I just recently bought a “Pocket Pie” cutter from Williams Sonoma. What a fun “toy” for people like me who like to entertain! This cutter makes personal-sized apple pies, that are just right for one person. Best of all, you can make up a batch of these ahead of time and freeze them until you want to make them. They’re fairly easy to make. Here’s what you need to do.
Make up a batch of your favorite pie crust (enough for a double, top and bottom crust). In this case, I recommend a crust recipe made with 100 percent shortening (rather than with butter) so that it is not too crumbly. This will make it easier to handle.
Here’s my recommended recipe:
SUPER EASY-TO-HANDLE PIE CRUST
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup Crisco or other shortening (There are many organic shortenings on the market, which work great in pie crusts!)
4 ½ to 5 T. cold water
Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water on top of flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time. After each sprinkling of water, gently mix in the water drops with some of the dry mixture. After 4 ½ tablespoons of water has been sprinkled in, the mixture should hold together in a ball. If it doesn't, sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of additional water onto the dough. Shape dough into two equal-sized balls. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut into shapes using the apple pie cutter.
Place apple pie shapes on trays and either refrigerate or freeze while you prepare the filling.
APPLE PIE FILLING
5 large golden delicious apples
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 heaping tablespoons all purpose flour
2 T. unsalted butter, softened
For the filling, peel and thinly slice 5 large golden delicious apples. Microwave for 5 minutes to make them soft. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir just until ingredients are evenly distributed.
Press one apple pie crust cut-out onto each side of the pocket pie maker. Spoon about 2-3 heaping tablespoons of apple pie filling onto one crust. (For a shortcut, you can use canned apple pie or peach pie filling.) Whisk together one egg and 1 T. cold water. Brush a little of the egg and water mixture on the border of one apple pie crust. Press the two sides of the apple pie cutter together to seal. To bake, place pocket pies onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.
If desired, brush crust with milk or some of the egg and water mixture and sprinkle with granulated sugar before baking.
These can be frozen (wrapped individually with plastic wrap) for up to 1-2 months. Thaw 1-2 hours at room temperature before baking.
Happy pie baking!
~Becky
These look delicious! (Cute, too!) Could these (or something like them) be done without a "Pocket Pie" cutter?
ReplyDeleteYou could use a large--say 3-inch--round biscuit cutter to cut out pie crust shapes. These would be considerably smaller than the pocket pies I posted here, so you would probably use only 1 tablespoon worth of filling. Put the filling on one half of the pie crust cut-out. Brush the edges with the egg yolk mixture. Fold over the other half on top, and seal with the tines of your fork. Bake as directed (be sure to prick the top of the mini pies with a fork to allow steam to escape). You could also fry these (but don't prick with a fork) in hot oil.
ReplyDeleteExcellent - thanks! =) Does using shortening instead of butter in the crust make it easier to handle? Could butter be used instead? When making pie I would probably just revert to my Mom's crust recipe, which is just flour, butter and cold water, but is it possible that might not work as well for these?
ReplyDeleteWhat does the egg brushed inside the crust do? Would it change the outcome significantly if egg were not used? (I have found eggs don't agree with me so I try to avoid them where possible, but I realize some recipes just aren't the same without them!)
I hope you don't mind all my questions! This is a recipe I'd really like to try sometime, so I'm just working out the details. Thanks for your help! =)
Lana, yes, the shortening instead of the crust makes it easier to handle. You could use an all-butter crust if you baked them. However, if you fried them, I would stick with all shortening (because then they won't fall apart).
ReplyDeleteThe egg mixture just keeps the crusts together. If you wanted to avoid the egg, I would just use a little warm water to bind the crusts together instead (brush the crust with the water just like you'd do with the egg mixture).
I don't mind the questions at all! :)