Mini Apple Pies
Lucious boozy Brandy Apple Hand Pie Recipe with cornmeal crust. Fabulous Mini Apple Pies make a perfect fall treat!
Why We Love Mini Apple Pies
Fall is my favorite season by far. Vibrant fiery colors blanketing the slopes, crisp air, and jackets. I love jackets.
I also love all the fall activities… Hay rides, apple picking, corn mazes.
And the apple harvest creates the perfect opportunity to make apple baked goods in all their glory! We love puff pastry baked apples, apple beer bread, apple brown betty, curried apple turnovers, apple spice cornbread muffins, easy apple upside-down cake, and of course, apple pie recipes!
In the Asheville area, the Eliada Corn Maze is the best corn maze we’ve visited. It is massive, with areas sectioned off for children and beginners.
There are also elaborate mazes that may take over an hour to get through. The kids, who have no irrational fear of the stalks, look forward to the corn maze every year.
When you return home from the corn maze, a fresh fall treat is well deserved. Try these Brandy Apple Hand Pies with CORNmeal Crust as your reward!
These easy-to-make Mini Apple Pies are as close to perfect as any pie I’ve ever made.
Mini Apple Pie Recipe
The cornmeal crust has a hearty flavor, but delicate texture. The Brandy syrup saturates the apples and wafts through the house with an intoxicating perfume. If only you could bottle the aroma!
Brandy Apple Hand Pies would be a great dessert for fall parites, or even your Halloween party this year. Just use a spooky cookie cutter for the tops!
Ingredients for Mini Apple Pies
For the Cornmeal Crust Recipe:
- all purpose flour
- yellow cornmeal
- powdered sugar
- salt
- vegetable shortening
- ice cold water
For the Homemade Apple Pie Filling:
- tart green apples (granny smith apples or honeycrisp)
- unsalted butter
- all-purpose flour
- brandy liquor (liqueur)
- granulated sugar
- light brown sugar
- apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice or clove)
- pinch of salt
How to Make Mini Apple Pies
- For the Crust: Add the flour, cornmeal, powdered sugar, and salt to the food processor. Pulse a couple of times. Then cut the shortening into cubes and pulse it into the dry mixture. Add 3 tablespoons of ice-cold water and pulse until the dough comes together.
- Dump the pie crust onto a sheet of plastic wrap and divide it into a large and small piece, about an 80/20 split. Shape the dough into two disks, then wrap both pieces and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel and dice the apples and place them in a bowl.
- For the Filling: In a small sauce pan, add the butter and remaining six ingredients over medium heat. Stir and bring to a simmer. Then pour the syrup over the chopped apples and toss.
- Take the larger disk of dough out of the fridge. Roll it out on a well-floured work surface to approximately 1/8 inch thick. Using a drinking glass with a wide rim, or a large round cookie cutter, cut out dough circles. Press the dough circles into a muffin pan.
- Fill each crust with an equal portion of the apple mixture.
- Roll out the smaller piece of dough for the top crust. Using a 2-3 inch decorative cookie cutter, cut out tops for each pie. Place each top on the mini pies and brush them with the remaining syrup from the apple bowl.
- Bake the mini pies for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F, and bake another 15 minutes. If the tops are already golden brown after the first 15 minutes, lay a sheet of foil over them.
Mini Apple Pie Tips
- Make sure to chill the dough well, and that it is still slightly cold when it goes in the oven. If you are a slow worker, it’s worth placing the prepped pies back in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking to ensure the dough is firm.
- Dice the apples into even cubes so they bake evenly.
- Use a small thin metal spatula to move the dough.
- Allow the pies to cool completely before trying to remove them from the muffin tins.
Mini Apple Pies Recipe (with Brandy)
Ingredients
For the Cornmeal Crust:
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teapoons salt
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 3-5 tablespoons ice water
For the Filling:
- 3-4 large tart green apples, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 5 teaspoons flour
- 2 tablespoons Brandy liquor
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- For the Crust: Add the flour, cornmeal, powdered sugar, and salt to the food processor. Pulse a couple times. Then cut the shortening into cubes and pulse it into the dry mixture. Add 3 tablespoons of ice cold water and pulse until the dough comes together. Add a little more water if needed.
- Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and divide it into a large and small piece, about an 80/20 split. Shape the dough into two disks, then wrap both pieces and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel and dice the apples and place them in a bowl.
- For the Filling: In a small sauce pan, add the butter and remaining six ingredients over medium heat. Stir and bring to a simmer. Then pour the syrup over the apples and toss.
- Take the larger disk of dough out of the fridge. Roll it out on a well-floured work surface to approximately 1/8 inch thick. Using a drinking glass with a 3 ½ – 4 inch wide rim, cut out dough circles. Press the dough circles into muffin tins. If you gather the extra pieces and re-roll, you should be able to get 14-16 circles.
- Fill each crust with an equal portion of apple mixture.
- Roll out the smaller piece of dough. Using a 2-3 inch decorative cookie cutter, cut out tops for each pie. Place each top on the mini pies and brush them with the remaining syrup from the apple bowl.
- Bake the mini pies for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F, and bake another 15 minutes. If the tops are already golden after the first 15 minutes, lay a sheet of foil over them. Allow the pies to cool completely before trying to remove them from the muffin tins.
These look amazingly delicious! Beautiful photos!
what a lovely presentation! this apple mini pies looks delicious :)Your kids looks very nice. They're so adorable-=)
I just saw a recipe for cornmeal crust and had it clipped out. It sounded delicious and interesting. I love what you have done with it hear. You are a creator!
I'll be saving this one! I'm helping with the preschool Thanksgiving feast and this is a perfect dessert (not a peanut in sight!). Thanks for sharing it.
This looks dangerously delicious! Brandy + apple pies, yum!
Oh wow!!! These are adorable and would also make a very lovely snack for my daughter's lunch box! She would go nuts over the decorative tops and the crunchy cornmeal! Yummy! We are going apple picking this weekend, so will plan on making these shortly thereafter!
Hey Sommer! I am trying this concept for sure;) I can whip up a crust in no time. Plus, I love the way the remaining syrup makes them look on top-that's so pretty…
super sumptuous mini pies…love the recipe
i love mini pies:) they look really gorgeous. i will have to give this a try soon. thank you for sharing.
Oh my do those look delicious?! And then you went and added brandy, I love you! :) Those mini pies are just incredible and what a great idea to make them also for a Halloween Party. Since I'm Halloween obsessed, I'm definitely taking your suggestion on that. :)
Such a wonderful post in every respect Sommer. Wonderful with the corn, apples and spice. Perfect after a run through the corn maze….wonderful children, yours!
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Creative indeed! I am so glad I found your blog! So many wonderful recipes and lovely pics.
Just adorable! Love the brandy syrup idea. Corn mazes sound like immense fun but I've seen enough scary movies (with corn fields) to know how terrifying it can be to have to run through one, for your life, especially at night *Eeeeeek*!
How cute! I love the stars on top!! Why is it that everything that's individually sized looks so much cooler than the normal-sized stuff? haha
Those couldn't be any cuter! Love the little hit of brandy you put in them. And corn fields do have a certain creepy factor to them – remember the Children of the Corn movies? That's what I think of.
I also love fall! I guess your irrational fear of corn fields comes from watching those scary movies…
What gorgeous pies! Droolworthy…
Cheers,
Rosa
I love corn meal crust and these look great. I would be proud to have these on my table. Super job.
Plan B
These look so delicious! I've never tried a cornmeal crust before, I'll have to give this a try:)