We have been living at the KOA Oceanside in Bar Harbor Maine since mid April. We will be leaving here in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I wanted to take advantage of some of the perks that we can get from this particular campground.
“What perks?”, you say. Well, yes we have beautiful ocean views, amazing sunsets, and fabulous weather. But there is something else here that we want to experience…
The wild Maine apple trees! One whole side of the campground is covered in beautiful apple trees. We noticed them first in the spring as they filled up with delicate white flowers…
Throughout the summer, we watched the apples form. Those that have been coming here for years told us that the apples are tart and make great pies. Nobody knows what type they are, but looking around on Mount Desert Island, it appears that they are everywhere!
And with the coming of September, they finally ripened! While walking the dogs near the trees, I could here the occasional “thump” of a ripe apple hitting the ground. So, I sent Dave out on a mission. Come back with a good bunch of apples and I’ll make pie!
I didn’t have to ask him twice.
Just look at those yummy apples! I wanted to make pie to share with all my coworkers, so I tried my hand at mini apple pies. And they turned out great! Want the recipe?
Mini Apple Pies
6-8 tart apples
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp, lemon juice
ready made pastry for double crust pie
1 egg white
Begin by peeling, coring and dicing the apples. Drop them into a bowl of cold water mixed with 1 tsp. lemon juice. (This keeps the apples from browning).
In large bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, spices and flour
Drain the apples and add them to the sugar and spice mix. Toss to coat.
Spread out one of the pie crust and use a cup or round cookie cutter to cut out individual circles. Push them into the individual cups in a non-stick cupcake pan.
Fill each dough lined cup with apple mixture. Use the other pie crust to cut lattice strips. Lay the strips across each cup one way. Brush with egg white, then lay strips across the other way as shown above.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
Distribute to your coworkers and watch them smile.
That’s the best part, I think.
- 6-8 tart apples
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. ginger
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tbsp, lemon juice
- ready made pastry for double crust pie
- 1 egg white
- Begin by peeling, coring and dicing the apples.
- Drop them into a bowl of cold water mixed with 1 tsp. lemon juice. (This keeps the apples from browning).
- In large bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, spices and flour
- Drain the apples and add them to the sugar and spice mix. Toss to coat.
- Spread out one of the pie crusts and use a cup or round cookie cutter to cut out individual circles. Push them into the individual cups in a non-stick cupcake pan.
- Fill each dough lined cup with apple mixture. Use the other pie crust to cut lattice strips. Lay the strips across each cup one way.
- Brush with egg white, then lay strips across the other way as shown above.
- Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
That looks awesome. How cool to have apple trees right there to pick from. I have one that’s being taken over by our bamboo but every year it gets apples and right before they ripen the squirrels have a smorgasbord! 19 years and we still haven’t gotten one apple for ourselves he he, but there are a lot of chubby squirrels around.