Apple Hand Pies

  4.8 – 135 reviews  • Apple Pie Recipes

a classic childhood dish of rice and tuna with a curry twist. Yum!

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Additional Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 hand pies

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons butter
  2. 2 large green apples – peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
  3. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  4. ¼ cup white sugar
  5. ¼ teaspoon salt
  6. 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, or to taste
  7. 1 teaspoon water, or more if needed (Optional)
  8. 1 pound prepared pie dough, cut into 4 pieces
  9. 1 egg
  10. 2 teaspoons milk
  11. 1 teaspoon white sugar, or as needed

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; let butter brown to a light golden color and smell toasted, about 1 minute. Stir apples into hot butter; sprinkle with 1/4 cup white sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Cook and stir apple mixture until apples are softened, about 5 minutes. Mix in cinnamon and water; continue cooking until apples are soft and sticky, 1 to 2 more minutes. Spread apple filling onto a plate to cool.
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  3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  4. Form a dough piece into a ball, place on a floured work surface, and roll into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.
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  6. Spoon 1/3 to 1/2 cup apple filling in the center.
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  8. Fold dough over filling, leaving about 1 inch of dough on the bottom side visible below the top side. Gently press dough closed around filling, using your fingertips.
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  10. Fold the overhanging bottom part of dough up over the top edge, working your way around the crust, and pinch the overhang tightly to the top part of the crust.
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  12. Crimp the edge tightly closed, pinching a little bit of dough with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and using your index finger on the other hand to push a small notch into the pinched dough. Continue pinching and notching all the way around until crust is tightly crimped together. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Transfer pies onto prepared baking sheet.
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  14. Whisk egg with milk in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Brush top of each hand pie with egg mixture and sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon white sugar. Cut 3 small vent holes in the top of each pie.
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  16. Bake in the preheated oven until pies are golden brown and filling is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
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  18. Here’s a recipe for
  19. that would work perfectly for these hand pies.
  20. To make in the air fryer: Prepare recipe as directed through Step 8, except preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat both sides of pies with cooking spray. Working in batches if needed, arrange pies in an even layer in air fryer basket and cook until golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes before serving.
  21. Please note the difference in baking time when using the magazine version of this recipe.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 728 kcal
Carbohydrate 82 g
Cholesterol 62 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 9 g
Saturated Fat 13 g
Sodium 754 mg
Sugars 31 g
Fat 42 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Lisa Young
More work than a pie, but I like the higher crust to filling ratio. I used the buttercrust recipe linked in this page.
Christian Wallace
I made the dough and the apple filling. Didn’t change anything. Well, I halved the filling recipe because I was short an apple, but it was delicious.
Tracy Nolan
This recipes is great. I added a touch of flour to the cinnamon in the last step for a little thickener.
Maria Harris
I made them exactly as the recipe stated. But the crust split open while baking. Not sure why but it still tasted great.
Ann Gamble
I quadrupled the recipe to make 16 hand pies. The apple cooked good and tasted great but I had to remove 1-1/2 cups of liquid from the frying pan because it was very watery.
Jason Ward
Beautiful and delicious! I did follow some reviews and halved the white sugar. My family does not like extra sweet. I also added some lemon juice to the apples, a little cinnamon, and some vanilla. I used homemade pie dough and my handy dandy new mini pie press. Lovely result!
Jared Bass
wonderful pies. I added about 2 tsp more cinnamon, and only used brown sugar in the apple mixture.
Andrea Young
Made this today. Took longer to cook down the apples than expected but eventually they got to the right consistency. Dough took me awhile to properly roll out because I’m very inexperienced and used very chilled dough. Didn’t help I made a double batch. In spite of my ineptitude they came out GREAT! If a doufus like me can have a success with this recipe then it’s a solid keeper.
Martha Johnson
I’ve made this recipe a bunch of times, and it inspired me to try different flavors. My favorite is to spread each pastry round with a little mango chutney, then I mix together 1 cup chopped fresh spinach with 1 cup diced paneer and season with curry powder for the filling.
Lisa Vargas
I tried these and loved them! Another time, I made these as a dinner pie switching the apples for chopped ham and broccoli, and instead of cinnamon and sugar I used some Dijon mustard. I sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top before baking. They were a big hit!
John West
Made this with 5 small Granny Smith apples instead of 2 large. The butter/sugar mixture that I cooked the apples in didn’t thicken even after cooking longer than directed. Had to skim the juice off before making the pies. Lots of work for just so-so results.
William Kennedy
Pretty good recipe. In addition to the cinnamon I added some nutmeg, Cloves and ginger and also topped it with a vanilla and almond glaze.
Chase Johnson
I loved the recipe as-is. But the next time I made it, I replaced the apple mixture with a cup of chopped mango, a cup of chopped fresh plums, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. ground allspice. After cooking to soften the fruit (about 5 minutes), I let them cool completely. Then I spread each dough cutout with 1 tsp. cream cheese before filling them with the fruit. Divine!
Amanda Nguyen
They were delicious. My husband told his friends about how good they were. I used Gala apples because that is what I had. I will make them again. I bought the apples and pie crust.
Samantha Camacho
Taste like McDonald apple pie.
Nicole Moreno
just cut my pie crest in 4 and did it
Steven Cervantes
Delicious! I added a handful of walnuts!
Daniel Smith
So simple and yet so rewarding. Lovely crisp pastry and lovely flavourful filling. Remember, taste your apples BEFORE making this as you would want to adjust the sugar if you find it too sweet.
Sarah Schwartz
Oh my this is delicious! I’ll be making again for Thanksgiving. I made 6, 3″ handpies with this recipe. Thanks for the recipe!
Nicholas Allen
Perfect Recipe. I am amazed at how many people can not read directions…….To Taste, As needed, etc. But they are so quick to complain about a great recipe like this one. Bravo Chef John for putting this online.
Angela Taylor
I’ve never really liked apple pies but this “turn-ed me over” to liking them! By cooking the apples more it made this the best thing ever! I also used John’s butter crust recipe as well

 

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