Mini Apple Pies

There’s nothing better than classic apple pie, unless it’s having one all to yourself! These little individual pies are big on flavor, and their sweet, buttery pastry crusts bake to golden perfection.

I return to this time-honored classic for every kind of occasion, but I especially enjoy making it on patriotic holidays. It somehow feels reverent and dignified, having an apple pie on our buffet on Memorial Day or July 4th. Its origins lie across the pond, but it has become an American symbol, perfected by the hands of our predecessors and steeped in tradition.

Individual desserts have always felt special to me, so I decided this year we’d all have our own little apple pie. The apple filling formula is pretty standard and easy to mix up, but the crust recipe is different from regular pie crust. I learned to make pate sucrée in pastry class, and I’ve found it holds up well to nearly any type of juicy pie filling – and it’s perfect for mini pies!

Mini Apple Pies

A food processor makes quick work of forming the dough and it helps keep it cool, as warm hands will melt the cold butter pieces dispersed throughout the dough. Once processed, it will need to rest 30 minutes before rolling. I used a large pastry cutter to stamp dough rounds from the pastry, but you could also flip over your mini pie pans and trim around them 1″ larger than the pan rims.

Mini Apple Pies

These little pies will need to be vented, and you could do so by cutting a slit in the tops of the pies, but I wanted to make these extra-cute for our holiday.

A reinforced vent hole can be made with two small, nesting cookie cutters. To do this, first cut a circle from the rolled pastry for a top crust; set aside. Then, use the larger cutter to stamp a shape from the rolled pastry (here, a star). Lay it on the top center of the circle. Use the smallest cutter to cut a vent hole through the stamped shape and pastry round. Now you’re ready to top a pie!

Mini Apple Pies

After fluting the edges of the pie crusts together, cover the pies with egg wash using a pastry brush and immediately sprinkle with coarse sugar. This makes the top crust golden brown and crunchy!

The thyme in my little herb planter is full of twisty green sprigs, so I added a pinch of chopped fresh thyme to the pie filling. This is optional, but I really love the flavor.

I’m serving these pies directly from the little glass pans they were baked in. You can find the pans I used here, if you’re looking for a set of your own.

Mini Apple Pies

These little individual pies are big on flavor, and their sweet, buttery pastry crusts bake to golden perfection.
No ratings yet
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
30 minutes chill time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 12 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 pies

Equipment

  • 5 inch mini pie pans

Ingredients
  

Pate sucrée crust

  • 2 cups 10oz/284g all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 7/8 cup 14 tablespoons/198g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
  • 1/2 cup 3.5 oz./100g fine granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg slightly beaten

Apple pie filling

  • 1/2 cup 100g granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup 106g brown sugar, packed
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 5 large tart, firm apples, thinly sliced (tested with Granny Smith)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Assemble the pies

  • Egg wash 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water
  • Coarse crystal sugar

Instructions
 

Crust

  • Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, pulse to combine. Add the cubed butter on top of the flour and pulse repeatedly in short bursts until the mixture looks crumbly. Add the vanilla and egg and pulse until the mixture forms a ball to one side of the bowl. Remove the dough and flatten into a circle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes before use.

Filling

  • In a small bowl, combine the sugars, flour and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat.

Bake and Assemble

  • Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  • Roll the dough on a lightly floured work surface using a floured rolling pin. Cut 7-inch rounds from the dough and fit inside the pie pans. Fill each pie with the apple filling until heaping. Gather the dough and re-roll to 1/4-inch thickness.
  • Cut more pastry rounds to fit the top of each pie. Cut a vent in the center of each pie using a small cookie cutter (or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie using a paring knife). Top the pie with the crust and press edges of the crusts together and flute. Brush pies with egg wash then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake the pies for 15-17 minutes, or until the pastry turns golden brown.
  • Allow pies cool before serving, or serve warm with scoops of vanilla ice cream on top.

Notes

For 8 pies, make two batches of pastry crust, or you can halve the pie filling recipe and make just one batch of pate sucrée to yield just 4 pies.
Keyword french sweet dough, granny smith apples, pastry crust
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Follow:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Can you write about what kind of mini pie pan you used?

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Hi! Yes, they are glass pie pans. There's a link just before the recipe for the ones I used. They are about 5-inches in diameter.

Or, here's a direct link- https://amzn.to/2XwBLx6

Jennifer McCleary
Jennifer McCleary
3 years ago

Great recipe and I like the option of individual pies. Question – would a large muffin tin work for as pie shells? Thank you.

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
3 years ago

Hi Jennifer! Yes, you should be able to easily use a large muffin tin. The pies may be slightly deeper, and the yield size could change but they should bake up just as nicely.

Colette (Coco)
Colette (Coco)
3 years ago

Look at these gorgeous little sweethearts!
Heather, I must eat these tonight! xo

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
3 years ago
Reply to  Colette (Coco)

Thank you! I love them and I hope you do, too!

Roshini
Roshini
3 years ago

Apple Pie is my favourite dessert! How did you do those amazing razor sharp flutes??? I was hopefully searching for your video tutorial on the site 🙁 please make one

Floranet
Floranet
3 years ago

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Amy
Amy
2 years ago

Thanks for the great recipe. Our tree is overflowing with apples this year. How well do you think these would hold up if frozen?