Portable Apple Pies with Cinnamon and Coriander

How about them apples?  Today I took a trip to Fresh Market in Westport, CT.  It's a far more simplified and smaller version of Whole Foods with the same organic, gourmet  feel. I came across this giant Fuji apple.  It is 4" tall.  Here it is next to its more average and smaller size hybrid cousins. For this recipe you will need 3 cups of apples or maybe 2 of these Fujis.

There are some herbs and spices that seem to be made for certain foods.  Their flavors marry well together and enhance each other such as:  Tomato and Basil or Lime and Cilantro.  For me that combo is Apples and Coriander.  Whether in a sweet or savory dish these two flavors are meant for each other and in fact if mixed with an apple's more traditional spicemate cinnamon heightens and dimensionalizes the apple even more.

It was the smell of coriander, the half eaten bag of little apples, and remaining puff pastry that inspired me to create this dish.  

Portable Apple Pies

Recipe created by Milda's Kitchen - Makes about 15 pies

3 cups diced apples (any sturdy baking apple, I used golden delicious)
Heaping 1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsps flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp coriander
small pinch of salt
2 tsps lemon juice
1/4 tsp lemon zest
3 strips puff pastry - thaw according to package directions but keep in fridge until ready to use.
2 tbsps butter
1 beaten egg plus two drops of water

Preheat oven to 420F
Peel and dice apples.

 Mix apples in a bowl with raisins, sugars, flour, cinnamon, coriander, salt, lemon juice and zest.  Taste your filling and adjust to your liking.

Melt butter in a smaller skillet over medium heat.  Saute apples and raisins for about 5 minutes to begin cooking process, plump raisins and carmelize sugars. Apples should still be firm.  (The cooking time in the pastry isn't very long so this helps so your apples aren't still hard when the pies come out of the oven).

Remove from heat to cool.  Beat egg and add water.

Roll out 1 strip of puff pastry until about an 1/8 of an inch thin. Cut dough with a pizza cutter to about 4" X 4" inch squares.  If they are a little rectangular the world won't end.

Dip brush into egg wash and lightly brush all sides of pastry. This gives a good bullseye area to put about 1 tablespoon of your apple filling.  Fold over opposite ends together and pinch to seal.  Use the tines of  fork to help seal as well.  Repeat.  Keep other puff pastry strips cold until ready to use or the dough doesn't rise as well.

Lay pies on an ungreased baking sheet.  Brush tops with egg wash. You may need to do two batches. Bake for about 20-22 minutes until golden brown.  If you accidentally poke a hole in the dough you might get some apple gooeyness pouring out.  But is that really bad?

Portable Apple Pies

This recipe is linked to:
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms