I am excited about the upcoming holidays for a whole lot of reasons but I would be lying if I said that holiday desserts did not top that list. Especially pies. Pies seem very Thanksgiving and Christmas to me and I can totally get on board with having more than one type of pie at every gathering. While I do really love pumpkin pie, I just ADORE apple pie. I love everything about it: the flaky crust, the mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and especially the way your house smells after you bake it. Simply the best.
Ingredients
Dough
-2 cups flour
-3/4 cup butter, cold and cubed
-4-5 tablespoons ice water
-2 tsps salt
-2 tsps sugar
Filling
-3 apples
-1/3 cup sugar
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-3/4 tsp nutmeg
-pinch of salt
-1 1/2 tbs flour
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1. To make the dough, I like to use my food processor. It makes it so much easier and faster {it's all about efficiency, folks!}. Put the flour in the food processor, followed by the cubed butter. Pulse until it's well mixed.
2. Next, mix in the salt and sugar. After that, add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a ball. Remove from food processor, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour. While the dough is chilling, get your filling ready.
3. Peel, core, and dice 3 large apples {I used granny smith apples}. Mix together all your spices, flour, and vanilla extract and stir in with the apple pieces.
4. After an hour, remove dough from fridge and roll out between two pieces of wax paper. You want the dough to be thin but still easy to pick up without it breaking.
5. Using a cup or bowl to cut out circles slightly larger than your muffin tin.
6. Place the circle into the muffin tin, folding the edges to make it fit. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom.
7. Spoon the apple pie filling into each cup, and be sure to fill it generously {the apples will shrink a bit when cooked}.
8. Using the remaining dough, cut out shapes or lattice for the top of the pies. {You may need to gather up the dough and reroll it.} I used heart and star shapes but think how cute it would be with leaf shapes on top. Perfect for your fall celebration! I also thought topping each pie with the person's initials would be really neat too. If you are wanting the classic lattice look, use a pizza cutter to get nice, clean lines.
9. Top each pie with your chosen topper and place in a 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until they start to brown on top.
Let them cool, then enjoy!
This is the perfect way to insure that there are no fights over whose pie slice is bigger because everyone gets their own little pie...that they don't have to share.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Lydia is one of four bloggers behind Huckleberry Love. She is the lucky wife and mother of 3 little rascals {ages 5, 3, and 1} who keep her days busy and her laundry basket overflowing. When she isn't running after her offspring, she loves to sew, re-purpose and makeover furniture, read {anything and everything!}, watch movies, go antiquing, and eat Italian food. A native Texan, she prefers the ocean to the mountains, beer to wine, and action movies to rom-coms.
