Ok people, if you haven’t noticed yet, fall is here. I know, it’s totally not obvious with the temperature being sooo nice this week. I guess Mother Nature is sending us whatever she’s got left of sun rays to make sure we stock up on good energy, good light, good vitamin D, so that when the dull dark grey days come, our batteries are fully loaded.
So with fall comes apples and apple picking. My kids went apple picking last week with their daycare and each came back with a bag full of goodies. The interesting thing is that they were totally attached to their bags and didn’t want to let them go. So much that by the time I put the kids to bed (a few hours later), the apples where in a very ugly state; apples are delicate and kids just don’t get that! So I had to forget about biting into a nice, juicy, crisp apple. These fruits were mushy, brown and full of bruises. So I thought of something else. I wanted to make a really simple recipe that wouldn’t require much time and would ensure a great apple treat for dessert.
I decided to bake some really simple tiny apple pies. I cheated a little and used some pre-made frozen pie shells. I always have a box in my freezer for the days I’m too lazy to make my own dough (yes, I know, shame on me. But hey, I used to do everything and trust me, you person out there judging me, try having 3 toddlers around you and you might start cutting the corners round for a few things too!). These little pies were so simple to make and were a TOTAL hit with our guests amongst which we had 8 very tiny critics who all ate more then one. So my only recommendation to you is that you make many of these little babies… they’ll go fast, especially if you serve them warm with vanilla ice cream!
Tiny Apple Pies Makes 36 – Prep : 20 minutes - Cooking: 45 minutes- Level: KID
INGREDIENTS
¾ cups brown sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
8 medium apples peeled, seeded and cut into tiny pieces (you can mix all sort of types of apples: McIntosh, Cortland, Empire, etc.)
2 ½ tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
With your rack in the center position, preheat your oven at 375˚F.
In a bowl combine together the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the apples and stir to coat well. Add the melted butter and lemon juice, again stirring to coat well.
Fill the pie shells equally. Bake for about 45 minutes. Serve warm with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.
