Apple pie cookie cups

A tasty new spin on hand pies!

Ever since I made (and devoured) these salted caramel tarts made with shortbread cookie cups, I’ve been brainstorming on other fun ways to make little pie-like treats that are both cute and delicious. The enduring popularity of apple crumble pie is the inspiration for this recipe, which features an oatmeal cookie crust. You can use whatever apples you prefer for the filling; I like Cortland and Royal Gala; many people are fond of Granny Smiths for pies. Note that both the filling and the cookie cups + crumble can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for longer storage. If you’re looking for other fun twists on apple pie, check out my apple pie strudel, apple pie rings or my apple pie cheesecake parfaits.

Ingredients

Apple pie filling:

• 2 medium apples
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter
• 3/4 cup (180 mL) water
• 1/3 cup (65 g) brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and cloves
• Pinch salt
• 5 teaspoons (12.5 g) cornstarch

Oatmeal cookie cups:

• 1 cup (195 g) brown sugar
• 1 cup (227 g) butter (room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon (15 mL) boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups (166 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/3 cups (210 g) rolled oats
• Few pinches teaspoon salt

Method

• Wash, peel, and core apples and chop into half-inch (1.25 cm) pieces. Put chopped apples in a large bowl and add lemon juice. Stir to combine and set aside.
• Place a medium saucepan over medium heat and add butter water, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. When mixture comes to a boil, add the apples. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover the pot with a lid. Simmer the apples for 6-8 minutes, until they have softened but are not mushy.
• In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of water until fully dissolved and add the slurry to the filling; simmer for 2 minutes to thicken.
• Cool the apple pie filling to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate if not serving cookie cups within 4 hours.
• Make the cookie cups while apple filling cools. Start by preheating oven to 350F. Grease or line 15 compartments of regular-sized muffin pan(s). Line a medium baking tray with parchment and set aside.
• Prepare cooking dough by beating together in a large bowl the brown sugar and butter until creamy (use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer if you have one).
• Add the egg, baking soda mixture and vanilla and beat till smooth.
• Add the flour, oats and salt and beat or stir until no dry spots remain.
• Scoop out 1.8 oz (50 g) of cookie dough to form balls 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Put the balls in the prepared muffin pans then gently press down to form a cookie cup out of each ball (they should come almost all the way to the top of each indentation in the muffin pan. Try to make the bases and sides as uniform in thickness as possible.
• With the dough that remains in the bowl after you’ve shaped the cookie cups, scoop out 4 – 6 cookies and place them on the prepared baking tray. Flatten slightly with your fingers. You will be crumbling these later to use as topping.
• Transfer the muffin pans and baking tray to the preheated oven. Bake regular cookies on tray for 12- 14 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Bake cookie cups 15 minutes.
• Remove pans from the oven. Cookie cups will likely have puffed up; immediately use a small jar or shot glass to press down firmly in the centre of each one, reforming the cooked dough into cookie cups once more. Cool in pans for 15 minutes, then remove cookie cups from pans and place on wire rack to cool completely.
• Let regular cookies cool completely, then use your fingers to break them into small crumbles. Place these in an airtight container.
• To assemble, fill each cookie cup with apple pie filling. Sprinkle with about a teaspoon of reserved, baked oatmeal cookie crumble. Serve within 2 hours, with a scoop of ice cream if you like.

Makes 15 cookie cups.