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1
Preheat the oven to gas 6 / 200C / 400F and lay out a 12 hole cupcake tin
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2
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until 3mm thick
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3
Use a fluted, round cookie cutter to cut 12 rounds out.
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4
The rounds must be big enough to line the tin holes completely
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5
Spray the tin lightly with oil and line with parchment paper circles, then press the pastry rounds into each hole
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6
With the leftover pastry, cut out small shapes for the lids such as hearts or stars, 2 or 3 for each lid depending on size.
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7
I do this to save time re-rolling the pastry.
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8
You can of course re-roll it and cut out 1 larger shape to fit as a lid
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9
Prick the bases with a fork and blind bake the pastry for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is just dry and still uncoloured
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10
At this point you can also bake the lids if you're planning on serving the pies cold
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11
Half fill each cooled crust with custard, one tablespoon should do it
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12
Spoon some apple puree / apple sauce or pie filling on top of the custard having sweetened to taste - again one tablespoon is ample
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13
If you've pre-baked the lids you can skip the rest of the oven steps.
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14
Just fill the pies and place the baked lids on top.
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15
The custard and apple puree are already cooked anyway, the oven is just to heat them through
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16
Place the pastry shapes on top to make the lids - you don't need to glaze the pastry lids but if you like, you can.
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17
Add an extra sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on top if you like
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18
Bake for 15 minutes or until the lids are golden
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19
Carefully remove the pies from the tin and serve warm, or let cool on a wire rack for later, dusted with icing sugar
