Teeny Apple & Pear Pie Cups

There is moment on a day that happened to me, and I imagine it happens to most people. It's the day when you realize you no longer function the way you did in college. It's heartbreaking and awful and if you are anything like me (and Chako) you will fight it. You will fight it tooth and nail, beating it with a rolling pin (or bat...whatever), anything to stop the inevitable.

I need sleep. For real. Not fake sleep. 

I also need food. Healthy food, and occasionally some junk. 

I need conversations with adults, I need to read quietly, I need to take walks, I need to be alone for a few hours, I need to have free time, I need a structured schedule.

Most of all I need sleep.

When I was in college, I usually had class that started between 9a-10a, went most of the day. I would then rehearse between 6p and midnight, then often attend a late night design meeting or class rehearsal. THEN, I'd go to a bar. Or watch Lost. Or get mozzarella sticks.  I usually got mozzarella sticks....

In the past few months I've had moments of expecting to be able to function on this sort of schedule. I'll go to work all day, then do other things, then cook a super late dinner or get some mozzarella sticks (seriously it's an addiction), and then watch 7 episodes of Law & Order: SVU, pass out on the couch at 4am and expect to be able to be up at 7am and deal. NOT TRUE. 

Maybe the bigger moment was the more recent one, the one where I not only realized what was happening to me, but fell in love with it! I love sleeping! I go to bed at 10:30pm and wake up at 6:30am and I don't always feel like death! It's amazing. I eat. Three times a day! Real meals. BREAKFAST!! LUNCH!! Dinner..but that's always been my big meal. I make coffee with a french press in the morning and I have a cup of tea in the late afternoon.

WHO AM I??

The new me, the adult me, the me who doesn't eat cold chipotle out of a bag while taking the A train to Washington Heights. I feel better. I feel like  a real person. Seriously, you should try it.

Sleep. Eat. Talk to friends. Be happy and healthy!

Part of this campaign has led me to trying things I was never crazy about as a kid. Oddly, I always hated pie. Isn't that insane? I started to like pumpkin pie in high school, which led to other creamy pies, but apple pies NEVER did it for me. My mom loves apple pie, it was just never my thing. 

Another thing that has changed for me! So to celebrate, my dear friend Willa and I decided to make little pies that we could eat with our hands. We used apples AND pears. Heaven. Whole wheat pie crust...slightly healthier. The final product was delicious. I ate some. As in more then one. We don't have to talk about how many...

Crust ingredients

 Cubed buttah

Working into a dough!

STARS!!!!!

 Peel

Naked fruit

 Chop and toss

 Toss with yummy things...

 Piecing together...

 Make cups in a cupcake tray

 Fill them up!

 Bake and...TADA!! So cute!

Kids love these! They can just grab them to enjoy a tasty handheld dessert.

Teeny Apple & Pear Pie Cups

You'll Need...

Crust

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) butter, chopped into cubes

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Filling

4 apples (I used Fiji)

2 pears

2-4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 12 cup cupcake pan. 

Make crust! Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup (1 stick) of the cubed butter. Using your fingers, mix the butter into the dry mixture. When  you get to the consistency of wet sand, add the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until you get a nice dough consistency. You might not need all the water, or you might need a little more. You'll know. Put aside.

Make filling! Chop you apples and pears into small cubes. Toss them in a bowl with the juice of 1 lemon, all spice and sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Pull small chunks of dough, about a 1 1/2 tbsp, and flatten into small rounds. Shape into the cups, if it tears of gets a hole, just fill it in, no worries. Fill with the cups with the fruit filling. Top with a small cube of butter. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes or until the tops and edges of the crust are golden brown. Serve warm!

I didn't make enough dough to make tops for the cups to turn them into mini pies, if you want to to do tops just double the dough recipe, you'll probably get a few more pies out of it as well as tops! 

And here's a bonus picture, from the Prospect Park Zoo! Willa was not a big fan of this guy, I kinda loved him...