Cherry and Apple Mini Pies. A.K.A. the thing I made to empty the fridge.

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This video of my Cherry and Apple Mini Pies features one of my best friends, Helga. She is my food processor.

Last weekend I went snooping into my fridge and came to the unfortunate conclusion that I couldn’t do any more grocery shopping (one of my favorite activities) before I got rid of some of the stuff that was already in there. I had half a brick of cream cheese, a half-full can of cherry pie filling, and of course a lot of butter. I’m not the only one that keeps an emergency supply of five pounds of butter in the corner of their fridge, I’m sure. …. right?

I started thinking about the cream cheese, and I remembered a treat that I make with my mom every Christmas that tastes AMAZING and uses cream cheese in the pastry. We make these things that we call “Apricot Triangles” (they are not shaped like triangles even a little bit) that have a pastry shell and a filling made primarily of dried apricots, pecans, chopped dates, and like, sugar? I’m not sure, my mom definitely makes the filling without measuring anything, so I have no actual idea what is in it. All I know is that I eat huge spoonfuls of it whenever she turns her back.

Anyway, I’ve always really liked that pastry, so I decided to try to develop a pie crust that has cream cheese in it, and I sure as heck SUCCEEDED. I’m never making pie crust with crisco again. Plus, this little project helped me to use up some stuff in my fridge and make room for more projects, always a plus.

Mini pies: the elements.

I always make pie crust in my food processor because I don’t like getting flour under my fingernails, but you could certainly just rub the butter and cream cheese in by hand if you aren’t down for hauling out your food processor.

As you consider your fillings, you should be aware that he recipe listed below makes enough apple pie filling to fill all twelve pies, but feel free to get creative. This pie crust would be great with savory fillings too, so don’t limit yourself to dessert ideas! For example, you could fill the little pies with ham and cheese, spinach and artichoke dip, or pizza stuff and take them for lunch. You can also fill them with any traditional pie filling that floats your boat. I did cherry and apple, but you could do blueberry, pecan, or strawberry rhubarb easily. Whatever tastes good to you will work just fine, so don’t be afraid to lean into your own tastes!

If you have left over cherry pie filling and want to use it up, check out my cherry pie toasted cupcake recipe here.

If you are interested in seeing all of my recipe videos in one place, follow me on youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQqBVk0RszQEnrR9qmqtTog

Mini Apple Pies

For the crust:

• 160 g all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 12 tablespoons cold butter
• 4 oz cold cream cheese
• 1 T apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• about 2 T ice cold water

For the apple pie filling:

• 3 apples, cored, peeled, and chopped
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 T butter
• 2 T all purpose flour
• 3 T cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/4 t cardamom
• 1 t salt
• 1 T lemon juice

You will also need 1 egg to make an egg wash, because you want your pies to be nice and shiny. Some raw (turbinado) sugar looks nice on top, but can be replaced with plain granulated sugar or can be omitted entirely if you aren’t feeling it.

Directions

First, make your pastry. Fit your food processor with the blade attachment and dump in the flour and baking powder. Pulse a few times to combine. Drop in the cold butter and cold cream cheese. Pulse until it starts to look like breadcrumbs. The goal is to have your fats evenly coating the flour. Add the vinegar and the water, and continue to pulse until it just starts to come together. You may need to add a tiny bit more water, but it is better to err on the side of dryness.

Dump the pastry mix on a lightly floured surface and start to press it together with your hands, being careful not to overwork it. The more you work it, the tougher your pastry will be. I like to divide the dough into two lumps to make it easier to work with. Shape it into two disks, wrap with plastic wrap or put in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for about thirty minutes while you make your filling.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare your apples. Melt the butter in a saucepan to create the beginnings of a sauce. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring to remove any lumps. Dump in the apples and sugar. Add the spices and then add the lemon juice and stir. Cook everything down over medium heat until the apples are softened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Time to assemble your cherry and apple mini pies!

Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut twenty four circles from the pastry, reforming and rerolling your pastry as necessary, but being careful not to overwork it. Cut another small circle from the center of 12 of the pastry rounds in order to create a steam hole for your pies as they bake. These will form the top crust of your pies. Lay out the bottom crusts on a large sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Drop a spoonful of cooled filling on each one, and cover with the other 12 pastry rounds. Using the method in the video above, use your thumbs to seal the edges of each pie, pressing firmly. Brush each pie with the egg wash and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden and crisp. Serve warm and enjoy.

Scroll down to see another cute picture, but also take my little survey. I need to know what delicious pie fillings to be focusing on. I’ll let you know the results next week.