Pretty freaking adorable, huh?
I've made almost all of those cookies/treats before, except for the mini pies. It was my first time making pie dough from scratch and I used Martha's pate brisee (pie dough) recipe. It was super flaky and buttery. Working with the dough was very easy and I had no problems making it by hand, without a food processor, but I did get a food processor for Christmas (after I made all these freaking mini pies) and made pie dough with it for Christmas day. I would still consider both ways equally as easy but the food processor is just faster.
For the pie filling, I made a stove top apple filling first. I based my recipe on this one. I added twice the amount of cinnamon and my little pies took approximately 15 to 18 minutes to bake until golden brown. I think that someone could easily make a bunch of these guys and throw them in the freezer. When you get the craving for some pie a la mode, warm one (or four) in the oven and serve with vanilla ice cream!
To create the packages, I went to Smart and Final and got a bunch of take out boxes (the sort of flat and rectangular kind). To keep everything cozy inside so that things could stay separate and not crack or break, I used jumbo cupcake liners, which I found at Safeway and Michael's.
Goodie box tied with a red ribbon and adorned with a homemade tag, ready to go.
