Ramekin Apple Pie Recipe

Get our recipe for making your own mini apples pies in Ramekins! Not only are they really cute, but they are so tasty. And you get a chance to experiment with different apples like we did. This recipe can be made with a homemade or store-bought pie crusts.

Have you ever had this problem - you wanted to make an apple pie (or your daughter was asking really nice for you to make one).

You also wanted to test out different apples in the pie but didn't want to mix them up. While pretty much everyone doesn't have this problem unless you are a food blogger like me.

I wanted to do my own personal testing of how some apples held up in baking. I didn't want to bake several huge pies to test these apples out. So instead I thought individual pies made in Ramekins that you can eat the pie directly from.

Jump to:

• 🍎 What Apples to Use
• 🥧 What Crust to Use?
• ❓ Which Ramekins?
• 📋 Ingredients
• 📋 Instructions
• 🍏 Alternatives
• Individual Apple Pies in Ramekins

🍎 What Apples to Use

The apples I used this time around in my test were Gala, Blondee, Cox's Orange Pippin and Ribston Pippin. The last two I got in a shipment from Frieda's Produce. Both of these are heirloom varieties.

Other varieties you can use include:

• Honeycrisp
• Jonathan
• Granny Smith
• Rhode Island Greening (my favorite for pies),
• Northern Spy
• Empire
• Ida Red

All of the apples I used this time around held their shape well. The Cox's Orange Pippin baked up the softest but not too soft, my wife liked that texture.

Galas are just too sweet in my opinion for baking. Yes they held their shape but the pies baked with those lacked acidic to round out the flavor. If I had to use them again I would add a little lemon juice.

Blondee is a relatively new yellow apple are related to Galas but have a better flavor with a floral quality. These had a little more acid which made them a better choice.

The Ribston Pippen was the most acidic one I baked with on this occasion. It worked just fine. Not as well as my favorite baking apple - Rhode Island Greening which actually taste better when baked.

When in doubt use tart apples. Granny Smith apples are my default if I don't have anything else.

🥧 What Crust to Use?

You can pick whatever pie crust recipe you like for your bottom crust. I personally am a fan of Alton Brown's Pie Crust. It uses both butter and lard for a nice one-two punch of flavor, tenderness, and flakiness. I found that baking these mini pies made for a more delicious flaky crust!

Store-bought pie crusts will work as well.

❓ Which Ramekins?

There are several different style and size of Ramkins.

The best option I think is wide Crème Brulee Ramekins. Why? I think you get in every bite some of the topping, apple filling, and crust. They aren't too deep. These type are usually 6-ounce Ramekins.

You can totally use any Ramekin you have. You will get more pies if you use the standard 4oz size.

My recipe below makes 3 pies using the Crème Brulee Ramekins.

If you don't have any Ramekins what you could use mini disposable mini pie or tart pans. Or may you can save and clean out a pan from the last time you had a frozen pot pie.

📋 Ingredients

Here is the ingredient list for the pies including what to use for the apple filling.

• 1 pie dough recipe
• 3 medium sized apples 1 per pie
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar more or less depending on the sweetness of the apples
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping I love a crumble topping. Each to throw together and oh so yummy!

• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose flour

📋 Instructions

For a homemade pie crust recipe check out our Peach Pie recipe. The dough for the whole pie can be cut into pieces for your Ramekins.

• Start by rolling out your pie dough.
• The best way to see how many pies you can get with your size Ramekin is to roll out the dough first on a lightly floured surface. Then lay each Ramekin on top of the dough. See how many you can fit. It's like making biscuits or cutting out sugar cookies.
• Cut around the Ramekins, leaving about 1 inch in between. Then remove the Ramekins and add the crust to each one. You can re-roll the dough with the leftovers to try and make another pie if you can, it just won't be as tender or as good looking.
• You don't need to egg wash your crust before you bake it.
• You want to blind back your pies. That is put them into a 425 degree oven for anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes or until the crust is slightly brown. Remove from oven and reduce the temperature to to 375.

💡 Tip - When baking put your Ramekins on a sheet pan or cookie sheet. This will make them easier to remove from the oven.

• To prepare the apples - cut them into slices that will fit your shape of Ramekin. You need 1 apple per Ramekin. Mix your apples with your seasonings and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl.
• To make the topping - in a small bowl mixed together the flour and brown sugar. Cut the cold butter into pieces. It needs to be cold. Putting the butter in the freezer first is always a good idea. Rub the butter with the tips of your fingers into the flour/sugar mixture. It should look like this when ready -

• To assemble the pie - Add the apples to the blind baked crust. Evenly distribute the crumble topping onto all pies.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until they are browned and the apples are cooked. The size of your Ramekin will determine baking time, so first time around I would start checking around 15 to 20 minutes in.
• Always allow to cool for at least 10 minutes on a wire rack before eating. Or wait until they reach room temperature.

I like to finish the pie off with some a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some freshly grated nutmeg on top.

🍏 Alternatives

If you want to go with the very cool looking lattice top pie, all you need to do is have twice as much pie dough on hand. Roll half of all your dough out and cut into strips - I recommend a pizza cutter for this.

Once you finish blind baking your pie and adding the apples. carefully arrange the strips on top.

Another option would be to use puff pastry. You can blind bake it like the crust and then add your apples and the crumble topping. Or you can do the puff pastry on top as well.

Also there is no rule that you must have crust on the bottom, you could have it all on top. These are your pies.