Summer is coming to an end and school is back in session, which means time for some fun "Back to School treats"! My first thought when it comes to back to school is "Apple for the teacher" and the PB&J I had for lunch as a kid growing up, so I knew I had to think of a way to combined the two ideas.
"Apple For The Teacher" PB&J Hand Pies
You will need
- Refrigerated (or homemade) pie crust dough
- Peanut butter and jelly (or filling of your choice, ex: cream cheese and jelly, Nutella, pie filling, etc.)
- Betty Crocker Cookie Icings in Red, Green & White
Directions
Using a cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, cut out circles of pie dough about 3-4″ wide.
Using your hand, gently shape them into an apple shape by making the bottom of the circle slightly less wide than the top. Place on a baking sheet. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of peanut butter and 1 teaspoon of jelly (or filling of your choice) into the center of half of the pie dough apple.
Brush some water or a beaten egg along the edges to help the layers stick together. Lay the other half of pie dough apples gently on top of the filling, pressing the two layers together. Prick the tops of the apples with a fork to allow steam to escape during baking. Using excess pie dough create stems and leaves using your hands and place them on the baking sheet next to your apples.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until apples are golden brown.
Because the stems are smaller, they will brown faster creating a perfect brown stem for your apples (but watch them close and remove them form the oven if they become too dark). Let cool completely.
Once cooled use Betty Crocker cookie icing according to instructions on pouch to pipe a green border around the leaves and a red border around the apples. After a few minutes, once icing has set, fill in your leaves and apples with more cookie icing, using a knife or toothpick to help spread the icing to cover the entire top of your apples. Let dry.
Once icing has set, attach the stems and leaves with a dot of red cookie icing.
Using white cookie icing, pipe on a message to the top of your apples. Let dry completely before stacking or packaging.
Enjoy!
