Rustic Little Apple Pies

By Bailey1_

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold butter, cut small
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated orange peel
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 3 small Golden Delicious apples
• 3 Tbsp sliced natural (with skin) almonds
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 6 tsp fresh orange juice
• 2 Tbsp stick butter, cut small
• Garnish: confectioners’ sugar

Details

Adapted from womansday.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. To make Pastry in food processor: Put flour, butter and orange peel in processor; pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add water all at once; pulse just until dough begins to leave sides of bowl. By hand: Put flour in a bowl and cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Add peel and water; stir with a fork until mixture clumps together and a dough forms.

2. Gather into a ball, flatten and cut in 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten, then place each between sheets of plastic wrap. Roll each with a rolling pin to a 6-in.-diameter circle (circles don’t have to be perfect). Refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients.

3. Peel apples, halve, then core with a melon baller. Cut wedges to remove stem and bud ends. Turn halves cut side down and slice thin.

4. Heat oven to 425°F. Have a large baking sheet ready.

5. One at a time, remove dough circles from refrigerator. Peel off plastic and place dough circle on baking sheet. Leaving a 1- to 11/2-in. border, fan apple slices overlapping on dough. Sprinkle with 1/2 Tbsp each almonds and sugar mixture and 1 tsp orange juice. Fold edges of pastry over apples. Repeat to form 5 more pies. Dot apples with butter.

6. Bake 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake 25 to 30 minutes more until pastry is lightly browned and apples are tender. Remove pies to wire rack to cool until just warm. Just before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar.