Baby Rhubarb-Apple Pies

Rhubarb-Apple Pies

The boys were asking for pies - their timing was perfect.  With a frost coming, it was time to bring in the last bounty of the garden.  The rhubarb was a little green and the apples a bit pecked and bruised.

I cleaned and chopped the fruit and pureed it in a Vitamix.  The fruit before blending measured 8 cups (2 liters).  I added a 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, sprinkle of cinnamon and a pinch of salt to the puree and cooked in a sauce pan until more like applesauce.  I wanted the pies to be like jam tarts but if you wanted a chunkier fruit pie, the apples and rhubarb could be coarsely chopped and stewed instead.  Before cooking, the mixture was green (rhubarb) and red flecks (apple skin).  Any fruit jam could be substituted instead of homemade rhubarb.

 I used a standard large double-crust pie recipe from Betty Crocker and added a 1/4 cup sugar.  When the dough just came together, I gently cut and rolled the dough into 12 balls and placed them into a standard muffin tray to chill in the fridge while the sauce continued to cook a bit more and then cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.  After the dough has chilled and the sauce cooled.  Roll each dough ball into a palm-sized circle and place back into the muffin pan.  After cooking, the sauce became more caramel colored then green.  Fill each pie with rhubarb-apple sauce.  There was plenty of sauce left over for another day.

Bake for 45 minutes until the crust turns light brown and the fruit sauce bubbles.  Cool pies in the muffin tin set on a wire rack.

 I served the pies with a  sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Astrid