Mini Apple Pies
These Mini Apple Pies are easy to make and filled with a simple homemade apple pie filling. The perfect mini dessert for fall!
If you’ve been around for a while, you may recognize these adorable mini apple pies! I originally shared this recipe in 2017 and since then it’s become a reader favorite, especially around Thanksgiving.
Just like with my carrot cake recipe, I decided it was time to give this recipe a little update. I’ve included more step-by-step photos and tips and tricks to ensure that these mini apple pies turn out perfect for you!
I promise this is one recipe you will want to keep on hand for the upcoming holidays. And besides, mini desserts are just better than regular desserts. Right?
What You Need
The ingredient list for these pies is surprisingly short and simple. It’s very similar to my classic apple pie recipe, but scaled down.
Here’s a quick overview of what you will need:
- Pie Crust: You’ll need two pie crusts for this recipe. You can either use my homemade pie crust recipe or buy a box of pie crusts from the store.
- Apples: I prefer to use a mix of sweet and tart apples, so I used Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples in this recipe. Some other great options are Braeburn, Fuji, or Pink Lady apples.
- Sugar: To keep things simple this recipe uses just 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Feel free to use light or dark brown sugar if you prefer though.
- All-Purpose Flour: This helps to thicken the apple pie filling. Make sure that you measure your flour correctly, otherwise you can end up with a dry filling.
- Vanilla: This adds a little more flavor. I highly recommend sticking with pure vanilla extract, imitation vanilla does not taste nearly as good.
- Spices: There’s a blend of cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe. If you prefer more spices, feel free to adjust to your personal preference!
- Butter: This ingredient is technically optional, but I’ve since added it to this recipe to add a little more moisture and flavor to the filling.
How To Make Mini Apple Pies
Prepare The Pie Crust
- Roll the pie crusts out on a lightly floured surface until they are about 1/8-inch thick. Then, use a 3.5-inch cookie cutter (or a cup) to cut out 12 circles from the pie crusts. If you don’t have a circle cookie cutter that is the right size, just measure some glasses you have at your house and use that instead.
- Press each circle of pie crust into 12 cavities of a regular muffin pan. You want the crust to fit in the bottom and snuggly around the sides. Transfer the pan and any leftover pie crust to the fridge while you prepare the filling. This will keep your pie crust cold and ensure that it turns out nice and flaky!
Make The Apple Pie Filling
- Add your chopped apples, sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, and ground nutmeg to a large mixing bowl and stir until the apples are fully coated in the mixture.
- Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator and spoon about 3 tablespoons of the filling into each pie crust. If adding the butter, go ahead and dice it into 12 small pieces and place one piece on top of each one.
Assemble and Bake
- If you have any leftover pie crust, you can use that to add some decorations on top of the mini pies. I like to use it to make a simple lattice topping. In other words, no weaving. You could also cut out some cute pie crust decorations with small cookie cutters. If you want to make these a little more intricate, I have a post that shows you how to make a lattice pie crust.
- Bake for 18 to 23 minutes at 425°F or until the pie crust is lightly golden brown and the filling starts to bubble around the edges.
- Let the pies cool for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove them and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (or until they’re cool enough to eat!).
Storage & Freezing Instructions
These will keep just fine in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, you can store them in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
To freeze them: Wrap each pie tightly with plastic wrap and freeze in a large freezer bag/container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or place on the counter several hours ahead of time to bring them to room temperature.
Baking Tips
- Pie crust has quite a bit of fat in it, so it won’t stick to a muffin pan. Feel free to grease your pan with some nonstick cooking spray or butter if you’re worried about them sticking.
- You can make these just a bit easier and completely leave the top off and they still taste just fine! I personally love to serve these with a little scoop of ice cream and salted caramel sauce on top.
- If the tops of your pies brown too much before the filling is cooked, place a piece of foil over the pan until it’s done.
- I personally skip using an egg wash on top of these pies. If you prefer to add one, whisk together one egg with 1 tablespoon of milk and brush it over the top of the pie crust.
- If you need to reheat the pies, microwave them in 20 to 30 second increments or heat in the oven at 300°F until warmed through.
Even More Apple Recipes To Try This Fall!
- Apple Crisp
- Apple Crumble Pie
- Apple Bread (with cinnamon sugar topping!)
- Homemade Apple Fritters
- Apple Hand Pies
Mini Apple Pies
These Mini Apple Pies are easy to make and filled with a simple homemade apple pie filling. The perfect mini dessert for fall!
Ingredients
Servings: 12 mini pies
- 2 pie crusts homemade or store-bought
- 2 ½ cups chopped apples (315 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour measured correctly (15 grams)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (15 grams) optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Roll the pie crusts out to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using a 3.5-inch cookie cutter (or a cup) cut out 12 circles from the pie crusts. Re-roll any scrap pieces of pie dough as needed to cut out the circles.
- Place each circle of pie crust in each cavity of a standard 12-count muffin pan. Gently press the dough down and around the sides, making sure the dough fits snuggly in each cavity of the muffin pan. Transfer the muffin pan and any leftover pie crust dough to the refrigerator while you make the filling.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the chopped apples, sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, and ground nutmeg until fully combined.
- Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator and evenly distribute the apple pie filling (about 3 tablespoons) between all of the cavities in the muffin pan.
- Dice the tablespoon of butter into 12 small pieces and place one piece on top of the filling in each pie.
- Remove the extra pie dough from the refrigerator, cut out your designs for the tops of the pies, and place them on top.
- Bake for 18 to 23 minutes or until the pie crust is lightly golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully remove the mini pies from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Storage Instructions: Store any leftover mini apple pies in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave before serving.
Did you make this recipe?Mention @livewellbakeoften on Instagram or tag #livewellbakeoften.
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These were pretty good, my apples reduced a lot during baking and even though I piled them up high in the crust, there wasn’t much filling at the end. I think next time I would precook the apples and blind bake the crust then combine. Tasted great though!
These were AWESOME!
Thank you!
Hello Danielle,
Do you think the recipe would still taste good with half brown, half white sugar?
Yes, absolutely! You could swap out all of the granulated sugar for brown sugar if you prefer too.
Hello! I used egg tart crust instead of pie crust, it was the only available source at the time. Will it still work?
I’m not familiar with egg tart crust. If it’s similar to a pie crust then it should be okay.
Are they good at room temp? I want to bring some to school tomorrow but, there will be no way I can heat them up.
Yes, it’s fine to store them at room temperature for one to two days.
I would love to make these for my daughters fall wedding. Can I freeze these? If so would I freeze them unbaked and pop em in oven frozen or bake first then freeze? Thanks in advance for your help!!
I would bake them first, let them cool, then freeze them. You can thaw them to room temperature the day you plan to serve them.
Is it possible to make the filling in advance, and store in fridge? By just adding some lemon juice to the apples?
I imagine that you could, just keep in mind that the apples may release more juice.
I made this tonight and they were delicious! A few notes for next time, don’t bother with the lattice, use cut out leaves, hearts, whatever to cut out quickly and throw over top. They hold together better, are easier, and are more pleasant to eat than the lattice. Use extra butter around the top edges of muffin tins, where the apple filling spilled over the top made it the most difficult to take the mini pies out of the muffin tin.
Hi
Thanks so much for telling us how to freeze apples, however your recipe for making apple pie is for mini pies, I followed your directions to cut the apple in slices, and now I am unable to find a recipe to use frozen apple slices in a pie.
Please direct me.
Thanks.
Hi, Rhonda! I think another blogger wrote the post on freezing apples and then linked to my mini apple pies here. I do have a regular apple pie recipe here, but I haven’t tried using frozen apple slices in it.
Hi, I wanted to make these for people to be able to just grab and go. Would it affect it any if I baked these in cupcake liners? Thanks
I think that would be fine.
I love your mini apple and mini pecan recipes and I want to make a half pan of each. If I double the size of the mini pecan pies can I bake them at the same time as the apple? Can I bake the pan of half pecan and half apple at 350 or should I do 400? Thank you!
Hi, Mary! I honestly haven’t tried it, so it’s hard to say. You could try it and if one is finished baking before the other, then remove them from the pan, and let the other one finish baking. I would probably bake them at about 350°F to avoid over baking one.
Hi there, the only apples I currently have are Fuji apples would they affect the taste drastically?
Fuji apples would be fine!
Absolutely fantastic recipe!!! I just made these for Thanksgiving. My favorite is apple pie so these were perfect, easy enough. They taste great easy to make. I love your recipes. Thankyou
Hi! I just baked these with my mom and they were absolutely delicious! I had never before attempted a pie but the process was so simple. Thanks for your helpful recipe.
Hi there,
Do you think I could make and fill these, and the. Just pop them in the oven about an hour or two later? I’m planning on taking them to another house, but I’d like to do all the prep work before hand at my house. Will they be to sit in the muffin tin Rae before baking?
Hi, Sarah! If it’s just an hour or two, I think it would probably be okay. The only thing is that you will want to keep them cold or refrigerated during that time. If your pie crust is too warm, it won’t turn out as flaky.
If I wanted to make blueberry pies would it be the same time and temp as these apple pies? Also, can I use cupcake liners to take out and display the pies or would the crust stick?
For blueberry pies you would need to make some adjustments to the filling. I would recommend baking the pies in the muffin pan, then once they’ve cooled you can place them inside cupcake liners for serving.
My mini pies look very dry, no bubbling. I used Granny Smith and gala apples. Any suggestions on what went wrong?
Did you happen to let the filling sit for a while and leave some of the juice in the bowl? If so, that may be why they were dry.
Can I use apple pie filling from a can?
Yes, that would be fine.
Hi,
Can I use gluten free flour for this recipe?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried it for the pie crust recipe, but for the flour in the filling that should be fine.
I know thisnif the regular muffin sized pies, if I’m using mini muffin pans, do I just cut the bake time shorter a few mins?
Yes, I would just make sure to keep an eye on them too.
Hi Danielle,
I love this recipe, looks delicious and simple to make. Can the pies be half baked and frozen and finish the baking when you need it?
Thank you.
Hi, Jane! I would recommend fully baking them before you freeze them. You can thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and then warm them again in the oven.
Going to prepare these, was wondering the advantages or disadvantages of cooking or not precooking the apple mixture? Texture? Flavor difference?
Thanks for your input
I don’t personally notice much of a difference, so I don’t worry about the extra step. You can feel free to precook them if you want, but I don’t find it necessary.
Do you think it’s possible to compile these in the morning and then put them in the fridge raw and then take them out and bake them 8 hrs later So they are fresh warm for dessert
Hi, Natalie! To be honest, I haven’t tried it. I worry that if you let the filling sit for too long in the pie crusts, the juices from the apples may make them soggy. You can bake them ahead of time and then rewarm them in the oven at a lower temperature for a few minutes.
I am wanting to make mini apple, mini pumpkin and mini apple pies all together in one 12 muffin tin. I see your recipes are to be baked between 350 – 425 degrees. Is it possible to bake them all at the same time at the same temp? If so – what temp?
Hi, Mackenzie! I would actually recommend following the temperature and cook time for each recipe to ensure that they bake up properly.
Hi Danielle! I’m going to make these tomorrow! do you happen to have the nutritional facts for the pies as well as your homemade crust? Also do you have and tips or tricks for the pies? Thanks so much!
Hi Ava! I’m not sure about the nutritional information, but you can plug everything into an online calculator to get an estimate. I also suggest making sure your pie crust is cold when it goes into the oven and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces. I hope that helps!
Is it necessary to blind bake the pie crust for this specific mini apple pies?
No, it’s not necessary for this recipe.
How do you get the pies out of the cupcake tin? Do you need to grease the pan beforehand or do they just fall out without greasing? Thanks!
Pie crust has a lot of fat in it, so they won’t stick to the pan. You can certainly spray your muffin pan before you add them, but I don’t find it necessary.
Hi! I’m making these tomorrow and was wondering if I half the recipe will it still be okay? I only want to make 6 mini pies. Thank you!
Yes, it’s fine to cut the recipe in half!
Hi, these look wonderful! I am going to make them tonight. Have you ever made this recipe leaving the skin on the apples?
I prefer to peel my apples, but I think it would be okay to leave the skin on.
Hello I bought a set of 6 mini pie pans. I tried to make a cherry pie in them,. I tried to make a lattice top such as you did. I would like pictures of how you attached them, I tried but it was too lumped and not pretty around the edges. Any suggestions?
Hi, Elizabeth! I just placed the strips on top of the filling like you see in the pictures. If you used a different kind of filling that may be why it looks different.
Can I use a 0 c sugar substitute for this instead of sugar?
You probably can, but I haven’t personally tried it.
I would like to make these for my fathers funeral but need to make them about a week or so in advance. Do they need to be rebaked after thawing or can I just serve them at room temperature?
Hi, Danielle! If you bake them beforehand, then freeze them, you can just thaw them to room temperature and serve them.
Thank you for this information. I got some apples from my elder mom and want to make the mini pies for her using her own apples. She will love that! But I won’t be seeing her for a couple of weeks so it’s good to know I can make them now and freeze them. ??