The question arises at dessert time every Thanksgiving with my family. "Pumpkin or Apple?". The most common answer spoken is, "Both". However, I can recall a few years when an apple pie was absent and other options, like cookies were available. This year, Zach and I are headed to my parent's home in New Jersey, and we are bringing the pie. Apple vs. Pumpkin is too difficult for me to decide, so I will be making both.
I discovered the perfectly adorable and delicious recipe for mini pumpkin pies on the Diva's Can Cook blog. The recipe for both the filling and dough are easy to make. Do not be afraid of the dough. Follow the instructions and you should have no issue. My only advice is to continually add a little flour to your counter surface as you flatten out dough and begin cutting crust shapes out. The dough will be sticky the more you fuss with it and will stick to counter if there is not enough flour on your surface. For a very easy apple pie filling I used a recipe from Pillsbury designed specifically for mini pies. Okay, so the question still is, Apple or Pumpkin? You tell me in the comments section below.
Enjoy! xo RCN
MY ADJUSTMENTS TO RECIPE: I doubled the dough recipe and split it between both my apple and pumpkin pie fillings. This will yield about 16 pie crusts with enough extra to lattice the tops of your apple pies. I decided to change the recipe from bite size to miniature pies by using a 3 3/4" flower shaped cookie cutter, rather than a 2 inch circle cookie cutter. Once I cut out all crusts, I flattened them a little more by hand to make them slightly bigger than 3 3/4", then I placed them into a a full size cupcake/muffin tin, rather than a mini tin. Each individual pie measures out to about the serving size of 2/3 of a regular slice of pie.
LATTICE CRUST FOR APPLE: After cutting out 16 flower crusts, I flattened out extra dough and cut thin strips for my lattice. You will need two, 2 1/2" strips and four 1 1/2" strips for each apple pie crust. Place both the longer strips in a cross format over-top of apple pies, once you have scooped apple filling into the crust. Then, add smaller strips to left, right, top and bottom of your cross shape and alternate them fitting over and under the longer strips of dough. Refer to pic of finished pies above.
ORIGINAL PUMPKIN RECIPE from Diva's Can Cook
Ingredients
Pie Crust (all ingredients should be very cold)
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter (chopped)
¼ cup butter shortening
¼ cup cold water
Pumpkin Filling
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (can add more if desired)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
Instructions for Crust
1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a medium size bowl whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
3. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly.
4. Stir in cold water.
5. Stir until dough forms.
6. Press dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. When pie dough has chilled remove it from fridge and knead lightly a few times.
8. Flour a work surface and pat dough out about ¼ inch thick.
9. Use flower cookie cutter about 3 3/4"-4" to cut out dough
10. Press dough slightly by hand to flatten a little larger than 3 3/4", at least 4 "
11. Press the perimeter of the pie dough so that they completely fill the tin.
Instructions for filling
1. In a large bowl combine white sugar, brown sugar and butter until creamy.
2. Mix in egg, heavy cream, flour and vanilla until creamy.
3. Fold in pure pumpkin and pumpkin spice.
4. Place the batter into the pie crusts using a mini ice cream scoop, about two scoops each.
5. Use a spoon to smooth out and level the filling in each pie.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the centers are set and crust looks golden. Be careful not to over bake, keep an eye while they bake for the last few minute.
7. Pies will be puffy when they come out of the oven, but will sink back down when cooled. Let stand a few minutes, remove from pan and let cool completely on counter.
8. Top with whipped cream before you serve.
ORIGINAL APPLE FILLING RECIPE from Pillsbury
Ingredients
2 apples, cored, finely chopped (about 1/4-inch pieces)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions for filling
1. In medium bowl, stir together apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla.
2. Divide mixture into pie crusts. (Top with lattice crust, instructions above)
3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until crusts are golden and center is bubbly.
4. Cool for a few minutes and then remove pies from pan to completely cool on counter.