Flaky homemade crust filled with tart sugared apples and topped with a sugary oatmeal crisp all in a mini bite-sized form.
This summer, we moved halfway across the country for my husband’s work. Moving is quite the process as I’m sure you already know.
To prepare for the move, we spent weeks leading up to our moving date slowly packing up boxes. We finally got everything in a big truck, drove across the country, and unpacked in our new home. All was fine and great, until we realized a very important part of our kitchen had been left behind…
You know that little drawer that some ovens have underneath them? Yeah…we forgot to pack that up. My baking sheets, brownie pans, muffin tins, and cake pans were all left behind. Happy wedding present to the cute newlyweds that moved in after us I suppose.
So, we put those baking sheets and pans on our “to buy” list and that was that. We found a nice package that had several baking trays, a big muffin tin, a cake pan, and a brownie pan. What it didn’t come with, however, was a mini muffin tin.
And we had left our mini muffin tin behind. In the drawer. Under the oven.
I think all treats taste better when they are miniature. Maybe it is because the treats look cuter. And let’s be honest, cute food is the best.
So here is the first of (many to come) treats made in a mini muffin tin. Thank goodness I have one again!
- Mini Crusts:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter-flavored shortening plain shortening works as well
- 3 tablespoons very cold water
- Filling:
- 2 cups small apples I used Granny Smith, diced, ~1 and 1/2
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar not packed
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- Crisp topping:
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup brown sugar not packed
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In a small bowl, combine the flour and salt. Stir. With a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the shortening. Add in the cold water slowly and mix. Knead as little as possible and form the dough into a small ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
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Finely dice the apple and combine it with the lemon juice.
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Combine the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar in a small bowl. Add the mixture to the diced apples and stir.
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In another small bowl, combine the softened butter, flour, oats, and brown sugar. Mix well.
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to about 1/4-1/8th inch thickness. Cut out small one inch circles.
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Line a mini muffin tin with muffin liners and place the small dough circles in the bottom and press them up the sides of the liners.
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Top the dough with a rounded 1 tsp. of apple mixture and top with a rounded 2 tsp. of the oat/apple crisp mixture.
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Cook for about 13-15 minutes. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes.
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**If you want your crusts more baked, put just the crusts in the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove and then put the filling and topping in and return to oven for about 10-13 minutes.
I tried this recipe several times to make sure there is the right amount of dough to filling and toppings. If you follow the directions exactly, you should have just the right amount to do 32 mini apple crisps.
Chelsea, these look wonderful! I can’t wait to make these for Thanksgiving! Thank you for sharing. I like the idea of lots of little “mini” desserts for the holidays. They look so pretty on the table, you can sample a couple of different flavors and the are perfect portion control (if you can control yourself to one or two). Thanks again for the great recipe. ~ Millie
Thanks so much Millie! I totally agree–the small desserts are my favorite! Super cute, and lots to sample from. Just the portion control is the only thing I need to work on with small desserts 😉 Have a great Thanksgiving!
they look like yummy little treats!
Thanks Dina! 🙂
Your pictures are stunning and these sound delicious.
Thanks so much Jenn! 🙂
These apple crisps are too stinkin’ cute! I’m pretty sure that everything tastes better in miniature form.
Found you from the Made by You Monday link party. 🙂
Thanks Michelle! I couldn’t agree more – all things are better mini! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I agree, everything taste better miniature! These look awesome! Thanks for sharing at Share Your Stuff Tuesdays 🙂
Thank you Emily!
I just took my second batch out of the oven – these turned out beautifully!! I snuck one from the first batch and it was absolutely perfect. Thank you for such an easy and excellent recipe!! The people in my office are going to love them. If you’re pressed for time you could cheat and use refrigerated pie crust but this crust was easy and turned out so well. Thank you!!!
I tried to leave 5 stars on this with my previous comment but my phone screen does not work nearly as well as this recipe. It definitely deserves 5 stars!!