Apple Pops

Have you ever thought of someone / missed someone and then were reminded of some kind of food ? It happens to me. Its funny how food and people are interwoven in my life. When I think of my mom, its invariably pudina pulao on my mind and vice versa ! When I think of caramel custard, I am always reminded of a buddy, who very sweetly had made it and brought it over for Mug & I one evening. Even the people I don't ever want to be reminded of come to my mind, like for instance, when I think of moong dal sabji, I think of the cook I once had (yes, the one who stole my jewellery & ran away!!). 

So, sometime last week when I spoke to my apple pie, my little 4 year old niece, I wanted to make an apple pie!! On second thoughts, making an 8 / 9 inch pie would mean eating it too and then feeling guilty about all the calories. Its when I hit upon the idea of baking a few apple cookies. Small light cookies I could munch on when my sweet tooth asks for something. Just a bite or two..  Surely, if apple pies exist, there could be apple cookies too!! So as I started the hunt for a few recipes, I hit upon Bakerella's lovely blog with bite size bakes. So cute, so tempting, and oh so guiltless and satisfying!! I didn't really find a recipe for apple cookies, but I was inspired to try baking some apple pops.

I had the basic know how of making a pastry shell, cookie dough and the apple pie topping. It was just a matter of tweaking & combining all together to get bite size pops :D So here goes the experiment... 

  

For the pastry shells:

35 gms Plain flour

35 gms whole wheat flour (atta)

35 gms butter
15 gms icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp beaten egg yolk

2 tbsp cold milk

a pinch of salt

For the filling :

1/2 apple, peeled and cut into small pieces

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp water

3 biscuits crumbed (I used Marie)

a pinch all spice powder

Method for the pastry shells :

Cream butter in a bowl. 

In a separate small bowl, sift the flours, sugar and salt. 

Add the sieved mixture to the butter and rub the butter into the flour so it resembles bread crumbs

Add in the other ingredients and gently knead so it all comes together into a pliable dough.
Leave to rest for 30 mins.


Method for the filling :
In a heavy saucepan, cook the peeled apple, sugar and water till the apple pieces are translucent, this should take about 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure that you don't have burnt apples!
Add the all spice powder just before removing from fire.
Let it cool for a few minutes and add the biscuit crumbs.
Mix gently till it combines.


To make the pops:
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease the baking tray.
Roll out the pastry dough, like you would for cookies, however a little thinner than cookies would be. Cut the dough with cookie cutters.
Top 1/2 the pop/cookies pieces with about a tsp of filling (vary it as per the size of the pops) and use the remaining dough pieces to cover.
Using a straw, gently press down the ends so that the circumference is sealed.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes till golden brown.
Set to cool on a rack.


These apple pops taste great hot or cold, served as is or topped with maple syrup. Try them and let me know how it goes!