Our warm and cozy dessert-hors d’oeuvre is easy bite-sized comfort.

On a chilly night after a delicious meal, there’s nothing quite like the smell and taste of apple pie. It’s a comforting smell that warms your house with nostalgia. While there isn’t anything quite like the original, it can be hard to carve out the time-and apples-to make this authentic American classic.

We created a recipe that captures the spirit of the apple pie and turned it into tiny little apple pie bites. This simple dessert-style hors d’oeuvre captures the essence of the original, is very delicious and takes a fraction of time in the air fryer. One simple optional ingredient, typically not included in the apple pie, is a caramel drizzle using the Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce, which turns this delicious treat into a caramel dipped apple -and- apple pie hybrid.

Read below for the simple recipe and steps.

Step by step instructions:

For this recipe we use delicious Granny Smith apples. We like this apple variety because of the tartness in contrast to the sweetness of the cinnamon sugar and caramel sauce.

Here’s how to make this delicious recipe:

1. Warm the air fryer for 2-3 minutes at 400 degrees on the air fry setting.
2. Slice one apple into wedges into 1/2″ in thickness. We like this thickness because thinner slices get too soft in the fryer making it difficult to serve as an appetizer. We also kept the apple peel on-it adds a little structure.
3. Melt the butter for about 30 seconds on high in the microwave or until fully melted.
4. Toss the apple wedges into the butter and generously coat.

In a separate small bowl combine all of the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon-stir.

5. Lay each apple slice in flour/sugar mixture, tap to remove the excess. Make sure that it is evenly coated. Repeat until complete. Place the apple slice on a plate or sheet.

6. After all apple slices are coated in the flour mixture and laid out, use an oil spray, choose an oil without a heavy taste, we use canola spray, to cover any spots where the butter hasn’t saturated through the flour. Simply spray where you see dry flour. In order to get a good caramelized crisp, the oil and butter are key.

7. Carefully place the apples flat in the air fryer with out any overlapping.

8. Set for 5 minutes. Pause the air-fryer at 2.5 minutes and flip them using a fork. Then restart the air fryer for the remaining time.

9. Remove the apples using a fork and place directly on your serving plate.

10. Optional: using a spoon, drizzle a little Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramel sauce over the top.

Serve warm if you can. Between the sweet smell and delicious caramelized apple pie taste, it’s sure to be a guest pleaser.