Baked Apple Pie Cups

First things first my friends. Yesterday I spent a few hours building a brand new project gallery for DDD! Are you as excited as I am? It has every.single.project I have ever posted all in one place and you can view it any time you want! Click ‘Project Gallery’ in the menu bar or click here to view it. I also created a gallery for all of my recipes too! I am really hoping this will make it a little easier to find things around here :)

Also! I am just a wee bit excited to tell you that I am guest posting over at Lil’ Luna today! I’m sharing a brand new Halloween Treat. Hop on over and let me know if you think it is cute or scary :)

Ok now onto the recipe I have for you today! We have been so blessed with such a beautiful fall here in the Northwest. I can’t even tell you the last time we had 75 degree weather and blue skies all the way into October. We have been soaking up every ounce of sunshine before we go into hibernation for the next 9 months. But, all good things must come to an end and the past few days the cool, cloudy fall days have been settling in. I kind of like it though (can you tell I’m from Seattle?).  As we transition into staying indoors, Miss E and I are exploring new indoor activities like building forts, working on puzzles and baking. She absolutely loves to bake. Watching her sit up on the counter, her big brown eyes beaming, and a little spoon in her hand is one of my favorite sites. She helps me measure in each ingredient, mix and even helps me taste test (her favorite part). It’s the best. Really, truly, the best thing ever.

Yesterday, I was getting Miss E up from her nap and asked, “Would you like to go downstairs and bake something?”.  She got a huge smile on her face and nodded her head, “yes”. So today, Miss E and I sharing our Baked Apple Pie Cups with all of you. Made with love and lots of messes.

Combine the dry ingredients including flour, sugar, xanthan gum (only use if making gluten-free), into a food processor and pulse until blended.
Add the cold butter cubes and egg and pulse until the butter cubes are the size of peas and the mixture looks like coarse, dry crumbs.  Add 1 tablespoon of ice water and pulse several times. Test a piece of the dough by squeezing a small amount between your fingers. If it holds together don’t add more water.
Gather the crumbly dough into a ball and place it on a clean surface covered in flour.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and roll the dough out until it is 1/4″ thick.
Cut the dough into 4″ circles and set aside.
Continue to roll the dough out and cut circles until all the dough has been used.
Gently fold the circles into the cupcake tin. They should be resting gently in the cup, don’t push them into the space.

Meanwhile, core, peel and slice 2 large apples. My grandma grew up on an apple orchard and says that you should only use Golden Delicious for baking, but I used Fuji since that is what I had around (sorry, grandma!). Combine the sliced apples, cinnamon, sugar, all-spice and butter.
Place a spoonful of the mixture into each cup. Make sure to include at least a few butter cubes in each pie cup.
The apples will bake down, so it is OK if they are over flowing.
Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 or until gently browned. (Note: different GF mixtures may brown easier, so keep an eye on them the first time you make them)
Let the pies cool and then carefully remove them from the pan. A small spatula works best.
Serve warm with whip cream!

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Happy fall :)

Don’t forget to come back at 5:00 pm PT SHARP to join us for Happy Hour! We would love to have you stop by and hang out for a bit :)

Linking to some of the parties here along with Today’s Creative Blog, TipJunkie, Home Stories A 2 Z, Funky Junk Interiors, The Shabby Nest, My Repurposed Life, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Thrifty Decor Chick