Oh sweet dulce de leche! How I love thee.
I know I have said this here before, but such is my love for dulce de leche that every time I try to come up with a filling for something, dulce de leche is my first thought.Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I use it for everything, but I did have some of it left from when I made these gooey and super yummy brownies.
Before I get into more details about these simple dulce de leche hand apple pies, I want to first let you all know about what has been going on here at the Smart Little Cookie's headquarters, aka my house.
In the past month, I have been pondering a lot about the direction in which I wanted to take this blog. When I created Smart Little Cookie (SLC), it was meant to be a food blog to document my increasing obsession with learning to bake. But being a full time student at the time while doing multiple internships and taking care of a family and a home, made it nearly impossible for me to dedicate a lot of time to creating awesome recipes for the blog. The purpose of the blog slowly shifted and I started writing posts about various topics whenever I was able to.
Now that I'm no longer a student and have been spending more time in the kitchen, I want to take Smart Little Cookie back to its origins. So, from here on, all content on SLC will be food and recipe related, and very soon, we will be introducing a new look.
I'm very passionate about food, both cooking and eating it. I love cooking food that tastes good, but also food that makes other people happy. I believe great food always plays an important role in the home. I'm a self-taught home cook, with a love for simple comforting meals and obsessed with sweets, cakes and cupcakes. As most women, my love for food started with the women in my family. Most of my cooking is influenced by my Hispanic/Caribbean heritage and will in many ways reflect Latin culture. As we move forward, I hope to share with you many wonderful recipes that are both delicious and simple to prepare.
Well, now that I have share with you our big news, let me talk (or write?) about these dulce de leche hand apple pies. With apples being in season, apple pie is a Fall must have. But in my 17 years living in the USA, I have never eaten homemade apple pie. To practice and play around with the flavors and textures of an apple pie before actually making a whole one, I made these small hand pies and added dulce de leche because the caramel flavor goes very well with apples. Because I used pre-made refrigerated pie crust, they were quick and easy to make.
The best thing about these hand pies is that they are single served and portable, which means the kids can just grab and go. You can even pack a few into their lunch boxes to have as a snack after lunch, and they will love you for it.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 9 inch pie crusts
- 2 cups diced Granny Smith apples
- 1 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons flour
- ½ cups of dulce de leche
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a bowl, mix together apples, cinnamon, sugar, flour and dulce de leche.
- On a floured board, roll out pie crust. Cut pie crust into circles using a 3 inch cookie cutter or a glass.
- Lay out the circles and top with apple filling. Cover with another circle of pie crust and use a fork to seal the edges.
- Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve warm.
Jai
These look yummy! What a great idea to make small pies instead of one big one! I only bake pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, it's truly the only time I bake. I'd love to see if I can do this with pumpkin pie as well! Thanks for the idea!
Vanessa
Hi Jai, you can definitely make them with pumpkin pie. I've never made it myself, but I'm absolutely sure you can.