Apple Hand Pies

My parents have several apple trees in their yard. These trees produce a windfall of apples every year with plenty to share. My mom, whose birthday is at the end of September, chooses to celebrate with apple pie, instead of a traditional birthday cake. The kiddies find it funny that Nonna is blowing out birthday candles on top of a pie, but they sure do love to help her eat it.

This recipe makes pie user-friendly because each slice is portable. It is great tucked into a lunchbox or for an after-school snack.  If you love pie crust, then these hand pies are for you. The ratio of crust to filling is greater than what you would find with a normal slice of pie.

This recipe would work just as well with cherry, blueberry, peach or pear filling.

Enjoy!

Apple Hand Pies

Pastry Dough

adapted from Gourmet Magazine

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon raw sugar

2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

6 + tablespoons ice water

Milk, for wash

Cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on top

Apple Filling

4 medium apples, peeled, cored, quartered and cut into thin slices

¼ cup raw sugar

2 Tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour                                                                                                       

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces                             

To make pastry dough: Blend together flour, salt, sugar, and butter cubes
with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Drizzle evenly with 4-5 tablespoons ice water and stir gently with a fork until
incorporated. Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn’t hold together, add ice
water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until just incorporated. Don’t overwork the
dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Form each
half into a ball, and then flatten each ball into a disk. Wrap the disks in
plastic wrap and refrigerate, for about an hour.

To make apple filling: Combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425. Cover bottom of a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take the first disk of dough and roll it out to about 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly
floured surface, it should be roughly 10 inches in diameter. Use a pastry
cutter/pizza cutter and cut the circle into quarters, resulting in 4 wedges. Repeat with the second disk of dough, so that you have 8 wedges total.

Make the hand pies by dividing apple mixture evenly between the 8 wedges. Make sure that the filling is only on half of the wedge, leaving a border of crust around the edges.  Dot each with a piece of butter. Fold the pie crust over top of the apples and seal the open side edges with a fork dipped in milk.  With a small paring knife, cut a few slits in the tops. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over top.

Bake for 15 -20 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool on pan for about 15 minutes to allow crust to firm up a bit.

They are wonderful enjoyed warm with a scoop of ice cream or with a piece of aged cheddar alongside.