A Touch of Southern Grace : Guest Post

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Guest Post :: Mini Apple Pies

A few weeks ago Brita from the blog, B. Britnell, contacted me about sharing a recipe on my blog. I love Brita’s photography and all the recipes she posts on her blog {click here to view Brita's blog} always look beyond delicious so of course I agreed to a guest post on the spot. Brita is actually one of the few bloggers I know in real life; I am thrilled to have her guest post today and love the recipe she came up with, it is mouth watering good!

Hello! I'm Brita and I blog over at B. Britnell. I'm really excited to be joining Lauren on her blog today! As a fellow Nashvillian, I share in her deep affinity for all things southern chic. So, when I was brainstorming recipes to share today, I wanted it to be something that represented southern grace well. I also wanted something great for entertaining. I seem to go to a lot of parties and gathering this time of year and I always like to take something with me.

And with that said, I give you these Mini Apple Pies. Because the only thing better than a delicious apple pie is lots of adorable, handheld mini pies. These are perfect for parties or even just as a sweet little snack!

The fruit in these pies can be substituted with whatever fruit you so desire so go crazy with it!

Ingredients for filling:

4 medium Granny Smith apples

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice

1 egg, beaten

Ingredients for pie crust:

1 box of store bought pie crusts (2 crusts total) :)

If you've ever read my blog, you'll know that baking overwhelms me a bit at times so I often use store bought crusts. But if you want to make a homemade crust, I highly recommend thisrecipe from Joy the Baker.

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 425° F

1) Peel apples and dice into rather small pieces. I aimed for no larger than 1/2 inch pieces.

2) In a large pot, mix together the apples, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, cornstarch, and nutmeg.

3) Cover the pot and cook on medium heat until the apples begin to get tender. Mine took about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

4) Once apples are tender, uncover the pot and continue cooking until the liquid has thickened. This should take just a few more minutes.

5) Remove from the heat and mix in lemon juice.

6) Let apple mixture cool to room temperature while you prepare the crust.

7) Use a large round cookie cutter or other round object (I used a large cup) to cut out circles for the bottom of the pie crusts.

8) Greasy a cupcake pan and line each hole with a crust round. After cutting each round, I had to stretch most of mine before putting them in the pan so that they were as large as I wanted them.

9) Fill each pie to the top of the crust. You can also over fill them if you want the tops to be extra round and full. The filling will shrink a bit.

10) For the tops, you can either cut out another round pieces of dough or you can do what I did and make a lattice top. For the lattice tops, simply cut out thin strips of the dough and place on top of the pies. Gentle pinch the strips to the sides of the pies to attach them to the pie. If you use a round dough top, make sure to poke a few small holes in the top of the pies.

11) Brush the top of each pie with your beaten egg.