Apple Pie Hearts

Mini heart shaped pies stuffed with a cinnamon apple filling and topped with a sugary glaze! Perfect as a Valentine’s Day dessert! 

Valentine’s day is this week! <3 This is our first Valentine’s day as an engaged couple so I decided to pause my 2018 healthy eating resolutions for just a moment to celebrate with a sugary dessert! (However, I made them small and filled them with fruit sooo it’s basically still healthy, right? 😛 )

I’ve never been a huge pie person but I’ve always been a fan of apple turnovers with a sugary glaze on top. I remember when I was younger my mom would always buy the refrigerated turnover kits and we would bake them up together for dessert. I always looked forward to those warm, flakey turnovers coming out of the oven so we could glaze them up and dig in! It’s been way too long since I’ve had one of those so I decided to make them myself this Valentine’s Day!

These apple pie hearts are a hybrid between the classic American apple pie and my nostalgic memory of apple turnovers! They’re simple, festive, delicious, and the leftovers are perfect and don’t even need to be warmed up!

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APPLE PIE HEARTS

Because I’m not a huge pie person I don’t have a go-to pie crust recipe for you guys (nor do I have any interest in finding one 😛 ). Frozen pie crusts were created for people like me, but if you would like to use a homemade one for this recipe, feel free!

You can start by prepping your apple filling. You’re going to peel, core and dice 2 apples and add to a bowl with 3 1/2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon. Mix all of these ingredients together then set aside.

While you’re prepping the apple filling, allow 4 frozen pie crusts to thaw. Remove from packaging and flatten then cut into hearts using a cookie cutter. The size of your cutter will obviously change how many you are able to make! I had about a 4 inch cutter and was able to make 12 pies. Feel free to combine the scraps of dough and roll out with a rolling pin to utilize all of the crust!

Once your hearts are ready, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Align a few hearts on the sheet and top with your apple filling. Next, you want to prepare an egg wash to seal down the top half of the heart. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg and 1 Tbsp of water. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash along the edges of the apple topped heart, then place another heart on top. Press the edges together with a fork to seal then brush the entire top with more egg wash. Continue until all of your hearts are sealed and washed.   Using a sharp knife, cut little X’s and O’s into the top of the pies to vent. This will prevent the crust from cracking during baking. Bake for 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown then transfer to a cooling rack. Place the cooling rack on top of a foil lined baking sheet to catch your excess glaze. While your hearts are baking, prep your glaze by whisking together 3/4 C of powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp of milk (I used skim because that’s what I had, but any kind will work!) Add more powdered sugar or milk, if necessary. (More sugar if it is too thin, more milk if it is too thick and won’t easily pour).

Drizzle the glaze in strips along the hearts and allow to set up for a few minutes.

Enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container. I think they taste best at room temperature. (When reheated they became pretty dried out, but at room temp they are perfect!)

Looking for more fruit based desserts? Check out these recipes!

Skinny Blueberry Banana Muffins

Banana Churros

Tropical Fruit Salad in Kiwi Cups

Roasted Plums and Peaches

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**Recipe created by Caitlin

What do you think? Did this recipe make the cut for you or did it crumble? What would you do differently? I look forward to reading your opinions! 🙂