A few weeks ago, our awesome landlord delivered close to 25 pounds of apples to us from his garden.

Sweet, juicy, crunchy.  Jeff took the majority of them to work to share and I used a few of them to make apple pie filling for the very first time.

The recipe I used came from Chocolate Moosey, and I was definitely pleased with the result.  I put the filling in the freezer until I figured out exactly what I wanted to make with it.  (It will separate during freezing so be sure to heat it up slowly to combine and thicken before using it.)

My idea of a perfectly proportioned pie is mostly delicious, buttery, flaky crust, with a little filling to accentuate that crust.  I found THE best pie crust recipe by Aida Mollenkamp on Chow.  The key to this crust is to use very cold butter  and ice water.  To accomplish this cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and freeze before using.  The bits of butter are actually visible in the dough and melt in the oven to create the most delicious pie crust you’ve ever tasted.  Freeze the butter, people.  You’ll be glad you took this extra step.

These little morsels are best served warm.  They can be reheated to get that “fresh out of the oven” goodness.  I plan to serve these with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside.

Enjoy!

Fresh Apple Nibblers

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Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Freezable, Pre-preparable
Brought to you by	The Recipe Wench - www.therecipewench.com
Slightly adapted from recipe on	Chocolate Moosey

Fresh apple pie filling and THE best pie crust combine to delight your tastebuds.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
• 3 Cups Apples (cored, peeled and roughly chopped)
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/4 Teaspoon Clove
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup Cornstarch
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1-1/2 Cups All purpose flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Sugar
• 1 Stick (8 Tbls.) Butter (unsalted, VERY cold)
• 4-5 Tablespoons Ice water

Directions

To Prepare Filling

Step 1

Place chopped apples in large bowl. Drizzle lemon juice and toss to mix. The lemon juice will prevent the apples from turning brown.

Step 2

In large saucepan, add water, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add apples. Continue stirring and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Step 3

Cool to room temperature. At this point, you can either use the filling or store it in the freezer. NOTE: this filling will separate over time. Before using be sure to reheat and stir to combine.

To Prepare Crust

Step 4

Place flour, salt, sugar in bowl and stir with whisk to combine

Step 5

Using a food processor, add flour mixture and cubed butter. Pulse until butter is the size of peas.

Step 6

Add approximately 3 tablespoons of water and pulse again.

Step 7

Add additional water until dough just starts to stick together. Don't overwork dough or it will become tough.

Step 8

Remove dough from food processor. Shape into 2 disks, wrap in plastic and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

To assemble nibblers

Step 9

Working quickly so that you don't heat up the dough with your hands, break off about 2 teaspoons of dough and form it into the bottom and sides of a mini muffin pan. It doesn't need to cover the sides completely.

Step 10

Add a spoonful of pie filling. Continue filling the mini muffin pan with the rest of the dough and filling.

Step 11

Bake at 350ºF for approximately 25 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cool slightly. They should remove from the pan very easily -- you may need to use a spoon to help lift them out of the pan.

Step 12

These are best served warm. Mmmmm imagine a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream served alongside!