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Vegan Mini Apple Pies with Flaky Crust

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These vegan mini apple pies are a fun twist on a classic fall pastry! Made with flaky vegan pie crust and a comforting apple pie filling – it’s the perfect weekend treat.

‘Tis the season of apple pie! We love pie, but making a whole apple pie recipe for just a couple of people is a lot. This mini apple pie recipe using our flaky vegan pie crust is a great way to make this popular fall dessert in a smaller, more snackable portion.

Using our super flaky pie crust recipe, we create a tart like structure and fill it with a delicious, spice apple pie filling and topped with coarse sugar for an extra crunch.

Why you’ll love these mini pies:

  • Flaky, buttery pastry layers.
  • Straight-from-the-bakery taste.
  • Quick and easy fall treat.

Top tips for making vegan mini apple pies:

  • Take your time. To get perfectly flaky dough its important to take your time and try not to take any shortcuts – give each step the time it needs.
  • Don’t overwork the dough. With pie dough we want to avoid gluten development and the key is to not overwork it. Mix until it just comes together and fold 2-3 times in order to create layers. You shouldn’t need anything more than that.
  • Keep the dough chill. To get the signature flaky layers like in pie dough you need to let the dough rest and keep it cold. Flaky layers are achieved when layers of cold butter melt when they hit the heat and create air pockets. If you think the dough is getting a bit too warm, pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes before working with it again.
  • Bake until a deep golden brown. Under baked pie crust is not a fun time. You’ll know its full baked when the bottom is a deep golden brown and the top is a golden colour.

How to make mini apple pies:

Vegan Mini Apple Pies

These vegan mini apple pies are a fun twist on a classic fall pastry! Made with flaky vegan pie crust and a comforting apple pie filling – it's the perfect weekend treat.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Rest Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 12 tarts

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

  • 300 g 2½ cups all purpose flour
  • 226 g 1 cup vegan butter, cubed
  • 120 mL ½ cup ice water
  • pinch salt

Filling:

  • 1/2 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 5 Granny Smith apples, peeled
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 3 tbsp all purpose flour
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Before you start: Put your butter in the fridge or freezer to ensure it’s as cold as possible. Do this with your ice water as well.

  • Add flour and salt to a bowl – mix. Add cubes of very cold butter and using your hands toss until all the butter cubes are evenly coated in flour. Squish each cube of butter between two fingers and toss in flour again. Gently rub the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of walnut halves or leave as is for an extra flaky pie crust.
  • Create a well in the middle of the flour and pour in about half the cold water and toss until all the water is absorbed into the flour. One tbsp at a time, add more cold water to the bowl and mix until the dough comes together – you want to handle it as little as possible. You may need to add more or less water than stated as different flours hydrate at different percentages.
  • Divide the dough into quarters, form into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 30 minutes. If making this recipe across a couple days this is a good place to stop.
  • Prepare the filling, by dicing the apples into 1 cm cubes and add to a non-stick skillet. Add lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until all the apples are coated evenly.
  • Cook the apple mixture over medium heat until the apples are fork tender but hold their shape – about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
  • To make the pastry shells, generously flour a clean work surface. Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, rolling into a rectangle about 1/4” thick. Using a 4” round cookie cutter, cut out dough. In half of the circles use a 3” cookie cutter to cut another circle in the middle. Re-roll the cutout pieces and make more circles.
  • Using your finger brush the borders of the circle (the one completely intact) with water then place the circle with the cutout on top – pressing gently to seal. Transfer to a lined baking sheet. Place in the fridge or freezer to rest.
  • Repeat steps 6 & 7 with remaining dough.
  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Remove the pastries from the fridge/freezer and fill each with apple pie filling – we like to create apple mounds to get as much filling in there as possible.
  • (Optional) Brush the top of the pastry dough with a vegan egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
  • Bake in preheated oven to 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.
  • Transfer to a wire rack, drizzle with some of the remaining gooey apple filling and let cool completely.

Video

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