These Mini Apple Pies are easy to make and filled with a simple homemade apple pie filling. The perfect mini dessert for fall!
This recipe was requested by a wonderful reader named Stephanie after she tried my mini pecan pies. I loved the idea of making a recipe for mini apple pies, so I held onto it until fall was getting a little closer. I have to say that I’m glad I did because these pies are absolutely delicious.
While I love regular pie, there’s something about mini pies that make them so much better. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re perfectly portioned or they make a simple dessert you can just pick up and enjoy. Or maybe it’s that you can eat two and not feel so guilty about it.
And let’s be honest, mini desserts are just better than regular desserts. Right?
To start, you’ll need a standard 12-count muffin pan. This recipe is for mini apple pies because they’re smaller than a regular apple pie, but be sure to use a regular muffin pan (not a mini muffin pan).
You’ll also need two pie crusts, you can either use my homemade pie crust recipe or buy a box of pie crusts from the store. The store-bought pie crusts usually come in packages of two so they’re perfect for this recipe. If I’m being honest, I usually just cheat and use store-bought pie crusts when I’m making these pies.
You want to cut the pie crust with a 3.5-inch cookie cutter to make circles that are big enough to fill each cavity in the muffin pan. They should look just like the picture above and mostly fill each cavity in your muffin pan. 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.
This filling is just a simple mixture of chopped apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, vanilla, and a touch of nutmeg.
When I make any kind of apple pie I prefer to use a mix of sweet and tart apples, so I use Granny Smith and Gala/Honeycrisp apples in this recipe.
You can also decorate the tops of these miniature apple pies however you like. You won’t need all of the pie crusts for the bottom, so you’ll have some left to decorate the tops. I like to use it to make a simple lattice topping (in other words, no weaving) or cut out some cute pie crust decorations for the top with small cookie cutters.
You can also make these just a bit easier and completely leave the top off and they still taste just fine! I love to serve them with a little scoop of ice cream and caramel on top.
I mean, just look at how cute those pies are up there!
Baking Tips for Mini Apple Pies
- You’ll need two pie crusts for this recipe, you can either use my homemade pie crust recipe (linked in the recipe below) or use store-bought. Use any leftover pie crust you have to decorate the tops of the pies however you like!
- You can use any type of baking apples you prefer in this recipe. I like to use a mix of sweet and tart apples, so I typically use Granny Smith and Gala/Honeycrisp apples.
- Be sure to use the correct size muffin pan for this recipe. These are mini apple pies, but you’ll be using a regular 12-count muffin pan not a mini muffin pan.
Mini Apple Pies
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts homemade or store-bought
- 2 and 1/2 cups (315 grams) chopped apples
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (15 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Roll the pie crusts out to 1/8" 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 between all of the cavities in the muffin pan (about 2-3 tablespoons per mini 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 at 425°F for 20-25 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 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the mini pies from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Love mini pies? Try my Mini Pecan Pies next!
Can I use puff pastry for this recipe ?
I would suggest sticking with pie crust for this recipe. I do have an apple turnover recipe on my site that uses puff pastry though.
Can these pies be frozen and cooked at a later date? Also, cook before freezing or freeze uncooked
I haven’t tried freezing them uncooked, but I think they would freeze just fine once they’re cooked. You can thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and then just warm them up some in the oven.
It says 2 pie crusts and cut out 12 wouldn’t you need 2 muffin tins or is the extra pie crust to put on top of the 12?
I usually need the extra crust to get the last 2-3 circles. But yes, the extra is for the topping too.
Should you spray the muffin tins before you put the pie dough in
You can if you want to, but pie crust has a lot of fat in it so it won’t stick to the pan.
I made these!!!! Awesome easy and delicious!!!
Just made these are in the oven although I did not pinch my tops on , Hopefully they stick .
Hope the pies turned out great for you, Mona!
Can you freeze these?
Yes, absolutely! Once they’ve cooled, you can store them in a freezer bag/container for up to 3 months and thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.
I made them. I think the circle needs to be a bit larger. So it would look better or like yours. I also think my nutmeg was yucky. Cause it smelled strange not like apple pie. To hot to try right now but i will. How do you know if nutmeg is gone bad? Going to di strawberry rhubarb after the hurricane.😋
Does your nutmeg have an expiration date on the bottle? I would check there and see 🙂 Hope you enjoyed the mini pies!
Thinking of making these for a bake sale.. do you think if I use cupcake papers/ foil i would have good results? I want to to be easy grab and go without messy.
I think it would probably be okay to use them!
I was wondering if I needed to precook the pie crusts as it suggests in your pie crust recipe, or if because they are so small there is no need to cook them before. Thank you so much and the recipe sounds great!:))
There’s no need to precook the pie crust since these are so small 🙂
Great recipe- absolutely delicious! I made them to eat tomorrow. Is it ok to keep in an air tight container on the counter over night? Or does it have to be refrigerated?
Yes, it’s fine to leave them at room temperature!
Do you need to peel the apples?
I prefer to peel them for this recipe.
I made these and they were perfect and delicious! I didn’t have a cookie cutter so just used a wide-mouthed mason jar which worked fine. The circles were a little smaller but it didn’t really impact the pies. I only used half of the filling because I filled half the circles with a different type of pie, so I’m planning on making the rest later. I also did it at just 415 for about 20 min (lower temp for the other pie filling which was a spinach ricotta deal) and it still turned out perfect. A great recipe to make yourself feel super fancy. What’s better than eating tiny apple pies??
I made these for our Church’s roast beef dinner. Amazing! So simple.. I used Pillsbury ready to bake crusts. A wide mouth Mason jar lid.is 3 1/2 inches and was perfect to cut the crusts with. I used granulated Swerve sweetener and GF ( Bob’s Red Mill) flour and they were so good! I’ll be making them again!
Can you make these in mini pie tins for easy serving? Im having these at my daughters first birthday (Apple themed) and love the look of the mini pie tins
I think that would be fine! You may need to adjust the baking time depending on the size of them.
Can you freeze these?
Yes, absolutely! Just thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
Absolutely delicious! Chopped apples into 1/4 inch pieces. Doubled the filling for mounded tops. Used a wide glass that matched size specified to cut circles. Thanks for a terrific recipe!
How many apples would you say equal to 2 and half cups?
About 2 large or 3 medium apples.
Could I make these up the day before but not bake them until the next day just before my event?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m not sure that the apples would hold up well sitting overnight.
I mix apple pie filling and freeze it in gallon sized freezer bags. It gets juicy but works great. I tend to make 6 to 12 pies for friends during the holidays.
Can I still make this in an oven that only goes up to 350
That would probably be fine, you’ll just need to increase the baking time.
Hi Danielle!
Do you happen to have the nutritional information? I’m making these for Ghanksgiving and my 15 yr old is T1D. Thank you!
Hi, Suzanne! I’m not sure about the nutritional information and would hate to give any incorrect information too, since it will vary some depending on the pie crust/apples/etc. that you use. I would recommend plugging in everything you use into an app or online calculator to get a more accurate estimate.
OMG! these are adorable! So yummy! Thanks for the recipe! Just for others who want to try, I did it without the top crust and after out of the oven, i put warm honey+vanilla mix on top for a homey taste! Try it, its GREAT!
I made these as a test run for my daughter’s wedding. They were very dry. Did I miss something? The reviews are so good, but there is NO liquid and they are just so dry.
They shouldn’t be dry. When you were scooping the apple filling into the pie crusts, did you leave a lot of the juice in the bowl? That could cause the filling to be very dry.
Can you use a can of apple pie filling? Should I prebake the bottom first as the apples are already cooked?
You can use apple pie filling, no need to pre-bake the bottom of the pie crusts either.
Can I use fresh pears instead of apples
I haven’t tried it, but I think it would work.