Mini Dutch Apple Pies

 Mini Dutch Apple Pies are the perfect fall treat.  I have made these twice in the past few weeks for pot luck dinners.  They were a hit!




These will take about 1hr 45 min to make and 30 min to bake.


Crust:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 TBS sugar
6 TBS cold unsalted butter
6 TBS Crisco
3 TBS cold water

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt & sugar.  Cut in butter and shortening.  Blend with a pastry cutter or fork until the fat (butter & Crisco) resemble baby peas.  Don't overmix, your dough should still be very dry and crumbly (if it starts to get greasy looking you are mixing too much).

Sprinkle the water over the mixture 1 TBS at a time and blend with a fork.  Gather the dough together and knead for 5 min.  Again, do not over mix.  Dough should just be holding together but not greasy or shiny looking.

Split dough into two pieces.  Flatten into thick discs,wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

While your dough is chilling time to work on the apple filling.

Core, peel and cut into small pieces 5 golden delicious apples.  If the apples are very large or small adjust the quantity, you need about 5 generous cups of cut raw apples.

Place into a heavy skillet with 2 TBS unsalted butter, 2 TBS brown sugar and 2tsp. cinnamon.

Cook over medium heat until all apples are covered with the sugar and butter.  Cover and simmer for 5 minutes until soft.  Uncover and cook until all the moisture is gone.  Stir to help coat apples with thickening sauce.

While my apples were softening I made the topping for the pies.

Topping:

1/2c. old-fashioned oats
1/2c. packed brown sugar
1/4c. flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cut in 4 TBS. unsalted butter.

Mix with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly but holds together when pressed.

Back to our crust!  Take one disc of dough out of the fridge.  Roll your dough out between two pieces of plastic.  This will keep it from sticking to everything and needing more flour.  Using a 4" diameter guide cut circles in the dough.  I used the outer ring of a tuna strainer.  It worked great!.   Each disc of dough should yield 5 muffin tin crusts.

Place your cut dough into an ungreased muffin tin.  Press in with a pastry tool (the wooden tool pictured here) or your fingers.

Fill each pie crust with the apple filling.

Spoon topping over the filled pies.  I try to get some dry topping and cover with small balls of coated butter and press it down gently to make sure the pies are completely covered.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Let cool in the pan 15 minutes.  Then gently remove.  I found that by gently spinning each one I could loosen them, then I tip the pan upside down with a cooling rack against the pies.  After they come out of the pan I gently turn each one over and let cool completely.

The pie crust will be tender and flaky and very delicate.  Handle them gently.  I served these with rich vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.  They were FANTASTIC!

Disney Magic Bands

If you look in Pinterest for decorated magic bands you'll find a whole new way to express your Disney side.

For our trip to the great Mouse House I decided to use nail polish to decorate our bands and make them unique.

 If you are a huge Disney fan then you'll know just how exciting it is when these babies arrive.


For those that don't know, these are your ticket to everything.  Disney has changed over to a RF wearable wrist band.  Inside that little Mickey head is a chip that lets you into your room, has your park tickets and fast passes, photo package and even can be used as a payment method if enabled with your resort.  Basically the only thing you really need to carry to the park now is this wristband!


If you plan ahead you can choose your colors and they come with your family names on them.  I've changed ours to post here.  You can choose nicknames or the actual name of each traveler.

 To get started I found a sketch of the magic band online and stretched the dimensions to precisely match the dimensions of the magic band.  I then printed four copies and made a sketch for each band's design.  Erasing pencil is much easier than erasing nail polish.

I started with a clear coat on each band.  This was a recommendation from another band decorator that would allow you to remove the nail polish easier if you made a mistake.

Next I used a nail art pen to make the racing stripe detail on Lil' Boy's band and the swirls on Mommy's band.  I used a silver nail art pen to make the details on Lil' Girl's band.

I let them dry between each coat.  The racing stripe on Lil' boys and the color base on Mommy's eventually cracked from flexing.  Paint them in the shape of your wrist to reduce this (I used a bathroom cardboard tube).

Some other bloggers suggested using acrylic paints to avoid the cracking.  The final part was to put on a clear or sparkle top coat to seal the paint.

Here it is in process.  Lil' Girl wanted a frozen band so I had to add silver sparkles and shimmering nail polish.

Lil' Boy wanted a race car band.  His black details were done with a sharpie marker.  This does not like nail polish top coat and was left exposed.

Daddy wanted plain but I talked him into Tigger.

I went with a Tinkerbell inspired design.

 Many of the rides in Disney use black lights.  I found another great idea for using glow-in-the-dark nail polish so the bands react on the rides with black light.

Each band was decorated with "hidden magic".  Lil' Boy's checkered flag and stripe lit up.  Lil' Girl's had more swirls and dots.  Mommy's had hidden mickey's (an awesome scavenger hunt tradition in the parks).  Daddy's had stripe accents.

Besides reacting in black light (like pictured) they also glow in the dark.  This was a great distraction for Lil' Boy (5 yrs old) on the few rides where they shut out the lights completely.  He could look at his "magic" on his band and not worry about the dark.

After trip update:

How did they hold up?

I had to detail Lil' Boy's each day.  The pool erased the sharpie that was not sealed.  Thankfully I had some with us for signature books.  Mommy's band had paint cracks but held up well. Daddy and Lil' Girls were perfect the entire trip.

My two little ones are still wearing their bands as accessories some days.  It may be years before we go again but these little magic bands are still fun to look at.  Maybe eventually I'll get them back from the kids and put them in a shadow box with a family trip photo.