For the pie crust
All purpose flour 2 1/4 cups
Very cold unsalted butter slices (diced) – 3/4 cup
sugar – 1 tbsp
salt – a pich
orange zest – 1.5 tsp
Baking powder -1 tsp
Vanilla extract – a splash
Cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp
Ice cold water – 8 to 10 tbsp
For the egg wash
Egg yolks- 2
Milk – 1 tbsp
whipped cream – 1 tbsp
Water 2 tsp
For the filling
Apple – 3 nos (diced)
All purpose flour – 1 tbsp
Butter (cut into bits) – 1 tbsp
sugar – 3 tbsp ( or more to suit your taste)
orange zest 1/2 tsp
Few drops of vanilla extract ( 2 to 3)
Ground cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp
Grated nutmeg – 1/4 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Preparing the pie crust:
In a large bowl, add the all pupose flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and orange zest and mix well. Alternatively you can pulse these ingredients in a food processor and combine.
Now add the cold butter slices. Please ensure that the butter slices are really cold, as this helps in achieving a soft and flaky crust. Pulse the mix in a food processor or using a hand blender. The flour mixture would still have very tiny butter pieces and that should be the texture. This helps the pie crust to puff up while baking. Then add eggs and pulse again by adding few tablespoons of very cold water(probably water kept in freezer for a short while). You will need no more thaan 7 to 8 tablespoons of cold water to pull the dough together. Please don’t add the entire water measure at once. Add little by little while pulling the dough together.
Take out this dough and separate into two equal pieces. In a spacious surface, spread out some all purpose flour, put the dough on top and gently pull the dough together. When it gets together, cover both balls of dough separately in plastic wrap. Place both the dough balls in refrigerated for at-least an hour, I refrigerated these balls for 8 hours.
After taking out from fridge allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, use this time to prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Preparing the filling:
Combine sugar, flour, spices, orange zest, vanilla extract drops and salt in a large bowl. Add diced apples and toss to coat well.
Grease the muffin tin pan with cooking/butter spray.
Prepare the egg wash by whisking the yolks(preferably) with water, milk, and whipped cream.
Sprinkle All purpose flour on a clean flat surface/kitchen countertop and knead the pie crust on this so that it gets smooth and spreads out easily without cracking.
Roll out the dough into a large square or round for about 1/8th thickness. Make sure to roll out patiently and keep flouring at regular intervals to avoid cracking of the dough.
Use two round cookie cutters, bigger one(3.5 inches) and smaller one(2.5 inches) and cut 10 bigger and 10 smaller circles of dough. The bigger circle forms the bottom of the mini pie and the smaller circle forms the top cover of the mini pies.
Make a small slit like ‘x’ or any shape of your choice, on each of the smaller dough circle. This allows to steam to escape.
Shaping up and filling the pies
Place a bigger circle of pie crust on the muffin tin, press the bottom and flatten it.
Place some filling just till its top edge.
Brush it with the egg wash. This helps to glue the pie crust.
Now close the top of the mini pie by placing the slitted small circle of pie crust. Brush it again with egg wash.
Sprinkle little raw sugar on top.
Repeat this for the remaining amount of dough.
I was able to make 10 mini apple pies using the above said amount of ingredients.
Place the muffin tin pan in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Keep checking at regular intervals after 15 minutes to 25 minutes until the pies turn golden brown.
Let them cool a bit and get ready to much this delicious cute little things!
Tips
The pie crust can be stored in freezer for up-to a month.
