I've always loved apple pie. I think it's probably part genetics (my dad FROTHS apple pie), part environmental (due to dad's aforementioned love of apple p, my childhood was peppered with weekend jaunts to the bakery for a fresh pie) and part apple pie just being straight up tasty.
I've also always loved mini cakes and muffins because the concept of bite sized, single serve cakes is kinda really (objectively) great. So, naturally then it's only been a matter of time before I took apple pie and made it mini-sized!
These pies have been in the back of my mind for ages, and for reasons unknown I'd never acted on those subconscious apple pie dreams. But, this weekend after a few months hiatus from my kitchen and a few too many overripe apples in the fruit bowl I thought it might just have been time to act on my foodie dreams and make pie. So pie, or rather pies, did I make!
I've recently landed myself a full-time job which I'm very much enjoying though it doesn't leave me with a whole heap of time to be creative in the kitchen. I also, after nearly five years of making and creating, wanted a bit of a break from the constant pressure to make new food all day every day. It's been a very busy time, but nice to go back to making and eating food for taste and nourishment alone, rather than constantly stressing about having everything look good and Insta-worthy. Courtesy of my job being ongoing, I'm not sure if or when I'll go back to regularly making and photographing food, but, like this post and this recipe, from time to time, inspiration still strikes! I do thoroughly still enjoy making food and thinking of new ways to eat old things, and I think being craft in the kitchen will always be a part of who I am. I do however, apologise for dropping off the face of the earth! For the record, I'm definitely still here, making an honest living and every bit as much a foodie as I've always been!
Ingredients; (makes 9 pies)
5 sheets puff pastry (I use the brand 'Borg's, available from Woolworths because it's dairy free and vegan!)
4 apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp all-spice
2 tsp cornflower
1/2 cup water
Course sugar
1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Peel the apples and remove the cores. Slice them in half and then slice each half into wedges approximately half a cm thick.
3. Add the apple wedges, brown sugar, cinnamon and all-spice to a large saucepan on medium heat.
4. Take the 1/2 cup of water and add the cornflower in. Mix well and then add the mix to the saucepan (mixing the cornflower in at this stage will prevent it from forming clumps in the mixture!)
5. Place a lid on the saucepan and simmer for approx. 15 minutes, stirring occassionally, until the apple is soft and the sugar has formed a thick caramel sauce.
6. Take a muffin tin and grease it (I use some vegan butter to do this).
7. Take a sheet of puff pastry and lay it over the tin, being generous on all sides. Gently press the pastry down into the muffin tin, creating shells for the apple filling to go in. Use a knife t cut away any excess pastry.
8. Spoon the apple filling into your pastry lined muffin tin.
9. Use a glass to cut circles in the remaining pastry sheets to use as lids for the mini pies (make sure you check the glass circumference against the muffin tin before doing this to ensure you cut the lids the right size!
10. Gently lay each circle of pastry over the top of your pies and use a fork to lightly press the lid against the shell to seal the pie. Cut a small nick in the top of each pie (for the steam - no one wants a piesplosion!) Sprinkle some course sugar on the top of each pie.
11. Bake for approx. 15 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden. Remove from the oven when cooked, allow to cool slightly and serve with some icecream (I went with salted caramel and could not suggest this combination more - it was DELISH!). Enjoy!
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