Mini Apple Pies

Adam and I are quite good at not wasting food. We try not to throw much away. If something is on the brink of being past it's best, I try and use it in something. Meat gets made into a stew or curry or pasta sauce and frozen, old veg is hurriedly added to that night's dinner or juiced, bananas become banana bread and apples generally get thrown into a crumble.

Last night, we had two apples that were past their prime. No good for just biting into, but still good enough to bake with! I decided to depart with my usual norm of apple crumble, and make apple pie instead. I have to admit, I'm not brilliant with pastry though. Tastes good, but I always manage to break the crusts. So I decided to make mini apple pies, in the hopes that would be easier!



Ingredients:

Makes six mini pies

Crust:

130g self raising flour
50g icing sugar
70g butter
1 egg yolk

Filling:

2 medium apples
1 tbsp brown sugar
Pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon

Method

Prepare the pastry. Add the flour, butter and icing sugar to a food processor and pulse until combined and resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively, using a knife cut the butter into the flour. Lightly beat the egg yolk, add to the crumbs and stir to combine. Shape into a ball, cover and put in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes.

Core and peel the apples and add to a small saucepan with the sugar and nutmeg or cinnamon (I used nutmeg but either are good!). Add about a quarter cup of water and simmer over low heat, stirring often, until the apples have softened and the water has pretty much gone - you don't want the mixture to be too soggy. I like apples in baked goods to still have a bit of bite but if you prefer softer apples, double the amount of water and cook for longer.

Grease the pie dish, I used a Yorkshire pudding tin for mini apple pies, you could also use a bun/cupcake tin. Roll out the pastry to about half a centimetre thick. Using a pastry cutter or the top of a glass, cut out circles from the dough, you'll need two for each pie. Put the first circles in the bottom, spoon in the apple pie filling (I heaped mine a little, I like a lot of apple!). Prick holes into the pastry lids, then use them to cover the pies. Take a fork and press down the edges.

Bake at 170 for about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them, you want the pastry to be golden brown but they can burn quickly!

And as if that wasn't enough, you could always add a little cream: