Tag Archives: Mini Pies

Cider Caramel Apple Pie

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In December, I stumbled upon this adorable heart embossed rolling pin on Etsy.

I had big plans for this rolling pin. It was destined to decorate the top of an apple pie, as a Valentine’s Day treat for my husband. While chocolate is the traditional Valentine’s Day treat, apple pie is what makes his heart beat a little faster. I decided to create Erin Jean McDowell‘s Cider Caramel Apple Pie. She literally wrote The Book on Pie.

The pie is sweetened with an apple cider based caramel. You boil down 8 cups of apple cider, for almost 45 minutes, until it is reduced to the consistency of caramel. When mixed with the apples, it creates a sweet-tart filling with a rich creaminess.

Erin suggest that you take your time and arrange the apples carefully in the pie shell, forming concentric circles. That way, you avoid big air gaps, and your top crust won’t cave in after baking.

The pie looked beautiful going into the oven.

Sadly, the embossed design disappeared with baking. I think that the rolling pin would be more successful with cookie dough, as it spends less time in the oven. So, as they said in 2020, I had to pivot. As a food blogger and photographer, I have learned to become a problem solver. My husband is thrilled when I need to resort to Plan B, because it leaves Plan A for him to eat, without having to wait for me to finish shooting. Food blogger problems!😉

Plan B involved pulling out my heart shaped cookie cutters. I have quite an assortment of sizes. I decided to make mini pies, because, well, mini pies are just cuter.

These pies looked just as beautiful coming out of the oven as they did going in. And the taste! The had a bright, intense apple flavour with just a hint of caramel sweetness.

Click here to print recipe for Cider-Caramel-Apple-PieDownload

Apple Cheddar Hand Pies

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Happy Pi Day (3.14/March 14). Pie making is not my strong suit. I have always struggled with uneven and cracking dough while rolling, and shrinking dough while baking. I’m much more comfortable whipping up a swiss meringue buttercream for a cake or a dozen salted caramel macarons.

It seems like every day is National Something or Other Day. There is actually a calendar to keep us informed. Did you know that April 14 is National Ex-Spouse Day? Maybe people celebrate it with a smash cake? Some food bloggers are super organized and maintain an editorial calendar to track and feature all these days. Sadly, I don’t fall into that category. But, Pi day is something I feel like I can get behind. Last year we celebrated with Spiced Lamb Hand Pies.

I have a thing for hand pies. They’re just so adorable and I feel no guilt about eating a tiny pie.

The pie dough for this recipe comes from pastry wizzard Stella Parks, over at Serious Eats. She calls for a 1:1 ratio of flour:butter, by weight. Most typical pastry dough recipes use more flour than butter. The extra butter in her dough creates a dough that’s pliable but strong, making cracks and tears a thing of the past.
It gets folded once, to create extra flaky layers.

The apple filling is classic and simple. Apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt.
Sharp white cheddar makes a fine companion for apples, but use orange cheddar if that’s all you have.
I decided to get fancy and make a decorative braided border on my pies. Ever since I saw this Apricot Pie I wanted to try my hand at dough braiding. I still need a bit of practice, but it was fun to do. You can simply leave them plain and they’ll be equally delicious

Click here to get recipe for Cheddar Apple Hand Pies.

If you plan to make these, I highly recommend watching Stella’s video demonstrating how to make the dough.