Mini Apple Pies for More Fun!

Since mini anything tends to be more fun, our friends at Foodstirs have cooked up something extra special for this holiday season. Not only are these personal "pies" a great way to get the whole family helping out in the kitchen, but they're also a lighter take on the traditional treat. 

What is better than filling your home with the scent of apples and cinnamon baking in the oven? This recipe takes two classics, baked apples and pie, and creates a more healthful version of apple pie that is low in fat and high in fiber.

Not only is this a healthy dessert, these mini apple pies are a fun foodcrafting for the entire family to take part in. Children can help fill the apples, while older kids can create intricate dough patterns. If topping your mini apple pies with weaved dough seems too difficult, have children cut the dough with cookie cutters and place the shapes on top.

How Kids Can Help:

• Sift flour.
• Squish the butter into the flour.
• Shape the dough.
• Stir the apple filling.
• Spoon the filling into the hollowed apples.
• Use dough to make patterns onto the apples.  

Mini Apple Pies

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

2-3 tablespoons water, chilled

For the filling:

1 lemon

6 Granny Smith apples

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons walnuts, chopped

For the topping:

1 tablespoon milk or plant milk

1 tablespoon Turbinado sugar

Instructions

1. Sift 1 cup flour and ½ teaspoon salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut 6 tablespoons butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons water, one tablespoon at a time, and knead lightly until dough forms. Shape dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375°F. Fill a large bowl with cold water. Add the juice from ½ of a lemon to the water. Core 6 apples and cut the tops off. Keep cored apples in the bowl of lemon water while prepping each apple. Using a paring knife, cut slits around the inside flesh of the apple. Pop the pieces out and reserve for the filling. (The hallowed apples will be used in Step 3 to hold your filling.)
3. Fill a separate bowl with the apple pieces. Mix in 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 tablespoons walnuts. Brighten the flavors with a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.
4. Place hallowed apples in a baking dish. Fill each apple with the filling. Set aside.
5. Take dough out of the refrigerator. Roll dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut dough into even ½ inch strips, and lay a lattice pattern onto the apples. If you don’t want to create a lattice design, simply cut the dough with different cookie cutter shapes and place those on top of the apples. Brush the topping with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and apple fillings are tender.

~Recipes and photos by Katie Romey, MS, RD for Foodstirs