During the pandemic, I am taking taste-bud journeys as I self-isolate rather than physical journeys. Here is my adapted recipe for making a no-fail pie crust for Apple Mini Pies . It was inspired by watching a wonderful tutorial video by Mrs. Winter that I have included near the end of this blog. She was making a top and bottom crust for a full-sized apple pie; whereas, my crust is for a mini pie I made using my Wolfman Puck Pie Maker. For your convenience, I included both her recipe plus my halved-recipe below.
Conclusion: To my taste buds, the crust was flaky and quite tasty. I would definitely make this pie crust again, not only for sweet desserts but for savory meals, as well. The other perk was that it was quite easy to make and manipulate from rolling pin area to pie mold. Not only that, it did not make much of a mess as you don't have to flour your hands or workspace to work with the dough. That makes it a super-win, to my way of thinking.
Please note: Even though I ended up using my mini pie maker, I left in the instructions for how to make a full-size pie crust for your convenience plus so I can refer to this for future cooking ventures in pie-making.
Recipe for 8-inch or 9-inch pie (Double-sided)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour less 2 tablespoons
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup oil plus 1 tablespoon
- 1/4 cup milk
Recipe for mini pie - double-sided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour less 1 tablespoon
- 1/3 tsp salt plus a pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup oil plus half a tablespoon
- 1/8 cup milk
Procedure
- Step 1: Mix dry ingredients together.
- Step 2: Mix wet ingredients together.
- Step 3: Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix together until you can easily form a ball of dough. If ingredients feel a bit dry, add a tiny amount of oil to it.
- Step 4: Divide pastry into two balls: One for the bottom crust and one for the top crust.
- Step 5: For the bottom crust, flatten the ball into a disk. Place between two pieces of wax paper (about 14 inches by 14 inches) and use the rolling pin to flatten the disk into about 1/4 thick disk. Turn the wax paper a partial turn between rolls. Watch the video made by Mrs. Winter if this direction is unclear. This video is included near the end of this blog.
- Step 6: When the pie crust exceeds the diameter of your pie tin all the way around, carefully peel off the top piece of wax paper. Then, put it back on lightly. Flip the wax paper and dough disk over. Carefully remove the top layer of wax paper. Then, lay the pie tin upside down on top of the dough. Carefully flip all this over. Then, you can remove the wax paper altogether and start fitting the dough into the tin. Since there will be a top crust, no need to flute the edges of the pie dough yet. Once again, watch the video to further visualize this process.
- Step 7: Repeat this process for the top crust. Pour in your apple pie filling into the bottom crust.
- [FYI - I am using the Fried Apples cooked with bread cubes for my filling that I made the previous day. Here is the link to that blog in case you want to learn how I made that. I ate half of the mixture and noticed that it tasted like the inside of an apple pie. That's when I decided to not only learn how to make a pie crust but to use the pie crust with the fried apples mixture I had left.]
- Here is the easy two-ingredient recipe I used to make this dessert. This link will open in a new window. Taste-bud Journey: Fried Apples with Bread Cubes Dessert
- Then, lay the top crust on top of your pie. Push the top edge of the crust into the bottom edge of the crust all the way around. Then, flute your edges. Once again, I refer you to the video to see an easy way to do this.
- Step 8: Use a knife to cut a few steam-release valves for the top crust. [FYI - See Steps 9 and 10 after the following photo-set for continued directions for how to make a full-size pie crust.]
- Step 9: Use aluminum foil to form a tent around the pie edges to keep the edges from burning. For a demonstration, see the following tip:
Watch this video by a chef from Preppy Kitchen that has a great idea to tent aluminum foil all around the pie to keep the edges of the pie from burning. Fast forward to the 10:50 minutes to 11:40 minutes part of his video for his demonstration. This link will open in a new window.
Pie Crust Recipe from Preppy Kitchen
- Step 10: To prevent the pie filling falling into the bottom of your oven, place the pie plate on a cookie sheet with ridges. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or so until you judge that the pie is fully cooked.
Please note that I did not do steps 9 or 10 since I was using my mini pie maker. I left those directions in for those of you making a full-size pie crust.
Here are two of my blogs that feature the apple pie filling plus the homemade ice cream seen in the photo. Both links will open in a new window.
FYI - I won't bother to include a link to the Wolfgang Puck Pie Maker that I used to bake my mini apple pie as it appears that they are no longer available for purchase. I think I bought mine in late 2017 but never ended up using it until just now. I actually forgot I even owned it.
Amazon lists it as 'out of stock.' I saw several used models sold on eBay. I don't know about you but I would have little confidence in buying a used product that involves food preparation. But that's just my opinion.
It worked well enough that I would definitely use it again; however, I can't say that I would HIGHLY recommend it. Instead, if they still sold it, I would say that you might find it useful or fun to use. I will grant that it definitely was a time-saver as the pie only took twelve minutes to bake.
Recipe Source for Pie Crust by Mrs. Winter. This link will open in a new window.
Winter Family Easy, Never-Fail Pie Crust
Cooking Sites that have inspired me:
Books written by Debbie Dunn:
Here is the Amazon Link to all anti-bullying curriculum books plus all children’s books written by Debbie Dunn (both paperback and Kindle). It will open up in a new window.
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