Mini Apple Pi Pies

These mini apple pi pies are so good, we ate all of them...it was only 9. Plus they are simple to make. You could make a few or a bunch...wait- that's grapes. You could also replace the apple with any type of berries, maybe even bananas. Let's get started!

You will need..

One apple- more if you are making more pies of course, or if you're hungry (or berries)

1/4 c mascarpone cheese

1 tablespoon sugar- I think I should have used a touch more, esp. if the berries are tart- I'll leave that up to you

1/4 teaspoon cornstarch

squirt of lemon juice- to keep apples from turning brown and helps if using berries

1 refrigerated pie crust- thawed and rolled out ( more if you are making more- they do come in a pack of two!)

1 egg beaten

vegetable oil or whatever you choose for frying

cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar for dusting after

You will need a very sharp knife to cut the apple. It needs to be very small pieces because the cook time is short. I peeled my apple. You may not want too. It will be very small pieces. If using berries, I wouldn't cut them.

I forgot the mascarpone cheese in the frig when I took my ingredients picture. You will need that and the lemon juice. Squeeze the lemon all over the apples and stir it so they are well coated.

Add the cheese, tablespoon of sugar (maybe a little more), and the cornstarch to a small bowl. Stir. I decided at the last minute to add cinnamon. What apple doesn't like cinnamon?? Add your chopped apples. Stir this together and put aside. This is your filling. Yes. It's that easy.

Now you should open the pie pastry. It should already be flat and round. I felt my pastry was to thick but that was how it came. Next time I will roll it thinner. I didn't have a large cookie cutter so I used the plastic cup. Use what ya got! I cut out what I could then gathered the rest of the dough and rolled it back out until I used it all.

OK. Now you're wondering about that egg. Well, the egg is for the pastry so it will help seal it closed. Just beat it with a fork and use a pastry brush (even your finger will do) and brush the egg wash onto the cut out pastry, make sure you get the edges good.

Now use a teaspoon and put a little bit of the filling on half of the dough, leaving enough room to fold it over. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the pastry closed. Make sure it sealed well. Put them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or until the oil is ready.

Now for the oil. Put your oil in a pot or a pan. Put it on medium high and be careful! You don't need to fill it all the way up. Just enough so you can flip them over. Ah ha! Is that why they call it a "turnover"? I used my small cast iron pot and it worked great. I could only cook about 4 at a time because you don't want them on top of each other.

Now take the mini pi's out of the frig. To test the oiI, I used a little bit of left over dough and put that in to double check the temperature. After the oil is hot, start frying those litte pies. Flip them when they are golden brown. They should cook about 2 to 3 minutes.

No picture of them cooking because it goes so fast.

Lay them on a pan lined with parchment paper or whatever you like. They were not greasy at all, to my surprise. (Maybe that's why I ate 4!)

After all the pies are cooked, you can dust them with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. The cinnamon sugar didn't want to stick to good so I switched to the powdered. These were sooo good. Not too sweet. Not greasy.

Pi-erfect! Enjoy!