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These Homemade Mini Cinnamon Apple Butter Pies make for the yummiest fall treat!
There are few things in our book that compare to the hot cinnamon apples and apple butter and flakey crust on a cold fall day. And one bite of these Homemade Mini Cinnamon Apple Butter Pies seem to warm the soul and solve all the worlds problems for a minute. They are a perfect treat to serve at a fall dinner with family or friends.
Okay, a question that is always up for debate – Do you prefer more crust or more filling in a pie? For us, one of our favorite things about pies are the crust which may be why we love these mini apple butter pies so much! Let it be pizza pies, key lime pies or these mini apple pies, we love a good amount of crust to filling ratio. We don’t want to And another bonus….no more fighting over who gets the bigger slice of the pie, because everyone will be getting their own mini apple pie at your next gathering!
Homemade Mini Cinnamon and Apple Butter Pies
What’s in this recipe?
All Purpose Flour: All Purpose Flour is great for this dough because it provides a nice structure for the crust. We prefer using all purpose flour over whole wheat, but if you do opt for a whole wheat option, your crust may be a little more dry. And because of that you will likely need to add more liquid (cold water) to the mixture when blending.
Cold Butter: The KEY to a nice flakey crust is keeping the dough cold and one way to do that is by using cold butter. So pop your butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before cooking to get it nice and cold.
Ice Cold Water: The second way to control the temperature of the dough is adding ice cold water! Trust us, this step is important for getting that flakey dough that you want. You will be blending the dough in a food processor, so the ice cold water will keep the dough cool.
Apples: For our mini apple pies, we opted for a sweeter Gala apple. Although apple pies are typically made with a more tart apples, like green granny smith apples, we don’t think that has to be the case for these pies.
Apple Pie Spice: You can’t have apple pie without apple pie spice!! This spice mixture is a yummy, warm blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and ginger. It adds a pop of flavor and yummy fall spices to these pies.
Cinnamon: We may have a slight addiction to adding cinnamon, but we feel like it adds an extra punch of flavor to the pies.
Apple Butter: Apple butter is the key to the filling! We just spread a thin layer down on the crust before topping with cooked seasoned apples just to add an extra apple flavor, if you already don’t get enough from the filling.
Egg: Adding a brush of beaten egg over the top of each pie before they are cooked gives the crust of the pie a nice pretty browned finish.
How to Make These Mini Cinnamon Apple Pies
Making the Crust
You will want to start by adding flour salt in a food processor, pulsing a couple times to mix. Next, add in your cold butter cubes and pulse 5-6 times to cut the butter into the dough. It is important your butter is very cold to get a flakey dough. After you cut your butter, add cold water one tablespoon at a time until a dough starts to form. Once you have a dough formed, dump onto a floured surface and bring the dough together with your hands to form a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 hour or in the fridge overnight.
Making the Filling
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, start by melting your butter. When the butter has just melted, toss in your apples and spices and stir to coat. Let it simmer for a couple minutes and cover, turning down the heat. You will start to smell the fragrance of the spices during this step. Let the mixture simmer while covered for 5-10 minutes until the apples soften. When the apples are cooked, remove from heat and let cool until you are ready to fill your pies.
Assembling the Pies
Start by preheating oven to 425°F so your oven can warm up while you are making the pies. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll out into a large rectangle, stop rolling when the dough is about ⅛ inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut circles of dough for the tops and bottoms of your mini pies. You can take the scraps and roll the dough to cut more pie rounds until all the dough is used.
Next, assemble the pies. This is the fun part! Start by spreading a thin layer of apple butter on the bottom of the rounds. Top with a spoonful of cooked apples, leaving about a ¼-inch edge around the sides to seal your pies. Brush the edge with beaten egg and place another dough round on top and seal the edges by pressing with a fork. Lastly, cut an “X” shape in the top of each round to allow steam to escape.
Feel free to get creative and have fun with you decorate the top of your pies. You can use small leaf-shaped cookie cutters and layer them around the edges or make a basketweave. It’s up to you. Brush the tops with egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place into preheated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes until the edges are browned. Let cook and enjoy!
Homemade Mini Cinnamon Apple Butter Pies
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cold butter (cubed)
- 6 tbsp ice cold water
Apple Pie Filling
- 3 apples (chopped into small pieces)
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp apple pie spice
- 1 jar apple butter
- 1 egg (beaten)
Instructions
Making the crust
- Start by adding flour salt in a food processor, pulse a couple times. Add in your cold butter cubes. Pulse 5-6 times to cut the butter into the dough. It is important your butter is very cold to get a flakey dough.
- Add cold water one tablespoon at a time until a dough starts to form. Once you have a dough formed, dump onto a floured surface and bring the dough together with your hands to form a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 hour or in the fridge overnight.
Making the Filling
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, start by melting your butter. Toss in your apples and spices and stir to coat. Let it simmer for a couple minutes and cover, turning down the heat. Let the mixture simmer while covered for 5-10 minutes until the apples soften.
- Remove from heat and let cool until you are ready to fill your pies.
Assembling your Pies
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove chilled dough from the fridge and roll out into a large rectangle, about ⅛ inch thick
- Using a round cookie cutter, cut circles of dough for the tops and bottoms of your mini pies.You can take the scraps and roll the dough to cut more pie rounds until all the dough is used.
- Next, assemble the pies. Start by spreading a thin layer of apple butter on the bottom of the rounds. Top with a spoonful of cooked apples, leaving about a ¼-inch edge around the sides to seal your pies.
- Brush the edge with beaten egg and place another dough round on top. Seal the edges by pressing a fork into the edges. Cut an "X" shape in the top of each round to allow steam to escape. Brush the tops with egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Continue those steps until you have all your pies made. Place into preheated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes until the edges are browned. Let cook and enjoy!
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