Apple Pie Baked Inside an Apple!

We're coming up on the 4th of July and nothing is more 'Murican than apple pie, right? Well, when I saw this post by DomesticDilettante, I thought these apple pies baked in apples were too good to be true. Look how perfect they are! Ahhh but there's a catch... wanna know what they forgot to mention? I'm not saying these aren't good but you might want to know the whole story before venturing to the apple orchards...


To make these mini apple pies, you'll need:

* 5 Granny Apples (4 whole apples and 1 to chop up for the filling)
* 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/4 cup of sugar
* 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
* Pie Crust (mine was store-bought and you only need 1)





To start off, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and cut off the top of an apple.

Using a knife and/or a spoon, core out the inside of the apple. If you're able to save any of the insides, keep them in a bowl for later. Chances are, though, you'll mainly be pulling out the core and a bunch of seeds, which aren't worth saving.

Do this for all four apples. Do not puncture a hole in the side or the bottom or you will have juices running everywhere. Trust me on this one.

Once your apples are hollowed out, it's time to make the filling. Peel and chop up your extra apple (which will fill almost 4 apples perfectly). Place the pieces in a bowl.

Next, add your cinnamon, brown sugar, and sugar and stir together until your apple pieces are coated in yummy deliciousness.... mmmm... yummy deliciousness...

Spoon your filling into each of your apples without overflowing.

Next, the "crust". Take your pie crust and cut it into slices. Now mine were pretty thin - about 1/4" thick - so you might want to make yours thicker but it's totally up to you. Fold each row and column under and over so as to make your woven lattice pie crust.

If you have an 8"x8" pan, place the apples in there, pour enough water to cover the bottom, wrap foil on top and stick in the oven for 20 minutes. If you don't have an 8"x8" pan and you just skipped the last sentence entirely, two 5"x8" bread pans work and just put two apples in each pan, pour in water to fill the bottom, cover with foil, and stick in the oven.

After the 20 minutes are up, take off the foil and stick the pans back in the oven. Be very careful, as hot steam will come up from under the foil and bad words you didn't know existed will flow from your mouth. So... be careful.

Now you can either let them bake another 20 minutes and they'll look like the ones on the right or 25 minutes and you get the ones on the left. As long as the apple filling is soft, you're good to go.

And now, ladies and gentleman, the part you've all been waiting for... what did the original post forget to mention or show? How the apples look from the side.

Warning: might not be appropriate for people who like their applies to be perky, green, and perfect.

Aiiiiiiiee!!! What IS that?! Well folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but any photo you see of these will always from the top and never from the sides because of this exact reason. It ain't pretty. The apples kind of collapse on themselves. However, the filling inside is delicious, the crust tastes good, and the lining of the apples taste like applesauce so what's a little wrinkle here and there, right?

TOTAL COSTS: About $15 to make 4 apple "pies" (prices from Vons)
$1.99/lb for Granny Smith apples
$4.79 for cinnamon
$2.69 for sugar
$2.70 for pie crust
Made my own homemade brown sugar

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 1 hour, 35-40 minutes
20 minutes to cut and hollow out apples
20 minutes to make the filling
15 minutes to make the lattice crust on all 4 apples
20 minutes to bake with foil
20-25 minutes to bake without foil

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
Trying to make sure the filling is done while not burning the top is easier than it sounds. Just keep an eye on the oven and you'll do just fine!

Apple Pie Cookies

One of my favorite seasons is autumn because I love the leaves changing colors, the pumpkin patches, Halloween, and of course, picking apples... too bad it won't be here for another 6 months. No worries, OhBiteIt introduced these delicious apple pie cookies which taste just like fall! But the best part? Not having to deal with cleaning up pie plates or even having to use a knife and fork!


Warning: unless you have a tiny cookie cutter, you won't be able to make more than 4-6 so be prepared to have your heart broken when you eat them all in 10 minutes... whoops... at least you'll have a lot of leftovers!

Ok, run to your grocery store or your pantry and grab these ingredients:

1 box of pie crusts
1 can of apple filling (I only used about 3/4ths of it)
About a cup of caramel sauce
1 egg for the egg wash
Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top
Nutmeg for sprinkling on top
A little flour
A cookie cutter (if you don't have one, like me, just use the top of a glass!

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees so it'll be ready by the time you're done assembling. 

Unroll one of the pie crusts and dust it with a little flour. I decided to lay down a piece of parchment paper first and I'm so glad I did because  a.) it was a no-mess solution and  b.) I was able to use the same piece when it came time to putting the cookies in the oven.

Grab your caramel sauce and lightly coat the pie crust. If you don't have a brush, a knife would do just fine.

On a cutting board, pour out the contents of the apple filling and chop up the apple slices.

Pour a thin layer of apples on top of the caramel sauce. Don't make it too thick or you'll have one heck of a mess in the oven...

Now take your other pie crust, spread it out (again, I recommend doing this on a piece of parchment paper because you'll be using it later), and cut it into thin slices so as to make your lattice crust.

Place the strips directly on top of the apple pieces to create the pattern. This was the most time-consuming step but it's not difficult, just over... under... over... under...

Once you're done, take your cookie cutter (or glass), dip it into the egg wash (completely optional), cut out a piece, and place the cookies on top of the parchment paper you used to cut the strips. As for the scraps, don't throw them away because you can bake those too!

Take your egg wash and cover the cookies with a thin coat, then sprinkle on your cinnamon sugar and nutmeg. Do the same thing to the leftover pieces.

Every oven is different so bake them for anywhere between 20-25 minutes (or until they're golden brown). Let them cool, as they'll still be oozing apple goodness, and enjoy this autumn treat on a spring day!

TOTAL COSTS: About $11

$2.79 for the pie crusts

$4.49 for the apple filling

$3.69 for Smuckers caramel topping

Egg, cinnamon sugar, nutmeg, flour, glass, and parchment paper already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 50 minutes
25 minutes to prepare
25 minutes to bake

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The hardest part for me was making the lattice but that's only because I laid all the strips down first and then had to pry them off of the sticky apple filling in order to have them go under and over. Other than that, though, this is easy enough for your kids to help you make and for everyone to enjoy!