Apple Hand Pies

I have not been great at getting new recipes up lately and I feel so bad! I really do try to get at least recipe up a week, but it's a struggle - my weekends are full of lesson planning and other course work. I am really hanging onto to this being my last week and a half of students teaching. Once I'm done, I will have much more time to spend in the kitchen and I am so excited to get some new recipes up!

Last weekend, I made these fabulous hand pies and today, I'm sharing the recipe with you! I'm typically pretty transparent about how difficult recipes are and I love sharing quick & easy recipes with you. This recipe, is not one of those recipes. The hand pies are not difficult to make but they are long to put together. That being said - the end product is so worth it! The little pies were so delicious and they were so impressive to serve to guests! I found this recipe on Oh Sweet Basil you can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by combine 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar in a medium mixing bowl.

 Cut in 1 cup of very cold butter. I used two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Once the butter is cut in, there will still be relatively large pieces of butter and the dough will resemble a course crumble.

Then, add in 1/4-1/2 cup of very cold water. Start with 1/4 cup. After adding 1/4 cup of cold water, my dough still very crumbly - see the picture above for reference.

Continue to add more cold water until your dough holds together, but add the water one Tablespoon at a time. Mix well between each addition and stop adding water once the dough holds together. I ended up mixing the dough with my hands because it was so much more effective than a fork.

Separate the dough into two thick disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate the disks for at least one hour.

It is probably a well known fact that I don't like waiting for things to refrigerate. I avoid it at all costs, but it was so worth it with this pie crust! It is crucial that this pie crust is cold when you are working with it!

Once the dough has been refrigerated for an hour, unwrap it and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to be about 1/8 of an inch thick. Then, use a 3'' round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Cut out as many as you can with the first roll, but you can definitely re-roll and cut out again! Once you have finished the first piece of dough, do the same with the second.

Lay the cut out circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You will need two circles of dough to make one hand pie. If you count carefully, you'll notice that I have 25 circles cut out - ugh!! To make this worse, I only noticed much later! I promise I am capable of doing basic math! :)

You will need about 2 cups of apples. I cut up 3 apples and had just the right amount, but I recommend measuring as you are cutting up the apples. You should need two or three apples. Peel, core and dice the apples.

Place the chopped apples in a medium mixing bowl and mix in 3 Tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons of all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Once your apples are mixed, place a heaping tablespoon of the apple mixture in the center of every other circle of dough.

Brush some milk around the edge of the bottom circle - this is the piece that should have apples on it. So, just brush around the apples. Then, place a second circle over the top of the apples and use a fork to crimp the edges and secure together. Brush more milk on the top of each hand pie and sprinkle some crystallized sugar on top. I completely forgot to sprinkle sugar on top of my pies but I cannot wait to make these again and include the crystallized sugar! I think they would really take them over the top and make them look so pretty!

*Note: You could use a beaten egg to brush on the pies instead of milk.

Finally, cut a small 'X' in the top of each pie.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the pies for 15 minutes - I had to put mine in for 3 minutes longer to brown the tops. When you remove the pies from the oven, the top of the crust should be browned and the filling should be bubbling.

Leave the mini pies to sit on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool longer. If you can serve these while they are still warm, they are perfection, but there is no harm in popping them back in the oven to heat up a little before you put them on the table!

I served these mini pies with vanilla ice cream and it was heavenly! I am so excited to experiment with different fillings in these hand pies. I'm even thinking a mini chicken pot pie would be so fun!

APPLE HAND PIES
yield 12 mini pies

ingredients

for the crust...
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup butter, chilled
1/4-1/2 cup cold water

for the apple filling
2 cups apples (peeled, cored and diced)
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

for the top...
2 Tablespoons milk (or eggwash - 1 egg, beaten + 1 tablespoon water)
crystallized sugar

directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, the salt and the sugar with a fork.
2. Cut in the butter - the dough should resemble a coarse meal after the butter is added. Next, stir in the water. Start with 1/4 and gradually add in 1 Tablespoon more at a time until the dough holds together.
3. Separate the dough into 2 thick disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
4. Once the dough has been refrigerated for an hour, unwrap it and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to be about 1/8 of an inch thick. Then, use a 3'' round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Cut out as many as you can with the first roll, but you can definitely re-roll and cut out again! Once you have finished the first piece of dough, do the same with the second.
5. Lay the cut out circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You will need two circles of dough to make one hand pie.
6. Make the filling by peeling, coring and dicing the apples. Mix the sugar, the flour and the cinnamon into the apples. 
7. Place a heaping tablespoon of the apple mixture in the center of every other circle of dough. The empty circles will serve as the top of the pies.
8. Brush some milk or egg wash around the edge of each bottom circle. Then, place a second circle over the top of the apples and use a fork to crimp the edges and secure together. Brush more milk or egg wash on the top of each hand pie and sprinkle some crystallized sugar on top.
9. Cut a small 'X' in the top of each pie.
10. Bake the pies in an oven pre-heated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-18 minutes. When removed from the oven, the pies should be browned on top and the filling should be bubbling.
11. Leave the mini pies to sit on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool longer.

That's it! It's long but the end product is so worth it! Let me know if you try these!