These apple pie cookies (a.k.a. mini apple pies) are made with pre-made refrigerated pie crust and a delicious homemade apple pie filling.
Ingredients
4Tablespoonsunsalted butter
3applescored, peeled, and cut into small cubes
1 ½teaspoonslemon juice
⅓cupgranulated sugar + ¼ cup for topping
2teaspoonsground cinnamon + 2 teaspoons for topping
¼teaspoonsalt
¼teaspoonground nutmeg
1Tablespooncornstarch
4store-bought refrigerated pie crusts
1large eggbeaten
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add in the prepared apples, lemon juice, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, sea salt, and ground nutmeg. Stir well.
Heat the mixture, stirring often, until it begins to boil, about 6-7 minutes. Cover and allow to simmer for about 7 more minutes, or until the apples soften. Add the cornstarch and continue to heat and stir until the mixture thickens, about 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the cookies.
Unroll the pie crusts onto a large piece of parchment or wax paper. Use a circle-shaped cookie cutter to cut 2 of the crusts into 24 circles, gathering and rolling out scraps if necessary.
Prepare 2 baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and place the pie crust circles onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch between each crust. Scoop 1 Tablespoon of the apple filling into the center of each crust. Leave a border around the edges of the cookie and brush with beaten egg.
Take the remaining 2 pie crusts and slice them into thin strips. Create a lattice pattern on top of each cookie by weaving the pie crust strips over the cookies. Gently press the lattice around the edges so it sticks to the bottom crust. Use the same cookie cutter you used to cut out the circles to trim the edges of the lattice topping for a uniform top crust.
Brush more egg onto the top of each pie cookie.
In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture generously over each cookie.
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely. These cookies can be served cooled or slightly warm.
Notes
To make the refrigerated pie crusts easier to roll out allow them to sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes.
I found the easiest way to cut the pie crust into thin strips is using a pizza cutter. The strips don’t need to be perfectly straight or even but to get them more evenly sized you can cut along the edge of a ruler.
To make a lattice topping weave 3 strips of crust on top of each cookie. Alternatively, you can simply place 3 strips vertically over the cookie and then place 3 strips horizontally over the first set of strips.
I recommend preparing the cookies right on the baking sheet. You will be able to fit all 24 cookies on 2 half-sheet baking sheets. These cookies can be hard to transfer once put together so preparing them on the baking sheet makes it much easier!
Make this recipe even faster and easier by using pre-made apple pie filling!