Mini Apple Pies in Muffin Tins – Individual Apple Pies

Baking individual apple pies in a muffin tin is a good solution if you don’t own mini tart pans. Mini apple pies can be easily served, and their shape is always perfect and uniform. That`s the reason I like to bake these individual pies. Slicing a big one doesn’t always work out well for me.

The homemade shortcrust pastry I used for this recipe doesn’t stick to the pan, so mini pies can be easily removed from the cups.

Apples are available all year round, I use any kind I have at hand. The only thing that changes is the amount of sugar in the filling because tart apples like Granny Smith require more added sugar than Golden Delicious.

Tips for making mini apple pies

• The ingredients for the shortcrust pastry need to be cold. Work quickly if you choose to make the dough by hand because the butter will melt if you work the dough too long with warm hands.
• You can make the dough in a food processor or stand mixer to prevent the butter from melting.
• The dough needs to sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes before you roll it out.
• The shortcrust pastry contains enough fat to prevent the pies from sticking to the muffin pan, so you don’t have to grease the cups.
• I cut circles 9cm (3.5 inches) out of the rolled dough with a glass, because my cookie cutters are not large enough.
• My way to prevent soggy pie is to brush the bottom and the sides of the pie shells with egg whites before filling them. This is much simpler than blind baking.
• For the filling, I used sliced fresh apples combined with spices, sugar, and some flour.
• Always bake apple pies in a preheated oven.
• You can make shortcrust pastry up to three days ahead and keep it in the refrigerator, or you can keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to make shortcrust pastry?

1. Measure the ingredients: plain flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, an egg yolk (reserve the egg white for brushing the inside of the pie shells), cold butter, ice-cold water, and a pinch of salt.
2. If you choose to make shortcrust pastry with a food processor or stand mixer, just put all the ingredients but the water into the bowl and work it for a short time, until it becomes coarse. Add the water a little at a time, just until the dough comes together.
3. The other option is to make the dough by hand. Sift and combine the dry ingredients. Add the egg yolk and the butter sliced into small cubes, and work the dough until it becomes crumbly.
4. Drizzle the water a little at a time, just until the dough comes together and a ball can be formed. The amount of water you need may vary, depending on the materials used.
5. Wrap the dough into cling wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. At this point, you can also freeze the dough and save it for another occasion.

Looking for some more fruit pie recipes? I recommend my Easy Homemade Apple Pie Recipe and Fresh Cherry Pie Recipe.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the apple filling:

1. Wash and peel the apples. Cut them into quarters and remove the core.
2. Cut the apple quarters into thin slices.
3. Combine them with a mixture of flour, cinnamon, sugar, and a pinch of salt.
4. Let the mixture sit until the apples release their juice.
5. Drain them before filling the pies.

Assemble the mini apple pies

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F)
2. Roll out the chilled dough 3mm (1/8 inch) thick on a floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper.
3. Cut circles with a large pastry cutter. You can also use a mug or a bowl if you don’t own a pastry cutter.
4. Place the circles into the cups of the muffin tin, and press them gently into the bottom and the sides of the cups.
5. Brush the pie shells with egg white to prevent them from getting soggy.
6. Fill the cups full with apple filling. The apples will shrink a bit during the baking process.
7. Roll out the leftover dough, cut circles with a cookie cutter, and make air vents with smaller cutters as I did, or just cut some slits for the steam to come out.
8. Put the prepared circles onto the filled pies.
9. For the egg wash, beat the egg with a fork. Apply it to the tops of the pies with a pastry brush.

Bake the apple pies:

1. Place the muffin tin into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Let the pies cool down a bit, and you will easily take them out of the pan.

You can serve mini apple pies sprinkled with powdered sugar or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Final thoughts

I hope you’ll like these mini apple pies in muffin tins. If you have any comments or questions related to this recipe, please leave them in the section below. If you found this post useful, please feel free to share it.