooked them in brown sugar and cinnamon to caramelise them to perfection, cooked until still slightly hard, they pack and amazing bite!

Tips for making the best mini apple pies

• Allow the pastry to come to room temperature – if the pastry is cold, it will be hard and it will be difficult to work with and it may break. So make sure you take it out of the fridge around 30 minutes before using it so it’s easy to work with.
• Refrigerate before cooking – this may seem to contradict the previous point, but the truth is that if you refrigerate your puff pastry before it goes in the oven it will become puffier and crispier.
• Cook your apples! – I don’t think people cook apples enough when making apple pie and to be honest I think it’s a mistake. This recipe cooks the apple in delicious brown sugar with cinnamon and vanilla for a perfect caramel taste.

Easy Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients (makes around 12 pies) :

For the apples:

• 4 medium apples (I used pink ladies)
• 2 tsp of cornflour
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract 
• 100 gr of brown sugar 

For the mini pies:

• 500 gr of puff pastry at room temperature – mine came in a block
• 1 egg (for egg wash)
• Icing sugar to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Start by cooking the apples. Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces, add them to a pot together with the cornflour, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and brown sugar and cook over medium heat until the apples are soft but not mushy and still keep their shape, the apples will release juice at first, continue to cook until they are caramelised and there is not much juice left. Once ready, set aside to cool down completely.
2. Roll out the puff pastry over a floured surface until you have the shape of a rectangle, the pastry should have the thickness of a coin. Using a large cookie cutter, cut circles along the pastry until you don’t have any more space, then, form a ball with it and repeat the process until you run out of dough.
3. Place half of the circles of dough over a tray or trays lined with baking paper and add equal amounts of the cooled down apple filling, making sure it doesn’t go all the way to the edges.
4. Beat the egg and using a brush or your fingers, brush the edges of the pastry, this will help it stick to the top pastry.
5. Take the other half of the pastry circles and using a sharp knife cur a cross at the top, then place them on top of the pastries topped with the filling and seal the edges with a fork dipped in flour so they stick. Wash the top with more egg.
6. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes, cold puff pastry means flakier pastry.
7. After 30 minutes, cook in a preheated oven at 180 for around 20 minutes – make sure to check the instructions on the puff pastry in case the cooking time varies from this. The pastries will be ready when they have a beautiful golden colour.
8. Serve warm with a sprinkle of icing sugar, these are also great with custard and ice cream! Keep in a tight container for 2-3 days.