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These Cranberry Apple Mini Pies is a fun dessert recipe you can make without any baking experience or special tools. It’s a great way to use up leftover apples and cranberries, and makes for a festive holiday dessert!
You’re going to love the balance of the tart cranberries with the sweet cinnamon apples and the buttery, golden, rich pie crust. And because they’re mini, you can have many. If you have extra cranberries, make sure to grab these tips for how to freeze fresh cranberries.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Pie crust: You can use refrigerated pie crust or use your favorite homemade recipe.
- Apples: Peel and core the apples and dice them finely.
- Cranberries: Use fresh cranberries and cut them in half so that they mix easily with the apple pieces.
- Pecans: Chopped pecans add a great crunchy texture to these mini pies. You could also use almonds or walnuts.
- Sugar: We like to use cane sugar which is less processed. White or brown sugar can also be used.
- Cornstarch: This helps to thicken the fruit juices so that your pie crusts don’t get soggy.
- Orange zest and cinnamon: Fresh orange zest adds a tangy flavor and ground cinnamon adds a wonderful sweetness.
how to make cranberry apple mini pies
- Add the ingredients for the pie filling to a bowl.
- Mix together to combine.
- Cut circles out of the pie dough to form the mini pie crusts.
- Press the pie crust circles in to a muffin tin.
- Spoon in the cranberry and apple mix.
- Bake til the dough is cooked and golden brown.
Tips to make this recipe
- Make one larger pie. If you prefer to serve up a full sized pie, simply add the apple and cranberry filling to a 9 inch pie crust and bake!
- Grease your muffin tin with oil. This will make the mini pies easier to remove. Don’t use butter to grease the tin as this can burn and cause the pies to stick.
- Don’t skip the cornstarch in the filling. Without it, when the fruit bakes it will release a lot of water and can make your pie crusts soggy.
- Cool the mini pies on a wire rack. A wire rack allows air to circulate all around the pies so the bottoms will cool and crisp up. If you let them cool on a solid surface, the pie crusts can absorb moisture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Once fully cooled, transfer the pies to an airtight container and they will keep well for up to a week in the fridge or at room temperature. You can warm them through to serve if you like at 360F for 5 to 10 minutes.
You can freeze these pies either baked or unbaked. Unbaked hand pies can be covered and refrigerated or frozen for 3 days. Bake them from frozen, just add a couple extra minutes of bake time.
Baked hand pies can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
These apple and cranberry mini pies can easily be enjoyed by themselves. They are also delicious served warm with a scoop of ice cream, drizzled in heavy cream or finished with whipped cream.
Seriously though, these rock for Thanksgiving dessert table because they give you that sweet satisfaction without committing to a whole pie slice. Make these cranberry apple mini pies for thanksgiving and feel free to double or triple the recipe for a larger crowd.
More cranberry recipes:
- Baked Cranberry Relish
- Cranberry Orange Sauce
- Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
- Baked Brie Cranberry in Bread Bowl
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Cranberry Lemon Muffins
More easy pie recipes
If you try this healthy-ish feel good Cranberry Apple Mini Pies recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
This Cranberry Apple Mini Pies recipe was originally published on November 8, 2017. The recipe has been slightly modified to make it easier and the post now includes updated step-by-step photos.
Cranberry Apple Mini Pies
Ingredients
- 2 9-inch whole refrigerated pre-made pie crusts or homemade
- 2 apples peeled, cored and small diced
- ¾ cup cranberries halved
- ¼ cup chopped pecans chopped
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove pie crust from package and allow to sit at room temperature while preparing the pie filling.
- In a medium bowl, combine the apples, cranberries, pecans, sugar, cornstarch, orange zest and cinnamon until well combined.
- Use a 4″ round cookie cutter to cut out 24 round pieces of pie crust. You will need to re-roll the scraps.
- Place the cut out dough into two muffin tins, using your fingers to form the dough into cups.
- Fill the cranberry apple filling mixture into the muffin cups to the top and bake in the preheated oven until the fruit is softened and bubbly, and the dough becomes golden brown, 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust powdered sugar on top, if desired.
Notes
- Instead of pecans, you can use other nuts like walnuts, almonds or macadamia nuts. You can also use any seeds or just leave them out.
- Instead of cornstarch, you can use arrowroot starch or all-purpose flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
This recipe says 2 apples for 24 muffin cups. I used 3 apples and only filled 12. I’m sure it will taste good but it needs some editing asap.
Oh no, so sorry you ran out of filling! Were your apples especially small?
Hi, I just wondering when you made it into a full pie what were the amounts of ingredients used?
Hi there! You would use all of the same measurements, simply add the apple and cranberry filling to a 9 inch pie crust and bake!
Hello, I only work with cranberries when I make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I am just making sure I read correctly that I don’t need to precook them before I mix them with the apple?
Hi Sonly, yep, you do not need to precook them! They will soften as they bake, similar to blueberries. Hope you enjoy!
Hi! If I use a mini cupcake pan, are there any changes I would need to make to this recipe and baking time?
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
You might need to decrease the cooking time because it’s smaller!
Made this for thanksgiving, and it was so good. I made a normal sized pie too with the same filling and everything was amazing. Recipe was very easy to make and follow. Very impressed by how it turned out.
That’s amazing! Sounds perfect. Glad you enjoyed!
Made these last night . 😋 I cook the apples and cranberry before baking.
I love that!
Yummy 🤤
Thank you!
Ok. These beauts are adorable and SO Yummy! I was able to sub out some ingredients to make them even healthier and diabetic friendly, without sacrificing taste or texture. I used 2 Tbl of Stevia instead of the 1/4 C sugar and a 1:1 exchange of Arrow Root for the Corn starch. Felt so good about the “healthiness” of the pies I even shared them with my personal trainer/nutrition coach! This one is a winner!!
Thank you so much! So glad it worked out that way too.
I made these today for an early Thanksgiving dinner with family! My 10 year old niece helped and it was so much fun! They are currently cooking and smelling delicious!! I also roasted my turkey from your recipe for success AND made the fresh green bean casserole…so Bon appetit to @feelgoodfoodie!
Such a fun bonding activity! I love this so much. Yay!!
Going to give this one a shot! Is it a 1:1 exchange if I’m subbing Arrowroot for Cornstarch? And what are your thoughts on subbing the cane sugar with Stevia?
Yay! Yes, it’s a 1:1 substitution. I haven’t tried it with stevia, so I think a 1:1 substitution could slightly change the flavor and texture, but let me know how it turns out if you give it a go!
Love your motto: Because they are mini, you can have many.
And yes I am having a few more delicious bites.
Thanks for the recipe.
Can these be made ahead? Or frozen??
Yup, unbaked hand pies can be covered and refrigerated or frozen for 3 days, then bake from frozen; add a couple extra minutes of bake time. Baked hand pies can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
One apple and one half cup of cranberries! Is this enough for eight small pies?
Yes, perfect!
Apple and cranberry are such a great combination, these look so yummy!