Get Prepared for Fall with These Transportable Heat-Spiced Apple Hand Pies

Within the echelon of pies, hand pies rank on the very prime for me. They’re the transportable, shareable, lovable cousins of conventional fruit pies, plus they maximize the ratio of flaky pastry to juicy flavor-packed filling, packing extra buttery pastry into every chew than a conventional pie. Hand pies are equally at residence subsequent to a cup of espresso for breakfast, tucked right into a lunchbox as a snack, or served alongside a scoop of ice cream for dessert. 

So when the primary chill of fall is within the air, making juicy apple hand pies stuffed with aromatic heat spices is considered one of my favourite methods to rejoice the season. As a result of there’s solely a small pocket of filling inside a hand pie, it actually must pack a punch. Once I was creating this recipe, I needed my filling to ship deep apple taste with plenty of heat spices, and to be tender with out being mushy or messy. I needed the pastry encasing the filling to be buttery and crispy, not soggy or overly thick. I am completely happy to say that after rounds and rounds of testing, I’ve landed on an apple hand pie recipe that delivers on all of these directives. Right here’s learn how to make them.

Suggestions for Completely Baked Apple Hand Pies

Choose a mixture of apples. As Kenji discusses in his guide for picking the best apples for apple pie, the apples you choose enormously have an effect on each the flavour and texture of the filling. To get a filling with tender however nonetheless intact chunks of apples and a vibrant fruity taste, I settled on a mixture of tart Granny Smiths and candy Golden Scrumptious, each of which maintain their form properly throughout baking—no mushy filling right here!

Precook the filling. I knew that these small pies would bake a lot quicker than a full-sized conventional apple pie. To make sure the apples are softened on the identical time the pastry is golden and flaky, the filling must be cooked earlier than you assemble the person pies. Pre-cooking the apples on the stovetop allowed me to tenderize them, focus the flavors of the filling, and likewise drive off extra moisture from the fruit. When the pliable cooked apple items are spooned into every hand pie, they nestle properly collectively right into a cohesive filling, which ensures there are not any air gaps contained in the baked pies. And since extra moisture has been eliminated by pre-cooking, there’s additionally no want to chop any vents within the prime crust to permit steam to flee. 

Construct the flavors. I begin the apples in butter for nutty richness, cook dinner them till caramelized, then deglaze the pan with apple cider to double down on the deep apple taste. Brown sugar and heat spices, together with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, amp up the basic apple pie flavors, and a splash of lemon juice retains issues tasting vibrant. (In a pinch, you’ll be able to substitute two teaspoons of apple pie spice for the mix of spices on this recipe. Word that varied manufacturers use completely different varieties and portions of heat spices of their apple pie spice blends, so every will probably be a bit completely different.)

Thicken with cornstarch. The filling for hand pies must be juicy however not so moist that it makes the pies messy to assemble or to eat. An excellent dose of cornstarch absorbs the juices from the apples and the cider, making the filling shiny and clean and agency sufficient to simply fill and form the pies.

Take the time to make your individual pie dough. I like the benefit of Stella Parks’s Buttery, Flaky Pie Crust (made by hand in a bowl!), and it proved to be an exquisite base for these hand pies. However you’ll be able to substitute your favourite double-crust selfmade pie dough recipe if you happen to want. It’s possible you’ll get a yield of 1 to 2 extra or fewer pies, relying on the quantity of dough your recipe makes. Retailer-bought refrigerated pie dough, equivalent to Pillsbury, can work in a pinch, however is extra susceptible to bursting and gained’t be practically as flaky or flavorful as selfmade pie dough.

Go spherical. When you can form hand pies in any variety of methods—half-moons, rectangles, and squares are frequent—I want a circle. I discovered that urgent the 2 rounds of dough collectively saved the filling neatly enclosed (versus squishing or tumbling out if folding the dough over itself) and maximized the quantity of buttery crust all the best way across the edges.

Chopping the dough into four-inch rounds allowed me to squeeze in a couple of quarter cup of filling to every pie whereas nonetheless guaranteeing the pies had been simple to shut and form with out leaking. I like to make use of a fluted pastry wheel to trim the perimeters of the dough for a neat look (although a paring knife or 3 ½-inch circle cutter work, too). 

Refrigerate earlier than baking. Chilling the assembled pies within the fridge whereas the oven preheats ensures they bake up additional flaky. Chilly butter creates pockets of steam within the scorching oven, giving the pie dough flaky layers moderately than a mushy or crumbly texture. The resting time within the fridge additionally permits the gluten within the dough to calm down, serving to the pies hold their meant form moderately than shrinking. 

End with egg wash and sugar. A brush of egg wash and sprinkle of turbinado sugar provides the exteriors of the pies a gorgeous sheen and scrumptious crunch. Buttery, flaky, and completely apple-y inside, these spectacular hand pies are a dessert you’ll wish to make and share all autumn lengthy.