Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has finally arrived in theaters! In my excitement over the newest Marvel release, I decided to make some treats to honor heroes both large and small. In my Giant Man’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, I teased Ant-Man’s atomic-sized mini apple pies and here they are! These teeny-tiny pies pack a lot of flavor into a little bite.
Even better, it’s a healthy bite! The crust is made of whole oats and the only added sugar in these pies is a little honey that tops them when they come out of the oven. Just watch out that Ant-Man’s little friends don’t march off with these delicious pies before you can eat them!
Ant Man's Atomic-Sized Mini Apple Pies
These mini apple pies are the perfect size for a quantum sized Ant Man, or for a cute little bite-sized treat at any party or picnic. Just make sure Ant Man's little friends don't carry them away! Bonus, the super simple recipe is also super healthy so you can eat the whole pie, or two, or three, and still not feel guilty. Come on, how often can you say you ate three pies and you still want more?
Ingredients
Crust Ingredients
- 2 cups oats (finely ground)
- 1/2 cup butter (one stick)
Filling
- 3 medium sized apples
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- water
- 1/2 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray your mini muffin pans with baking spray or line them with mini muffin papers.
- Place oats in your food processor. Process until they are a fine, floury texture. This should only take a couple minutes.
- Melt the butter in the microwave. Add the butter to the processed oats and mix until combined.
- Place 1 TBSP of the oat mixture into a mini cupcake cup. Press the oat mixture flat against the sides and bottom to form a little cup. This will be your pie crust.
- Bake the empty pie crusts at 350°F for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pans from the oven and let the shells cool down to room temperature.
- While the shells are cooking and cooling, start on the filling. Wash and dry your apples.
- Core and finely dice the apples. Think 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces, this is an atomic sized apple pie so the pieces need to be small.
- Place the pieces in a sauce pan over medium heat with a small amount of water. Sprinkle them with 1 tsp of ground cinnamon (or more, to taste).
- Cook the apples for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until they start to soften.
- Fill each oat cup up with the apple mixture.
- Place the pies back in the oven for 20 more minutes.
- Once the pies are out of the oven, top each pie with 1 tsp of honey and allow them to cool.
- These can be served warm or cold. They are also great with with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Get out your mini muffin pans to make these yummy little pies
Make sure to use mini muffin pans for these pies. They can be made in regular muffin pans but then the “atomic-sized” label won’t fit as well. They also won’t be as cute or bite-sized either. In fact, it defeats the whole point of the recipe to make them bigger. Now I know that not everyone has mini muffin pans at home. If you don’t have any then ask around among your friends and family because it’s worth it for the concept, I promise.
Now, these crusts are a little delicate so make sure that your mini muffin pans are well-greased. Even better, use those little paper muffin liners. They’ll help get the pies out without breaking the crusts. In fact, this crust tends to be a little crumbly so I highly recommend using the paper muffin liners so these mini apple pies stay together until you’re ready to eat them.
Picking apples for an atomic-sized apple pie
Most people feel that the best apples for baking are crisp, firm, heat tolerant, and sweetly tart. The most recommended types are Braeburnn, Cortland, Crispin, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and McIntosh. There are several other varieties that work well but that’s enough to be getting on with.
Personally, I love the taste of Red Delicious best. It is not considered a good candidate for baking but I used them anyway and the pies still worked out fine.
I also left the skins on my apples. They cook up soft enough that you don’t notice them. Leaving the skins on also means less work for me. And it makes the pies healthier because it really is true that the skins contain the vast majority of the vitamins in apples.
Apples with peels on can contain up to 332% more vitamin K, 142% more vitamin A, 115% more vitamin C, 20% more calcium, and up to 19% more potassium than their peeled counterparts. That’s a huge difference so while you can peel your apples if you want, I really suggest you don’t.
These mini apple pies are the perfect bite-sized party snacks
Ant-Man’s atomic-sized apple pies are the perfect bite-sized treat. They’re really great at parties because they allow guests to sample different treats without stuffing themselves. They also can be eaten in one or two bites so there’s no need for silverware. Or seating for that matter, they can be enjoyed on the go as guests mingle. If you do make these for a party, you’re probably going to need more than the recipe calls for, but it’s a simple matter of doubling the recipe (math!).
These little pies taste great and just pop in your mouth. But they taste even better with a side of vanilla ice cream or giant globs of whipped cream. And just because the pies are mini doesn’t mean the ice cream or whipped cream needs to be! A couple of these pies with a Giant-Man-sized scoop of ice or whipped cream is the perfect ending to a meal.
This recipe is so healthy that these pies can even make a great breakfast when they’re paired with yogurt. Or try them with smooth cottage cheese for a different take on this healthy treat.
Tips for great miniature pies no matter the flavor
The key to this recipe is thinking small. The apples need to be cut into very small pieces in order to cook up nicely and fit in the pies. The oats need to be ground very fine so they can mix and bake properly. The cups themselves need to be pressed out nice and thin. The thinner the walls of the cups are the crisper they’ll cook up and the better they’ll hold their shape.
The sticky crust can be difficult to push out by hand. I found it helpful to use a spoon to help push the walls thinner. The oat mixture didn’t stick to the spoon as much as my hands so I was able to form the walls a little easier.
I chose to make these atomic-sized pies with apples but they can be made with other fillings too. These could easily be peach, pear, blueberry, or strawberry pies. Or any other fruit that you want to bake into a pie. The pie shells could be filled with pudding or custard and not be cooked a second time. They would be delicious with a chocolate peanut butter filling. The basic pie shell cup could be filled with really anything that you want and it would be delicious. Your imagination is the only limit.
Not kid-friendly to make, but still kid-friendly to eat!
The Giant-Man cookies were a very kid-friendly recipe. But these mini apple pies are somewhat finicky. Adults might have a hard time with forming the crust and cutting the apples small enough, children will never be able to do it without a lot of frustration for all involved.
I know kids love helping out in the kitchen but you’ll probably want to get them distracted with something else when you bake these. Of course, kids can still enjoy eating these cute little pies. And they’ll probably be even more enchanted than adults by the teeny, tiny size.
These pies won’t travel as well as the Giant-Man cookies so you can’t sneak them into the movie theater with you. But they’re perfect for an after-party! So get cooking and enjoy these atomic-sized apple pies by cooking buddies.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now! Are you interested in trying to make these atomic-sized apple pies? Let us know on Twitter or in The Cosmic Circus Discord. And if you haven’t already, check out our Giant-Man cookie Cosmic Cuisine!
Cosmic Cuisine: Giant-Man’s Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
