Every year in early December, I browse through the files on The Wedding Cookie Table Community on Facebook to find a handful of great holiday cookie ideas for my kids and me to bake. I found so many great ideas (some of which I will make this month and report back to yinz about), but when I looked at one of the page’s posts that featured some beautiful mini tarts, I had a memory flashback and had to tackle that project first.

When I was around eleven years old, I remember being at a holiday party at a friend’s house. When my mom came to pick me up, I pointed out the adorable mini apple pies my friend’s parents had on their cookie table. I asked her to make them with me, assumed she’d be happy to, but I assumed wrong.

My mom makes the best apple pie I’ve ever had, still to this day. But when I tried to convince her to give these many apple pies a try, she was not having it. Her response was something like, “If I messed these up, then we will have wasted all of that food and money.” Growing up poor is a whole thing. It’s just like Cig Mom’s Thanksgiving reel (if you haven’t seen it, I suggest that you do) when she says, “Who do you think I am, Andrew Carnegie?”

Listen, Mom from 1993-ish, I’m not rich, either, but I’m making the damn mini pies. So, I’m back on my pie kick, sort of, which is good because I have leftover crust to use. “Waste not, want not!”

4 honeycrisp apples — I used Honeycrisp apples instead of traditional baking apples

However, in honor of my mom, I’m using her original apple pie filling recipe … almost.

I needed to modify it just a tad since I’m not making two 9-inch pies. And since the mini pies are going to be quite small, I’ll be cutting the recipe down a lot. I’m also cutting the apples into very small pieces, ⅛ inch thick, rather than ½-inch slices.

Also, since I don’t want to torch my crusts, I’m going to bake my filling in a casserole dish beforehand.

These were a lot easier to make than I had expected. Here is the recipe, already modified for cookie-table-sized mini pies:

2 (9″) pie crusts
4 baking apples such as McIntosh or Cortland, but Honeycrips work, too (peeled, cored, and sliced into ⅛ inch slices and ½ inch strips)
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar (loosely packed) or ¼ cup apple butter
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch salt

Pie crust and a biscuit cutter — The 3 inch mini biscuit cutter was just the right size Credit: Stacy Rounds

First, I made the baked apples. I started by pre-heating the oven to 350°, then I cored my apples and cut them into quarters. With a sharp knife, I cut the quarters into thin slices, about ⅛ inch thick. I should have used my mandoline to make the slices more even, which I plan to do next time. Then, I cut the slices into ½ inch strips. Next, I added the apples and the remaining ingredients (save for the pie crusts) into a small casserole dish. I stirred everything well, then covered the dish loosely with aluminum foil and baked for 35 minutes.

After the apples were out of the oven, I turned the heat up to 400°. While the oven warmed, I cut the pie crust into small circles with a mini biscuit cutter. They fit perfectly into my mini muffin pan. I tucked them in with my fingers, then poked holes in the bottom with a fork to vent. I baked them for 7 minutes, then removed them from the oven. Once they were out, I poked any bubbles down with my fingers (carefully since they were hot), then spooned the apples in and baked for five more minutes.

My completed mini apple pies. Take that, childhood trauma! Credit: Stacy Rounds

I had some pie crust left over, so, if you’d like, you can make a fun top crust for your mini pies. I opted out because I prefer a more apple-to-crust ratio in my apple pies.

Here is a printable PDF of this recipe:

mom apple pie (1)Download