The Ungourmet’s Mini Apple Pies

I was seriously excited to try the Ungourmet’s mini apple pies.  To the extent that I made sure I put dumpling wrappers on my grocery list right away and clipped the recipe up in my kitchen workspace so that it was constantly in my face.  Heck, I wanted to make them so badly that I even decided to throw caution to the wind and serve them, untested, to my father in law. 

It’s one thing for The Mistah, or our friends, to be guinea pigs for these test dishes.  It’s another thing altogether to do that to unsuspecting folks who don’t sit at our table often.  One poorly executed dish is all it would take for them to think that’s the norm and not the exception to the rule.  Talk about pressure.

I wish I could say that these mini apple pies were dreamy and left absolutely no doubt in my father in law’s mind that I am quite the home cook.  But they just didn’t hit the mark I was hoping for.  The filling didn’t hold together as well as I was expecting.  And instead of having plump, soft, and chewy pie shells, mine were thin and tough.  In my excitement, I didn’t stop to consider if there was a difference between egg roll wrappers and dumpling wrappers.  There must be, but I swear that they looked exactly like what I saw in the Ungourmet’s photo.  Not even a combination of oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter could put these into the win category.  The ratio of oats to butter seemed kind of high.  I didn’t listen to my instincts and ended up with dry, boring topping.

Fortunately, FIL is a very kind soul.  He did not mind one bit that he was sitting in the guinea pig chair.  He also did not seem to notice the poor execution on the mini apple pies.

Sometimes, I’m my own worst critic.  But I still think these have more potential than I was able to achieve.  So I’ll scribble some notes on the Ungourmet’s recipe and stick it back in the folder.  Maybe the next time we meet, it should be under less stressful conditions.