Sparkles for All

Fall is just around the corner and I thought it would be nice to share a great and EASY recipe from my friend Kristy who loves baking homemade apple pies!  These would be great gifts for family or friends and seemed pretty simple to make (considering you have to roll the dough by hand)!  We also used our left over dough to cut some cute hearts and stamp our pies with love!  Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 
1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 
1/2 cup cold sour cream
• Store in refrigerator to keep cold until you’re ready to roll the dough

Filling

• 2 cups small diced (peeled) Granny Smith apples
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 
1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• Egg wash (1 egg lightly whisked with 1 Tablespoon water)

Making the dough: (for salted caramel apple pies click here)

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl

Add the cubed butter to the bowl and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand

Stir in the sour cream (the dough will be very wet), and then turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface

Knead the dough a few times until it comes together

Rotate the dough 90º and roll it out again into an 8×10-inch rectangle

Fold the dough again into thirds then wrap it securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes while you make the filling

Making the filling:

In a small bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and flour, stirring until thoroughly mixed

Assembling the pies:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unfold it onto a well-floured surface

Using a 3-inch circular cookie cutter or cup, cut out as many circles as possible

Place six of the dough circles on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet

Spoon a small portion of the apple filling into the center of each circle, leaving enough of a border around the filling

Place a second dough circle atop each filled circle then use a fork to crimp the edges together, sealing each pie

Brush each pie with the egg wash, and using a sharp knife, cut two or three vents on the top of each pie

Bake the pies for about 15 minutes, or until they’re golden brown

Remove the pies from the oven and allow them to rest for 10 minutes before serving