Portable apple pies with a super flaky crust and delicious apple filling.
Ingredients:
For the Pastry
- 2½cupsall-purpose flour
- ½teaspoonsalt
- 1cupunsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
- ½cupsour cream
- 4teaspoonsfresh lemon juice
- ½cupice water
For the Filling
- 2large apples(peeled, cored and diced small)
- ⅓cupgranulated sugar
- ½teaspoonground cinnamon
- Pinchof salt
To Finish
- 1egg yolk
- 2tablespoonswater
- Coarse sugar
Directions:
- Make the Pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water. Add to the flour mixture and, using a fork, gently toss and stir together until large lumps form and all of the flour has been moistened. Using your hands, pat the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour (if preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month).
- Assemble the Pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to ⅛-inch thickness. Using a 4½-inch round biscuit cutter, cut seven circles out of the rolled dough. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining half of dough. Refrigerate the dough circles for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small pan, combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon and salt, and cook over low heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the apples are tender. Set aside. Prior to preparing the pies, drain any accumulated liquid from the apples.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling onto one half of each circle of dough. Brush a little 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 tines of a fork. Refrigerate the assembled hand pies for 30 minutes.
- Bake the Pies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water for the egg wash. Remove the chilled hand pies from the refrigerator, and lightly brush with the egg yolk wash. Using a paring knife, cut a few small slits on the top of each hand pie, then sprinkle generously with coarse sugar. Bake until the hand pies are golden brown, 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. The pies are best eaten within a day of baking them, but they can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They can also be wrapped with plastic wrap and placed in a freezer storage bag and frozen for up to 2 months.
Recipe Notes:
- Feel free to use any type of apple you'd like in this recipe, as it's quite forgiving. I've used Granny Smith, Gala, and Honeycrisps!
Nutrition:
Calories: 175kcal
Fat: 10g
Saturated fat: 6g
Cholesterol: 37mg
Sodium: 66mg
Potassium: 47mg
Carbohydrates: 18g
Sugar: 5g
Protein: 2g
Vitamin A: 6.8%
Vitamin C: 1.5%
Calcium: 1.5%
Iron: 4.4%
I made these for my DH today to use up some freezer apple pie filling I need to use up. At first the dough was really crumbly so I had to add a few sprinkles of cold water to get it to roll out. After that, the dough rolled and cut beautifully. I had to drain and cut my pie filling so that i could measure the filling for the pastries. I could only get 1 Tbsp of filling in each pie and it still wanted too ooze out. Even though I used a fork to crimp them shut, everyone burst at the seam. I think an egg wash around the edges would help to seal them better. I brushed the finished pies with cream and sprinkled with raw sugar for a little sparkle. No matter the burst seams, DH will be in heaven when he enjoys them. I’m not sure I’ll do these again though since it took all afternoon to complete the treat.
The BEST pastry I have ever used for hand pies! So flaky and easy to make. I found I didn’t have quite enough filling, so I would suggest adding an extra apple. These were a big hit with my pre teens and husband!
Hey! I’m making the dough and it’s oddly very sticky. Is it supposed to be like this?
I made these for my parents and siblings and they loved them! I didn’t have butter so I used vanilla greek yogurt and they were still super fluffy and soft.
These turned out really well, but I think that you must have some giant apples since I diced three pretty decent sized apples and was still a tiny bit short on filling. I didn’t use all of the sour cream/ice water mixture (only needed about half). I can’t imagine how sticky it would have been otherwise! I was impatient, so I used the freezer to chill the dough after the initial 1 hr chill in the fridge. The pastry is delightful and much better than I had expected. I cannot wait to use it for other recipes. The apple mixture was decent, but I think I’d like to come up with something with some thickened sauciness in the mix like a traditional pie. Overall, I was delighted with the recipe and can’t wait to use it again. I can imagine the flavor being even better when apple season rolls around.
Just found your site when Googling “apple hand pies”. Since I had store-bought pie crust, tried first that way. Excellent! Next batch will be the right way-crust sounds great. And love the pic of your boy!