Thursday, December 22, 2011

something yummy for the holidays: mini apple pies with a braided crust

This holiday season, instead of making a different kind of cookie, I decided to make mini apple pies. These require no fuss-- no cutting, no serving, no worrying about the filling falling out! These turned out really yummy, and were also a lot of fun to make.


Ingredients

Filling:
5 small apples (I used honeycrisp, my favorite! Their flavors really brought out the sweetness in these pies.)
3/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1 tsp. of ground nutmeg
6 tbsp. of flour
2 tbsp. of melted butter

Crust: 
6 cups of flour
11 tbsp. of butter, set at room temperature
1 tsp. of salt
4 tbsp. of water
1 egg, whisked

Set your oven to 425. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and butter. Using a mixer, mix until grainy.



Add the water and, using the mixer, mix again until pea size pellets form.


Using your hands, mix and kneed until a dough forms. Set this aside while you mix the filling.


Wash and peel 5 small apples.


Core and cut the apples into small cubes.


Combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, melted butter and sugar and mix well.


Roll out the dough, and using a small bowl, make cut outs.


Insert into a non-greased muffin pan.


Add two, big spoonfuls of the filling into each mold.


With your hands, roll out three small strands of dough and braid for the crust (My play-doh skills really helped me here). Using a brush, gently brush each strand with the whisked egg.


Attach each braid, egg side down, onto the pies.
With the extra dough, make criss crosses across each pie.
Melt 2 tbsp. of butter and brush the tops of each pie.


Bake at 425 for 18 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.




Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

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