Apple Pie Tookies

For those of you who wonder what I do while my husband is out of town moonlighting... here is a glimpse.  After we had pot roast for dinner (which was amazing) and after the kiddos were all snug in their beds I decided to try a recipe that sounded amazing (and like it would make a great breakfast surprise for the hubby when he got home).  See, being a pregnant gal you get a little hungry and when you are home with the kids, with no car, you need to get creative when you get hungry.  So here is what I did and it was/is so yummy I can't wait to give some to my hubby (and the kids tomorrow). If you are also in the mood, here is the recipe for the most delectable "cookies" ever:

Scratch Pie Crust

adapted from: smitten kitchen

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces, dipping fork

• 1 tablespoons granulated sugar 

• 1 teaspoon table salt

• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, very cold

• 1/2 cup water, very cold

Preparation

• Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl.

• Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas, (chop your butter into small bits first.)

• Gently stir in the ice water, mixing it until a doughy mass forms.  Then pick up all the dough and knead it in your hands until smooth, and form a ball.

• Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit and chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days.

Apple Pie Tookies 

'tiny-cookies'

adapted from: smitten kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 batch of scratch pie crust recipe (above)

• 3 medium apples, whatever you like to bake with

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• just a pinch ground cloves (less that 1/8 teaspoon)

• 1 large egg

• granulated sugar for garnish

Preparation

• Get out four shallow dishes.  Mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves in the first dish.  In another, put a little water.  In the third dish put a little bit of flour to dust your surface and dip your fork for crimping. In the fourth one, whisk an egg with one teaspoon of water until smooth.

• On a well-floured counter, roll out your pie dough pretty thin, a little shy of 1/8-inch thick.  Use a drinking glass to cut as many rounds as you can from the dough. Transfer them to parchment-lined baking sheets and keep them in the fridge until you need them. Once you’ve finished the first ball of dough (remember, we made two in the recipe above) repeat the process with the second ball.

• Peel the apples.  Cut thin (1/8-inch thick) slices from one side of whole apple, stopping when you hit the core. Repeat on opposite side.  (FYI: I got about 10 usable slices from each side of my small-medium-ish apples.)  Place them in a second bowl, and cover them with a bit of lemon juice to keep them from browning quickly.

• Preheat oven to 350º.

• Assemble your tookies: Grab your first disc of chilled dough and lightly dampen it on one side with the water (this is to help it seal). Take your first piece of apple and toss it in the cinnamon spice sugar. Place it on the damp side of the bottom disk of dough. Place a second piece and then dough on top.  Press the tops and bottoms around the apple with your fingers.  Back on the floured counter, cut decorative slits in your tookies and dip your fork in the flour and use it to create a decorative crimp on the sealed edges.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.  Replace on baking sheet and chill while you prepare the others.

• Bake for about 25 minutes, or until puffed and bronzed and very pie-like.  Transfer to a cooling rack to cool before eating them... or you WILL get burned.

Note 1:  You can keep a uncooked batch in the freezer for emergency parties by doing all the steps above EXCPET for brushing with egg and sprinkling them with sugar.  Then just bake them directly from the freezer, just adding a couple minutes to the baking time.

Note 2: You can use store bought pie crust to make these and save yourself the whole first step.  But, I will add that homemade pie crust is even more yummy and not all that hard to make.  But still, you can buy if you need to and they are still very-very good!