Apple hand pies

A dessert of a season

Fall is dessert to the meal of summer. Chilly mornings, warm afternoons, clear nights — it’s the sweetest window for biking in the woods, bowhunting, or just marveling at technicolor tapestries which hang on the hillsides and valleys. And if splendor isn’t enough, our trees are heavy with the best fruit of all: apples.

These hand pies come together quickly with the speedy yet flaky version of puff pastry which we call “blitz puff” or “quick puff.” Easier than classic puff, this version uses sour cream for moisture and extra tenderness. The simple apple filling is made with the most flavorful apples you can buy. I have no allegiance to variety. I eat and bake with everything from early Paula Reds to later ones like Spitzenberg or Calville Blanc d’Hiver. There are no bad apples (other than Granny Smith).  

If you’re looking for a sourdough-specific recipe, you might use the dough from my summer newsletter (sourdough puff pastry tarts) — just omit the paprika and black pepper. And speaking of pastry with sourdough, here’s a very good pie crust for all your holiday pie needs. Still looking for seasonal bakes? The caramel apple buns are here for you, as is the crusty Pane Genzano. Let’s get to the recipe. 

Also, if you want a little time travel, you can watch Arlo and me make these during lockdown — the quality is very homespun but the demonstration is still beneficial.

Cinnamon-apple hand pies

Yield: Eight 3.5” hand pies

A couple quick notes about this dough. As with many baked goods which involve “cold butter process,” management of temperatures supports a crisper, more tender, and more delicious pastry. Chill the dry ingredients before working in the butter. Cold temperatures prevent the butter from melting which releases moisture into the flour (and develops toughness in the process). Keeping it cool means better flake, and a “shorter” crust.

All-purpose flour, 200g
Irish wholemeal flour, 40g (I’m using the King Arthur Irish Wholemeal but other wholegrain flours like whole rye, wheat, spelt, einkorn, or even buckwheat are fine for substitutions)
Salt, fine, 4.5g (¾ t)
Baking powder, 2.5g (½ t)

In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and freeze until cold, about 15 minutes. 

Butter, unsalted, 227g (two US sticks) *if you don’t have unsalted, use salted and reduce the addition of salt to about 3g (½ t)

Cut the cold butter into pats or slices, roughly ¼” wide, and chill until you’re ready to mix. *As with many baking chores, this can be done in advance of the bake day, just cover well until use. 

Add the butter to the chilled dry ingredients and toss to coat. Then, working the butter between your thumb and forefingers or pressing the pieces against the bottom of the bowl, massage the butter into the dough, leaving some larger and smaller pieces.

Sour cream, 113g, cold

Add the sour cream and stir briefly. The mixture will clump in spots while remaining floury in other parts of the bowl. Using your hand, move the ingredients around, pressing against the sides and bottom and working until the mixture mostly clumps together but also remains floury in spots. 

Dump the mixture onto your work surface and press into a rectangle that’s roughly twice as long as it is wide, about 12” by 6”, with the long side pointing away from you. Press with your hands to compress and form into a solid mass. 

*Very important, during this rolling process, invert and reflour as necessary in order to keep the pastry floating on the work surface and not sticking. As a reminder, there is an old video that will show my technique.

To fold the pastry, lightly dust your work surface as well as the top of the dough then roll to a length of 16” and a width of 8”. 

Perform a single letter fold. Turn the dough so that the long side runs parallel to the work surface. Fold one side towards the other, 2/3rds of the way, then fold the other to cover it as you would a letter. After the letter fold, roll the dough once more to roughly 10” by 14”. 

Cover and chill the dough in the fridge while you prepare the apple filling. 

Apples, 227g, cubed into ½” to ¾” pieces (about 2 to 2.5 apples, use ones that taste good)
Cinnamon, 3g (1 t)
Cornstarch, 14g (2 T)
Sugar, granulated, 67g
Salt, fine, 1g (1/4 t)
Lemon juice, 14g (water is also fine)

Core and cube the apples without peeling. Stir together the sugar and cornstarch (combining them will prevent clumping) then add everything to a small sauce pot. Heat until the mixture bubbles, the apples are barely fork tender, and the mixture thickens.

Spread the apples on a clean sheet tray or metal pie pan to cool and place in the refrigerator, uncovered. 

To finish and fill the hand pies, roll the chilled pastry into a 15” square. During rolling, reflour as necessary to ensure that the dough piece doesn’t stick. Trim and square the sides so that the piece after trimming is exactly 14” by 14”. 

Cut the piece in half and stack the pieces atop one another (two pieces, 7” by 14”). Cut into half once more and stack atop one another again (now you have a 4 piece stack, 3.5” by 14”) then cut into four squares, each measuring 3.5” square. 

After cutting the pieces, keep the stacks together. You’ll find that the pieces in each individual stack are the best matches (top/bottom) for each pie. Inevitably, even when we do our best, the pieces vary slightly. 

Egg wash, 1 egg, whisked until smooth 

After cutting, place 8 bottom pieces on a parchment-lined half sheet tray. Gather your filling, the egg wash, a spoon for the filling, and a fork for crimping the edges, if desired. 

Egg wash the pieces then place a heaping tablespoon of filling on each bottom. If you have a small leaf cookie cutter or, want to simply make round cutouts or other designs in the top, cut pieces as desired, then place the tops on the bottoms. Press gently to remove air and encourage the pieces to adhere, then go back and gently tine the pieces to seal. 

Cover and place the pastries in the fridge to chill while the oven preheats to 425°F. (The batch that I used for photos I actually froze for 24 hours after shaping. Before baking, let them thaw slightly while preheating the oven. It works very well and allows you to move the baking to another day if it’s easier.)

A couple oven notes. When the oven “beeps” that it’s ready, it’s often not quite there. Make sure that you let it settle or fully preheat before loading. As always, convection setting is your best friend for baking pastry and better browning. With some convections, you might want to reduce the set temperature by 25°F or so.  Every oven is a unicorn so watch it!

Once the oven is preheated, remove the hand pies from the fridge and egg wash thoroughly. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional) and cut steam vents. 

Bake until deep golden brown and dark on the edges, about 20 to 22 minutes. Puff pastry is always flakier with more baking — be sure not to skimp or pull when the pastries are still blond. Full bake is best.

Place on a rack to cool. Serve plain, or enjoy with ice cream. Extras can be frozen, then reheated later in a low oven or toaster oven until warmed through and crisp.