Sometimes I just can't wait until Fall and apple season. These fresh apple cinnamon hand pies are so simple to make. And, you'll want to eat them warm from the oven. But, if you have any leftover for morning, then they're perfect with your coffee or tea.
The honey crisp apple is one of my most fave varieties of apples. It's crisp, juicy and perfect for just eating, baking, making applesauce and more. I love the combination of sweet and tart in this apple, and that's why it's perfect for this recipe. If you can't find honey crisp, then you might try a fiji or granny smith. Now, you can peel the apples or not. Frankly, I love a little of the peel, and since we're dicing the apple into small pieces, the peel cooks nicely.
One of the most amazing baking products of all times, especially, for a rogue baker like me, is puff pastry. And, this puff pastry cooks up crispy and crunchy, and then you have this subtle buttery taste. Probably one of my favorite things about this recipe for apple hand pies is that it reminds me of growing up in those mountains of West Virginia. On special occasions, Mom would make apple hand pies. She fried them. Made her own pastry dough. Yes, they were absolutely mouthwatering. But, knowing that I want to take shortcuts and not fry but bake, I'm saying these appple hand pies are a pretty close second to Mom's. Here's another of my vintage family recipes, and it's one that won me a place as a finalist as one of Hallmark Channel's 'Home and Family TV' Best Home Cooks. Check it out! xoxo ~ally
fresh apple cinnamon hand pies
- Preheat oven to 350
- ¼ cup flour, all-purpose
- 3 (3x9") pieces of puff pastry, room temperature, patted out to about 10 x 12" size and cut into 9 squares
- 1 large lemon, juice only
- 3 cups diced apples, small size dice, honey crisp, washed and skin on
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbl. sugar
- 3 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 Tbl. butter, salted, chilled, cut into 9 small pieces
- 1 egg white
Ingredients
- Spread the flour on a clean working surface. Place the puff pastry on it. Stretch out to about 10 x 12" size. Cut into nine squares. When getting ready to fill each square, stretch out a little more (without making holes in pastry).
- In a medium mixing bowl, put the lemon juice. Add the apples and toss well. Mix in one-fourth cup of sugar and the cinnamon coating all the apple pieces.
- Take a pastry square, stretching to make it a little larger (but no holes!). {The apple mixture will be divided among the nine hand pies.) Put about two tablespoons of the apple mixture in the center mounding it. Add a piece of butter on top the apples.
- Pull up two opposite sides of the pastry and pinch together. Pinch the end pieces into the pastry closing up the apple mixture. (It doesn't matter if it's not air tightly closed.) Then place the hand pie (pinched together down) on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
- Repeat with all the pastry squares and apple mixture. Use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the hand pies then dust with the remaining sugar.
- Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove.
- These hand pies can be left very loosely covered on the counter top for a couple of days. The pastry will remain somewhat crunchy.
Instructions
Notes
There will be oozing during baking of the apple juices/sugar out of the pies, but that's ok. Just scrape it off and consider it 'candy'!
https://allyskitchen.com/fresh-apple-cinnamon-hand-pies/Small pin holes might break out during baking. No problem. It's all good!
