Apple Pie Pops with Cheddar Crust

By sltaylor

Ingredients

• 12.5 oz all purpose flour (2.5 cups)
• 4 oz grated Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2.5 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (20 tbsp)
• 1/2 cup ice water + more as needed
• 2 lbs granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• zest of 1 lemon 2 tbsp spiced rum
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• Egg white or egg yolk

Details

Servings 24
Adapted from fifteenspatulas.com

Preparation

Step 1

Regardless, whether you make these now or bookmark them for the fall, these pie pops are definitely worth making!

To get started, you’re going to make a regular pie crust, but you’re going to mix in some grated cheddar cheese in with the flour:

Since the crust only has five ingredients…flour, cheddar, butter, sugar, and water, please make sure to use a good quality cheddar cheese. My favorite is

sharp cheddar (they won first place in the Medium Cheddar category at the US Championship Cheese Contest® with this cheese)! It has a really rich, full flavor that works really nicely in the crust.

The food processor/bowl combo is one of my secrets for making amazing pie crust. You want to use the food processor to quickly and efficiently cut the butter, but you want to add the liquid to the mixture in a bowl by drizzling it over and tossing everything around to moisten evenly. This lets the ingredients bind together nicely, with little gluten development. You’ll see what I mean if you watch my

Chop up the apples and place it in a pan with sugar and lemon juice:

Add some cinnamon and lemon zest, and cook it for 10 minutes to soften the apples and turn it into a chunky apple sauce. Use a fork to mash it up slightly, but still leave some chunks:

Directions:

Start with the crust by combining the flour, cheese, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse about ten times to cut up the butter into small pea sized pieces. Dump the contents out into a very large bowl, and drizzle in the ice water while using a spatula to toss the ingredients around. You should see the ingredients start to form clumps as the water moistens the flour. Add more water if needed, 1 tbsp at a time, until there is no more loose flour particles in the bowl. Form the dough into a disk and chill for at least one hour.

To make the apple pie filling, combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and lemon in a big skillet. Cook on medium high for 10 minutes until the apples soften, then mash with a fork. Leave some chunks in there for a nice texture. Mix the rum and cornstarch together until the cornstarch has dissolved, and mix it into the apple mixture. Apple pie filling is done!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the cheddar pie dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut circles out with a cutter, and place a spoonful of the apple pie filling and a lollipop stick on one circle, and cover it with another. Crimp with a fork of the lollipop stick to close well. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. If you'd like, brush the pie pops with egg white or a whole egg for a glossy finish. Bake the pie pops for about 20 minutes until lightly golden brown and puffed. Serve and enjoy!