Brunch Desserts Snacks Vegetarian
Get your fork ready…
Yesterday made me stop and really examine the last two weeks of my life. I’m unsure if I’ve been really blessed (I’m leaning towards this) or someone is out there gunning for me. Two weeks ago I had a fairly routine operation on my finger resulting in a case of staph infection that landed me in the hospital with IV antibiotics and another surgery to flush out any remaining staph bacteria. The worse case scenario, the docs told me was that I would have a pic line installed and have to go to the hospital every single day for IV antibiotics for 30 days. Thank heavens this wasn’t the case. I walked out of the hospital with oral antibiotics and have been healing up, dealing with the pain of the surgery. This, the docs said was because I was in great shape and I’m very healthy. Okay great. Plus, I have been granted permission upon discharge to continue training, something very important to me and my mental health. I gain great enjoyment from working out and it is a simple way of keeping the endorphins flowing and me happy. Win! Win! So yesterday I headed out about 5:20 am for a ten mile run. I’m training for a half marathon that I have yet to determine (yes, I need to get on this). As I just hit the 9 mile mark, very close to my home, a car that didn’t see me (because the driver wasn’t looking in my direction) hit me. I was fortunate to act fast and catapult myself over his hood and land on the other side of the car. It all happened in slow motion. I landed on my feet and was partially in shock that this happened and that he was driving away! He then must’ve got a glimpse of me running towards the car and stopped. His comment “I never even saw you.” Are you kidding me? I turned and ran home finishing my ten miles in record time and a bit in shock. Long story short, I walked away from a car hitting me. I remember my hands on the hood of the car and thinking is this for real? The engine roaring underneath my palms, I was blessed with the thought of jumping on the hood an getting legs out of the way. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. So I’m going with blessed! I escaped two situations that could’ve left me very injured or even dead. So what did I do… I shook it off, relished my ten mile run and made mini pies for my family. One-handed I might add.
I really prefer to live under the radar but lately that’s been quite difficult!
First these sweet pies can be made with store bought dough (I have to admit I went that route because my hand is still bandaged and stitched up and making and rolling dough is too hard for me right now) but here is my dough recipe that I love and use all the time when making pies.
You’re going to need to decide if you are making this recipe in a regular size muffin pan or mini. You would use a biscuit cutter or using a glass to cut out the rounds of dough. I used a 5 inch round cutter for the base and a 4 inch for the topper for my regular muffin pan to give you an idea.
Ingredients:
1 package of store bought dough or using my recipe above
3 apples (medium sized – I used Fugi), washed, cored and peel removed, diced very small
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
Pinch of nutmeg
Juice of half of a lemon
1 eggs, cracked and whisked (for the egg wash)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray your muffin pan with baking spray/flour really well so these pies pop out easily. Roll out your dough onto a surface. You want your dough to be about 1/8 inch or a bit thicker. Using your biscuit cutter or glass, cut out enough rounds for the bottom of each muffin pan. Place the dough gently into each well pressing and forming the dough to go up the sides. When that process is done move onto your apples. Place the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and lemon juice into a large bowl and toss to coat. Spoon the mixture into each muffin tin. Remember the apples will cook down and reduce. I fill each one right up to the top of where the dough bottoms end. Then slice your remaining dough into one inch smaller rounds then the top. If you used 5 inch rounds for the bottom, use 4 inches for the top. Before placing the tops on each apple pie, brush some of the egg mixture along the entire bottom of the crust. Place the top on each one and mold the tops over the apple filling attempting as best as you can, to bind the edges together. Some apple juices will leak out while cooking but this is perfectly fine. You’re just trying to bind the tops and bottom together. Then brush some egg wash on the top of each top – this will yield a beautiful golden crust. Once each pie is complete, pierce the top with a knife to let the steam escape while baking. Bake until golden brown. This took me about 30 minutes but keep a watchful eye on these after 20 minutes. I like them a bit more golden. Remove when done and let cool fully. Run a knife around the edges and gently remove and place on a platter. Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or straight up!
A small juice glass is the perfect, full-proof way to press the dough down evenly.
— Knead to Cook
