15 Oct
Posted as Fruit Pies
Apple Pie: rustic, flaky, tart, and spicy. The most iconic of American traditions.
These marvelous little pies package up the best parts of apple pie, eliminate a lot of the work, and deliver scrumptious, addictive fruit-wrapped-in-crust that can be stowed away in your pocket for safe keeping. Hand pies have been making their way around the blog universe since the beginning of summer, it seems, and I’ve been meaning to make them but never quite got around to it. So when Annie asked if I was interested in making the Bourbon Peach Hand Pies that were featured on smitten kitchen, I was intrigued. While I’m not much of a peach fan, I figured I could use Deb’s dough recipe and sub in my own apple filling, which is what I did.
These hand pies are a fantastic option for changing up the traditional slice of pie and ice cream and would be especially welcome as a dessert at an outdoor gathering or one that included small children. And really, for the kid in all of us – what’s much better than a slice of apple pie that you can pick up and carry around with you?
The dough for this recipe is really just incredible. I admit that I was somewhat skeptical at first, as it contained sour cream. I had never heard or seen sour cream used in a pie or pastry dough before, so it certainly caused me to raise an eyebrow. But like the good trooper that I am, I forged ahead. The dough takes some time to prepare, so make sure you have 2-3 hours of available time (most of it is inactive chill time) prior to baking the pies. While it may be a slight inconvenience, it really is what makes this dough so spectacular. The repeated chills give this dough such an incredibly buttery, flaky texture, much like that of a laminated dough you would create for croissants. It is absolutely worth the time to prepare these – you won’t be sorry!
If you just happen to be asking yourself if these little hand pies would make a perfect breakfast pastry, well then, the answer is a resounding YES! Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything… I’m just saying…
Apple Hand Pies
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)For the pastry:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup sour cream
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ cup ice waterFor the Filling:
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced small
1/3 cup sugarOne egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons water (for egg wash)
Coarse sanding sugar, for decoration1. To make the pastry, in a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. If preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored at this point for up to one month in the freezer.
2. Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4 1/2-inch-round biscuit cutter, cut seven circles out of the rolled dough. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting, and chilling process with the remaining half of dough. (I used a 4-inch cutter-if you can call a “cutter” the tin edge of the container that holds my smaller round cutters-and managed to get 12 from each dough half, after rerolling the scraps.)
3. Mix the diced apple with the sugar, and cook over low heat for 8-10 minutes, until the apples are tender. Set aside. Prior to preparing the pies, drain any accumulated liquid from the apples.
4. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling (use the smaller amount for a 4-inch circle) onto one half of each circle of dough. Quickly brush a little cold water around the circumference of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a semicircle. Seal the hand pie, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the hand pies back on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chilled hand pies from the refrigerator, cut a small slit in each and lightly brush with the egg yolk wash. Sprinkle sanding sugar generously over the pies, and place pies in the oven to bake. Bake until the hand pies are golden brown and just slightly cracked, anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how thick you rolled the dough. Remove the pies from the oven, and let stand to cool slightly before serving.
Note: I cut out 4.5-inch rounds with the largest biscuit cutter that I have, and it yielded 20 pies.
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That’s some gorgeous pastry – LOVE the sugar sprinkle! I bet they’d make a really awesome just got home from work snack too – I’m on my way over.
They look great! I wish I had been able to take a pic of the inside to better show the pretty, flaky crust but I didn’t want to interrupt things with our guests
Great process pics too!
Oh, these look delicious. I could eat way, way too many.
These look so good and flaky! I’ve been wanting to make these ever since Deb posted them. I’m thinking about making them next weekend for an event I’m baking for, so hopefully I’ll get to try them soon
Hand pies just make everyone happy
I;m glad to see the pastry is without shortening as a lot of pie doughs require them. I remember eating the mini ones from my cafeteria as a kid, but I bet these are ten times better.
I love the idea of handpies – little mini pies!
I love mini desserts and these pies are so adorable. I love the flaky crust and the apples look fantastic!
All I have to say is…YUM!!!! I love baked apples
How adorable, they look fantastic!
These look like a perfect way to use up the rest of my apples!
what a gorgeous pastry! I love the pic!
Wow! This is amazing! I can’t wait to try this. I’m Hispanic and am wondering if you have ever done any Mexican pastries like empanadas, pumpkin being my favorite, since it’s very similar to these apple hand pies.
Wow. I’m drooling! These look amazing.
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
I tried making these and while the recipe was fantastic and easy, I found that 2 apples were not enough (maybe mine were smaller than the ones you used). I do plan on trying this again with more filling (and more variations on the filling)!
Agh you’ve been baking so many delicious tempting things! I totally have to try this too. Your hand pies look just perfect. I love the flakey dough mmm.
mmmm i love hand pies!
It looks like you made holes in the top of the pies before baking. I didn’t see that in the instructions. Did you make a steam hole?
Hi Amy,
I did make a steam hole in the top of the hand pies – just a slit using a paring knife. I will go back and edit the directions. I hope you enjoy these!
I was wondering if you could use a regular blender instead of a pastry blender?
Hi Alisha,
Actually a pastry blender is just a handheld gadget that cuts butter into a flour mixture. You can see one here:
http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=broeyebak-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000QJE48O
If you don’t have one you could simply use two knives or even your fingers to combine the flour mixture and butter.
Let me know if you have any additional questions!
I just made these today, I was telling myself I would never do them again (because they DO take a lot of time) until I tasted one of them right out of the oven… Oh my god, flakiest crust I’ve ever tasted in my life. Thank you so much for the recipe! I did add a little bit of cinnamon because I love it. And used a couple more of apples.
I made a batch of these last night for dinner guests. They were everything you said they would be. The recipe is simple, produces the flakiest pie crust and has maximum flavor.
FYI, I did not chill the dough as directed; no time & in a hurry (guests arriving). The dough was just stickier to work with but for the effort, I still got great results. I would suggest using an empanada press to make the mini pies. They come in various sizes up to 7.5″. I’ve never had much luck with pies but feel encouraged to make them after my foray with these mini pies. The crust is the secret ingredient to this recipe. Adding cinnamon to the apples as they cook was also a winner. I’m new to your site but am very grateful for the time you take to share with us. Thank you.