Mini Apple Pies

Normally, I’m not much of a pie maker because of all the time it takes to make one. Not only that, but it’s such a hassle to eat one. You need a knife, forks, plates, plenty of napkins, and lots of patience to not make a huge mess. That’s why when Chef’s Choice asked if I’d like to try their PetitePie™ Maker Model 860 by EdgeCraft, I was more than thrilled to give it a shot. It makes four 4″ individual pies with “Baking” and “Ready” LED lights to let you know what’s going on inside.

Baking individual pies would be a lot easier than making one huge one. They’re also a lot easier to eat; People can just pick up one and put it on their plate. There’s no portioning or cutting involved.

Each pie mold has a built in crimper that will seal your pie together, making your job a lot easier. It’s all about efficiency, folks.

Since I had plenty of Honeycrisp apples to use, I decided to go with a classic and make mini apple pies.

The machine is kind of brilliant. It comes with a multi-use pie cutter that will cut both the bottom and top shapes of the pie crust for you. There’s no guessing involved. Then, this other gadget presses your pastry into the mold so you get the perfect fit without burning your fingers.

This was my first time ever using a machine like this, so I tried to follow the directions in their little booklet as much as possible.

On my first run, I burnt the edges of the pies a little bit. I think I filled them with too much apple mixture liquid and baked them for too long. The instructions said to bake the pie per the directions on the recipe, but the machine cooks it a lot faster. It makes sense… I mean, would you bake mini loaves for as long as you would a big loaf? Absolutely not. The little ones always cook faster.

Even though I hardly make pies, every baker knows to score the top of a pie crust! Actually, looking back on it, maybe  I shouldn’t have done that in the machine. That was where apple liquid came out of and burnt on the sides.

Despite the mess, it was a charm cleaning up. Everything slid right off of the non-stick surface, including the burnt pieces. I was amazed at how easy it was to wipe up.

I loved how simple the interface of the PetitePie maker is. There are only three buttons: two to adjust the cooking time and the third to start/pause. That’s it.

I will definitely be taking all my notes and using them again on my next round. Perhaps I’ll try making a pie without a top crust and see how that goes. You could even use it to make savory pies instead of sweet. The possibilities are endless!

You can find the new Chef’sChoice^® PetitePie™ Maker Model 860 at major department stores, mail-order catalogs, and specialty stores for $79.99.

As for this apple pie recipe, it’s simple. Toss some apples with sugar and cinnamon, throw them in a pie crust, and let it bake.

I was sent product to review, but the opinions expressed are my own.