Mini Apricot Pies Recipe Genius Kitchen

APRICOT MINI HAND-PIES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, cook dried apricots in 1/4 cup water, until tender and soft.
• Add cornstarch, sugar, salt, and butter to pan. Mix well with the apricots. Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Add additional water, if needed, to thin mixture out a bit.
• Once mixture thickens, remove it from heat. Pour into a small bowl, cover and chill completely. Once chilled completely, make the pastry dough and roll out on a lightly floured work surface. Using a biscuit cutter or a glass, cut 3 inch circles out of dough.
• Spoon about a Tablespoonful of the filling into the center of one half of the dough. Do not overfill or fill to the edges or the filling will run out while you are crimping the edges!
• Once pastry circles have been filled, pull over half of the dough to cover the filling. You should now have a half circle of dough. Use a fork to "crimp" around the edges of the half circle to seal the two pieces of dough together. This is very important, or the apricot filling will leak out while cooking!
• Preheat oil to 375 degrees. When oil is very hot, carefully place fruit pies in skillet. Cook a couple of minutes on each side. The dough should be golden brown before you turn them or remove them from the pan. Drain fruit pies on paper towels (to absorb extra oil). Making sure the oil in skillet is still very hot, repeat the process until all hand-pies are done cooking. Let hand-pies cool slightly (they will be hot inside!), then serve and enjoy!

APRICOT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour and the salt in a bowl; cut the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly. Using a fork, mix in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough just holds together. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a ball. Working on a floured work surface, roll each ball out into a crust big enough for a 9-inch pie dish with an inch or so to spare. Carefully lift a crust, fold into quarters, position into pie dish, and unfold the crust. Set the other crust aside.
• Mix the sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and cinnamon together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined; stir in the lemon juice and apricots. Spoon the apricot filling over the pie crust in the dish, and top with the reserved crust. Crimp the edges of the crusts together with a fork, cut away the excess crust, and cut slits into the pie to allow steam to escape. Cover the edges of the pie crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent burning.
• Bake on center rack of the preheated oven until the pie is browned and the filling is bubbling and thickened, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool and sprinkle top with 1 teaspoon of sugar.

IMPOSSIBLY EASY APRICOT PIE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Stir together all ingredients except preserves and whipped cream until blended. Pour into pie plate.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Heat preserves over low heat until melted; spread over pie. Cool. Garnish with whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.

MINI APRICOT PIES

Steps:

• Combine first 5 ingredients in a small sauce pan.
• Stir and simmer for 5 minutes under low heat.
• Take off heat and set aside.
• Cut puff pasry sheet into six squares.
• Roll each square into a 6 inch square.
• Spoon mixture into each square, fold and seal.
• Mix milk and sugar in a bowl and brush on each pie.
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at 400 degrees.

OLD TIMEY APRICOT FRIED PIE

Steps:

• Make crust:
• Place flour, sugar, salt, vinegar, and egg yolk in the bowl of a food processor and pulse lightly 1 time. While pulsing, add butter gradually; dough should be the consistency of cornmeal. Do not over-mix or dough will become tough and hard to roll out. While pulsing, add ice water slowly until dough forms a ball (again being careful to not over-mix). Turn off processor as soon as dough forms a ball and refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes.
• Make filling:
• Combine apricots, jam, nectar, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes. Add cornstarch slurry and continue simmering for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add almond and vanilla extracts. Let cool to room temperature; mixture should thicken to the consistency of a jam.
• Meanwhile, pour several inches of oil into a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch oven; oil should not come more than halfway up the sides of the pan. Heat oil to 360 degrees F.
• On a floured board, roll out dough to 1/8-inch or less thickness. Cut or stamp dough into 15 (6-inch) round circles, or as many that size as possible. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling into the center of each circle of dough and brush edges with egg wash. Fold in half and press edges together with a fork dipped in flour. Poke the top of the crust twice with fork.
• Carefully add pie pockets, in batches, to the hot oil and deep fry until golden brown, turning as needed. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and serve; be careful as filling is hot.

MINI APRICOT TURNOVERS

Steps:

• Cut each pastry into four wedges. Place a rounded tablespoonful of preserves in the center of each. Moisten edges with water. Fold pastry over filling; press edges with fork to seal., Place turnovers on an ungreased baking sheet. Cut a small slit in the top of each. Brush with milk. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over turnovers. , Bake at 425° for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

MINI APRICOT CHEESECAKES

Steps:

• Place wafers flat side down in paper-or foil-lined muffin cups; set aside. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, lemon juice and vanilla; beat well. Fill muffin cups three-fourths full., Bake at 375° for 17-20 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Carefully remove from pans to cool completely. Top each cheesecake with 2 teaspoons preserves. Store in refrigerator.