This is a longer and more complex recipe
than I have done here before, but it is awesome! The end result is a mini apple pie spiced
with just a little cayenne pepper, and topped with a snickerdoodle cookie. The
heat is not over powering and if you do it right you will get a full blast of
apple pie with an after taste that is warm and a little tingly on your pallet
and in your throat.
Serving size: 6 mini pies
Nutritional facts: I don't want to think about it...
Ingredients you will need:
Filling:
1 ½ cups white sugar + 1 cup for the
caramel
2 Tbsp. white flour
½ Tsp. cinnamon
½ Tsp. cinnamon
1/8 Tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbsp. (packed) brown sugar
½ Tsp. cayenne pepper
3 medium Granny Smith apples
3 medium Fiji apples
2 tbsp. butter
Crust:
1 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup almonds (ground well in a food
processor)
1 sticks VERY cold butter
1/2 Tsp. salt
½ heaping Tbsp. brown sugar
4-5 Tbsp. ice water
Snickerdoodle Tops:
¾
cups white sugar
¼ cups soft butter
½ tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/3 cup flour
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
½ cup white sugar
1 Tsp. cinnamon
Equipment you will need:
Mixing boll
Large muffin pan
Electric mixer (hand held or stand)
Knife or Japanese Mandolin
Plastic wrap
Large sauce pot
Cooling rack
What you will do:
Making the pie filling: Takes about 1-1.5
hours
Begin the night before by mixing the dry
ingredients for the filling and then peeling coring and slicing the apples. I
use my handy dandy Japanese mandolin for this task (you really should have one,
they are awesome!).
Slice the apples about 1/8” thick. They need to be thin
because the pies are so small you will want to be able to layer a lot of apples
in. Once you have the apples sliced, toss them with the dry ingredients and add
them to a medium pot and just cover with water.
Allow them to cook over medium
high heat for about 15 minutes. They should be a little floppy but still have
some crunch. Once they are done cooking pull them out of the liquid, and put
them in the fridge.
Raise the temp on the remaining liquid, add an additional
cup of sugar, and allow it all to cook down.
It will take about 30-40 minutes and you will need to stir almost
continuously for the last 8-10 minutes so it does not burn.
Let it cook until
it coats a spoon then add the butter, whisk till melted and take off the heat.
Store the awesome caramel sauce till tomorrow.
Making the pie dough: Takes about 15
minutes
Add flour, salt and brown sugar together
and set aside. Add almonds to the food process and pulverize till they are a
fine grain (about 20-30 seconds). Add flour and pulse 2-3 times to mix. Pull
the butter out of the fridge, chop into 1/2” cubes and add to the flour and
pules 8-10 times.
Begin to add the ice water 1 tbsp. at a time pulsing a few
times after each addition; the dough should being to form up into a ball. Once
this happens throw some flour down on a board, dump your dough out of the
processor and form it into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap, and throw it in the
fridge for at least an hour (2 is better).
Baking the pies and making the cookie
tops: Takes about 1 hour
While the piecrust is chilling, measure
and mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt for the snickerdoodle
cookies and take out the butter. Once the crust is chilled take it out along
with the filling and caramel sauce. Preheat the oven to 400 deg.
Roll out the
dough till it is about 1/8” thick. Cut it into 6” rounds and add them to the
large muffin pan.
Add 1 Tbsp. of the caramel sauce to the bottom of the pies,
fill ½ ways with apples, add another 1 Tbsp. of sauce and fill the rest of the
way with apples. Repeat till you have done 6 pies.
Set a timer for 30 minutes,
add the pies to the oven and begin to make your snicker doodle dough.
Mix white
sugar and eggs on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add butter and vanilla and mix
for another 3 minutes. Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time. When the dough ready,
roll it into 6 even balls, mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon, flatten the
balls and cover them with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
When the timer goes off
take the pies out of the oven, cover with the cookies and return to the heat.
Allow the pies to cook until the cookies are browned. Take them out and allow
them to cool for 30-40 minutes before removing them. They should lift right
out.
Serve with the remaining caramel sauce
on the side.
This is a picture of the pie aftermath at a friend's 5th Annual Pie Off. These pies came in 2nd place!
