Mini Brown Butter-Flat Apple Pies

I recently saw an episode of Pioneer Woman on the Food Network, and she was making flat apple pies for her family. It looked delicious, and I knew that I wanted to make it. However, I adapted the recipe slightly for what I wanted to bake. I decided on making mini flat apple pies versus that big pies she made because I think everything is way cuter when they are tiny. So true, right?! I used my favorite crust recipe and also doused the warm pies with yummy brown butter to give it a deeper, richer flavor. And it definitely paid off. Brown butter makes everything better. Story of my life. I served them with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and a big ole' scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. That's just how it has to be done. No if's, and's, or but's. Honestly these were good hot, right out of the oven, and room temperature the next day for breakfast (shhh... don't tell anyone). I think these would be great for a party or BBQ in the summer too!! Enjoy :)

Mini Brown Butter-Flat Apple Pies with Salted Caramel Sauce & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream 

Here are the mini pie's without all the toppings

For the Homemade Crust:

1 ¼C AP Flour (plus extra for rolling)

½t Salt

1 ½t Sugar

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Very Cold

3-4T Ice Water

For the Brown Butter-Apple Pie Filling:

2 Large Granny Smith Apples, Peeled & Roughly Diced into Medium Cubes

1T AP Flour & Cornstarch

1T Fresh Lemon Juice

¼C Sugar

¼C Brown Sugar, Packed

1t Cinnamon

Pinch of Allspice, Cloves, & Salt

For the Mini Brown Butter-Flat Apple Pies:

4 Mini Dough Discs, Rolled Thin

Prepared Apple Pie Filling

Bourbon Raw Vanilla Sugar & Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling

2T Unsalted Butter, Cut into Small Cubes

4T Brown Butter

Directions:

1. To Make the Pâte Brisée: Start by cutting the sticks of butter into ½inch cubes and placing in the freezer bag, along with the flour, salt, and sugar. Place the bag of flour into the freezer and chill for at least 1-2 hours. In a food processor, pour the frozen flour bag in and pulse 6-8 times until the mixture resembles a course meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1T at a time, pulsing until the mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch of some of the crumbly dough and it holds together then it’s ready. Remove the dough from the machine and place on a clean surface. Shape the dough into a disc. Do not over knead the dough. You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. Cut the dough into 4 small balls and sprinkle the discs with a little flour on all sides and wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove the discs from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disc. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to 4 small circles (1/8inch thick). Place rolled out discs on to a large baking sheet.
2. To Make the Mini Brown Butter-Flat Apple Pies: Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, toss together the apple cubes, flour, lemon, sugar, brown sugar, spices, and salt until well combined. Place ¼ of the apple mixture on each mini crust. Fold over the edges of each crust, so that it covers some of the apple mixture (the more rustic the better). Dot the tops of the pies evenly with the small cubes of butter. Bake the mini pies for 20-30 minutes or until the filling is golden and bubbly.
3. Allow the pies to cool slightly and brush each pie heavily with 1T of brown butter just before serving. Serve with ice cream and caramel sauce. 

source: flat apple pie.