Pocket Apple Pies - Egg, Dairy, Gluten FREE

This recipe is pretty dang easy and you can make it with all the stuff hanging out in your cupboard.

This is a recipe for pocket Apple Pie.

To me apple pie is a staple of all countries, but its leaky, a mess and hard to handle if you have left overs. This recipies make small pocket sized apple pies that use your standard apple recipe but you cup small apple pies out.

To make the filling:

Use your favorite apple, don’t stick to the granny apples, branch out and try a new flavor. I like the gala ones… they are the ones that are normally on sale in my area.  If you have an apple slicer use that to cut up 4 apples then shave off the peel. To me it was easier to shave off the peel after I used the apple slicer. 

Place your sliced apples in a medium sized bowl and add 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ ts ground nutmeg, 2 tablespoons of vegetable spread in with your apple mess. Fling all this mess together then stick it in the fridge so your apples don’t darken.  This mixture can stay in your fridge for a few weeks before going bad.

For the pie shell, I wouldn’t buy the ones that are already made, they seem pretty dry to me. I made mine with 2 cups of gluten free flour, 1 tsp salt, ¾ cups of shortening and 4 tbs of water. Fling this mess into your blender.  If the mix is very wet after you mix it, wrap it in wax paper and put it in a ziplock bag and store in your fridge for a few days… the liquid will seep out and then you’ll be able to work with it. 

To roll out the dough use your roll pin or a cup. Place the wax paper on your counter and dust with flour.. make sure to get your hands, rolling pin or cup good and dusted as well so nothing sticks to you, your table, rolling pin, or anything else that may be floating around. Roll the dough to about an 1/8 or ¼ inch thickness.  If you have the nifty pastry cutter from The Pantry Chef (I do and I love it) use this to make your pie circles, if you don’t have one of these, use your cup to cut out your circles.  You should be able to make about 12 mini pies with this.  Once you run out of circles to make on pie crust, roll up your dough again and repeat until you have run out of dough.  Make sure to divide your pie crust into two, one for your bottoms and one for your tops. You will need to slice holes into the tops so the pies do not burst while cooking and mess up your seal.

Lay out your cookie pan and remember to spray with Pam or equivalent so the pies don’t stick to the pan.  Lay your bottom crust on the cookie sheet and put 1 to 2 tbs of filling onto the bottom crust. Lay the pie crust tops on top and pinch together the tops and bottoms to ensure there is a good seal all the way around. You can pinch, fold, or whatever you want, just make sure it is completely sealed or you will leak all over the place and end up having to clean your oven after the debacle.  You can brush the mini pies with vegetable spread to have a nice brown top if you wish, I didn’t and it was just fine.

Bake the pies at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. You may need to keep an eye on the first round to ensure you have a good seal.  These can be eaten right after cooling or stuck in the fridge for a good snack during lunch. These keep for a good while and are even great after you freeze them.