These mini apple pies have a tender cream cheese crust, cinnamon spiced apple filling, and are topped with an easy brown sugar crumble! The no-fuss dough requires no chilling, no resting, and no rolling!
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT50M
5 stars (2 reviews)
apple pie, fresh apple pie filling, fruit pie, oat streusel topping, Thanksgiving pie
- Peel, core, and chop the apples. You want the apples to be small, about 1cm squares.
- Combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Stir to coat evenly. Taste and adjust sugar, lemon juice, or spice as necessary.
- Add cornstarch to the apple mixture and stir to coat evenly. Starting on low heat, gently cook the apples until they begin to release their juices. Once the apples are cooking in their own sauce, increase the heat to medium and bring to a boil.
- Continue to cook over medium-low or medium heat, stirring frequently, until the apples have softened slightly and the sauce has thickened.
- Pour the mixture onto a large plate or rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until it is cool. This increased surface area will cool the apples more quickly.
- Add the flour to a medium-sized bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour, along with the cream cheese.
- Cut the butter and cheese into the flour with a pastry blender or by squeezing it in your hand. Continue until the dough holds together.
- Gather the crust into a ball and divide it into 24 little pieces.
- As I divide each portion of the dough, I drop the dough into a cavity in the muffin tin. This not only cleans up the workspace, but also allows you to easily see if one is much larger or smaller than the others.
- Press each piece into one cup of a miniature muffin tin with your forefinger to create a little crust.
- I press an indentation into the center of the dough into the bottom of the pan, then gently press it against the sides, rotating the tin as I go, to cover the sides and bottom. The most important part of this crust is not making it too thin on the bottom or sides. I like to ensure the crust reaches all the way to the top of the tin, which provides the most space for filling.
- Combine the flour, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and melted butter in a small bowl, and stir with a fork until all the ingredients are equally moistened. They should hold together and then break into crumbles when squeezed in your hand.
- Use a spoon to portion about a tablespoon of the apple filling into each (unbaked) pastry shell. The filling should come to the top. Be careful not to overfill or add too much sauce, as either will cause the filling to bubble out and adhere the crust to the pan.
- Sprinkle and press some crumble topping onto each mini pie.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes on the middle rack, until the filling is bubbling around the edges and the crumble and pie crusts become a nice golden brown color.
- Let the mini apple pies cool completely in the tins before removing them.
- I’ve found that loosening any crumble or filling that has stuck to the pan and then spinning the pie in the tin to release the edges, and then gently pressing down on one side, is a quick and easy way to remove them without breaking the pie shells. You can use a small offset spatula to assist in unsticking any filling or crumble that is baked over, and also to lift the mini apple pies out of the tin.