Recipe: The Very Best Apple Cutie Pies

the appetizer:

Cutie Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory, and Adorable Recipes by Dani Cone, includes recipes like All-Butter Pie Crust; The Very Best Apple Cutie Pies; Chocolate Cream Pie; and Just Right Strawberry-Rhubarb-Ginger Flipsides.

The Very Best Apple Cutie Pies

Makes 16 cutie pies (or 1 double-crust 9-inch pie, 1 double-crust 7-inch deep-dish pie, 36 petit-5s, 10 flipsides, 8 piejars, 50 piepops)

This is it: the classic. It's always the right time, place, occasion, and season for apple pie! We like to use Granny Smith apples because of their tart crispness, but this recipe lends itself well to many different apple varieties. The Very Best Apple Cutie Pie looks (and tastes) perfect with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, too! A la mode for one!

Ingredients

6 to 8 medium Granny Smith apples
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Pinch of salt
All-Butter Pie Crust
Crumb Top (page 16 of the book), optional
Vanilla ice cream, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the cups of a muffin pan with nonstick pan spray.

2. To make the filling, peel, core, and cut the apples into 1/2-inch cubes.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

4. In a large bowl, combine the apples and the cornstarch mixture, tossing to make sure the apples are well coated.

5. To make the crust, follow the All-Butter Pie Crust recipe and rollout the dough per the instructions.

6. Cut 16 (5-1/2 inch diameter) circles from the dough. Reroll the dough scraps to make all the circles, and avoid overhandling the dough.

7. Gently but firmly press each dough circle into a muffin cup. For the edges, use the fold-tuck-crimp method (see page 13) for each Cutie Pie.

8. Spoon the filling evenly into the Cutie Pie shells, and set aside.

9. If choosing the Crumb Top option, follow the Crumb Top recipe and sprinkle it over the apple filling.

10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. To see whether the bottom is golden, too, use a butter knife to pop a Cutie Pie out of a muffin cup. If the bottom is not brown, bake a few minutes longer. If the pie top is browning too quickly, cover with foil for the final few minutes.

11. After each Cutie Pie is cool, top with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Crust options: all-butter (or vegan, gluten-free)
Shape options: cutie pie (or 9-inch pie, 7-inch deep-dish pie, petit-5, flipside, piejar, piepop)

from:
Cutie Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory, and Adorable Recipes
by Dani Cone
Andrews McMeel Publishing 2011
160 pages; Hardcover; U.S.: $16.99 Canada: $19.99
ISBN: 1449403050
ISBN-13: 978-1449403058
Recipe reprinted by permission.

Buy Cutie Pies