Grandma’s Mini Apple Pies

This post is written by me, and sponsored by ALDI.

As many of you know we are in the throws of getting our house built. This has been one of the most trying times of our married life. Building or buying a house is such a huge commitment and we must be happy with the end product. It can really put to test what you really want in life and what you really want for your family. In the end family is everything, it truly is what’s important in life.

So, as you can imagine, we are throwing everything we have monetarily at our house, saving, saving, and saving some more. All this saving means we have to cut corners and sacrifice. The one thing I really try not to sacrifice is the quality of the real food I feed my family. It’s so frustrating that in this wonderful country of ours its incredibly difficult to feed your family well on a small grocery budget. This is the reason we love shopping at ALDI.

ALDI believes access to quality affordable food is a right, not a privilege. What other grocery chain have you ever heard that says that? ALDI carries very few national brands in their store, and they test their brands several times a year for quality control. They are constantly looking for ways to pass on savings to you, the consumer, and still have quality products in their store. One of their store brands is  SimplyNature. This brand is simple foods free of artificial colors, flavors, or enhancers. Specially Selected is a gourmet specialty line ranging from German Coffees to pastas, meats and cheeses. Fit and Active is a brand with less fat, fewer calories and still budget friendly. (Try the 100 calorie snack packs, do yourself a favor and just do it. So good!) Never Any! is a brand of fresh meat products that contain no antibiotics, no hormones, or animal by products. liveGfree is a line of gluten-free products and it is perfect for a gluten-free dessert.

Now, the real test, with the holidays quickly approaching, is the taste. Can I go to ALDI to buy their products and make my Grandma’s apple pie? I decided that I would put it to the test. I arrived at ALDI, and you have to remember to have a quarter to get the cart and your reusable bags. So this transition does take some getting used to, but you never see any carts in the parking lot and I don’t worry about them hitting my car. So that is something. But immediately when you walk in, you notice that they really don’t carry the national brands you see in the stores. You may be tempted to turn around and walk out, but I decided to give them a shot. I found my ALDI to be very neat, and clean. There’s a simplicity to ALDI that I find very appealing, its not very hard to find the products you are looking for and everything is out in the open. I spent a lot of time exploring the different brands there and reading ingredient lists. Overall I was impressed with the products and the quality of produce that was available.

I needed apples, pie crust, lemons, spices, sugar, flour. I was very surprised at the produce selection. I had many different kinds of apples to choose from and at a great price. The apples were $3.49 a bag. I then searched for the lemons and found a bag of them for $2.99. I did have to buy the whole bag, since they didn’t have individual ones, but I can make lemonade with the rest. I walked up the aisle and found SimplyNature Organic Light Brown Sugar and picked up some Baker’s Corner All Purpose Flour, SimplyNature Organic Ground Cinnamon and some nutmeg. I was very surprised to see the price on the refrigerated ready made Bake House Creations Pie Crusts. Wow, $1.49! I was in shock. Of course no warm apple pie would be complete without ice cream. So I picked up a container of Specially Selected Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream.

I checked out and couldn’t believe the price I was paying for all of that! When I got home I set about making mini versions of my Grandma’s apple pie. I peeled and sliced 6 apples. Coated them with a little lemon juice, sugar and flour. I rolled out the dough and cut out large circles to put in the muffin tins. I filled each pie shell with the apples and sugar mixture. With the excess dough I cut out leaves and placed those on top instead of crisscrossed dough pieces. I baked them in the oven on 350 for about 30 minutes or until crust was golden brown and apples were cooked.

The real test was the taste! I pulled a warm pie out of its hole, and put a big scoop of the Specially Selected Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream on top, and I was overcome with emotion as I remembered my Grandma. The familiar smell hit my nose, and all that was left was the taste. I put my spoon in for the perfect bite. I got some of the flakey pie crust, delicious pie filling and topped it off with luscious vanilla ice cream. This pie was everything! So good, I would not have known this was made with non-national brands! I am being serious. No weird after taste, no funky flavors. I encourage you to do your own Try and Tell recipe. My family recipe has stood up to the test and ALDI brands came through with flying colors.

Get out there and give ALDI a try this holiday season for all your shopping needs!

Click below and enter to win one $200 gift card to ALDI. Enter by sharing a photo or video of your ALDI Try & Tell experience, sharing this blog post on Twitter, and sharing the giveaway with your friends.

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This post has been sponsored by ALDI.