Mini Apple Pies

♦ September 12, 2011 ♦ Leave a comment

Apples are in season now, so obviously I needed to make at least a dozen miniatures some of which to be frozen. There is a small problem that comes with gluten-free pastry, it can be very dry and not hold together or can taste…well, not very nice. This can be avoided however! If you don’t have a nut allergy then here is the ideal pastry to use for apple pies. if you do have a nut allergie….use really good butter, don’t skimp on the sugar and add a pinch of salt to a basic pastry recipe (you’ll find one on the back of the pack of most flours)….So here we go let’s make pies :)

*Update* it has  just occured to me that these are dairy-free! *Update*

Makes 24 mini pies

Pastry

225g Plain Gluten Free Flour

125g Castor Sugar

100g Ground Almonds

1 Egg, beaten

a little water

Filling

Your Favourite Cooking Apples

Some  Sugar, aprox 3-4 Tbsp

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

3-4 tsps water

1. Grease two 12-hole bun tins and preheat the oven to 200C

2. Put the flour sugar and almonds into a bowl and mix well, next rub in the butter untill it all resembles fine bread crumbs.

3. Add the egg, if needed add some water or extra flour,  mix to a soft dough and knead gently. Should not be too sticky or too dry either. At this point you can wrap in cling film and keep for up to 3 days or start to roll it out.

4. Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and roll out the pastry! Cut rounds to fit your bun tin for the base and fill all the holes.

Tip: split the dough in half, cut tops from one and bottoms from the other. Leftover pastry can be used to make almond biscuits…but I’ll mention more later. This prevents the horror of not enough tops!

5. Chop up your apples and fill each pie, sprinkle with sugar to taste. Take the vanilla and water in a small cup and mix, sprinkle this over each apple filling. Now cut out and cover with tops, seal and pop in the oven for 10-12 mins

Pies don’t last long. Freeze a few if you can!

Oh and I said you could make cookies from this too! Just roll and cut out rounds, lay them on a tray and sprinkle them with a bit of sugar and bake for 7-10 mins at the 200C. Very cute and easy, a bit like short bread really, but with this lovely almondy taste.

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