Lunch: Rustic Little Apple Pies

Recipe by Sarah Reynolds Elegant and flavorful, these individually sized pies will impress guests with their orange zest–flecked crust encasing thin slices of apples sprinkled with almonds, nutmeg-sugar mix and orange juice.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Apples

Health benefits of Rustic Little Apple Pies

Apples will improve your body's sensitivity to insulin (Reference: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/1/281.full)

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 stick cold butter
1 tbsp. freshly grated orange peel
1/4 c. ice water
3 small Golden Delicious apples
3 tbsp. sliced natural (with skin) almonds
3 tbsp. granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
6 tsp. fresh orange juice
2 tbsp. stick butter
Garnish: confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

To make Pastry in food processor: Put flour, butter and orange peel in processor; pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add water all at once; pulse just until dough begins to leave sides of bowl. By hand: Put flour in a bowl and cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Add peel and water; stir with a fork until mixture clumps together and a dough forms.
Gather into a ball, flatten and cut in 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten, then place each between sheets of plastic wrap. Roll each with a rolling pin to a 6-in.-diameter circle (circles don't have to be perfect). Refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients.
Peel apples, halve, then core with a melon baller. Cut wedges to remove stem and bud ends. Turn halves cut side down and slice thin.
Heat oven to 425 °F. Have a large baking sheet ready.
One at a time, remove dough circles from refrigerator. Peel off plastic and place dough circle on baking sheet. Leaving a 1- to 1 1/2-in. border, fan apple slices overlapping on dough. Sprinkle with 1/2 Tbsp each almonds and sugar mixture and 1 tsp orange juice. Fold edges of pastry over apples. Repeat to form 5 more pies. Dot apples with butter.
Bake 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 375 °F and bake 25 to 30 minutes more until pastry is lightly browned and apples are tender. Remove pies to wire rack to cool until just warm. Just before serving, dust with confectioners' sugar.