When your family has a big apple tree in their yard, you make apple recipes all month! Today's feature, brought to you by my hubby Danny, are easy homemade apple hand pies (proud wife over here)! These are basically apple pie in a different form, or what I like to call "apple pie calzones". They are stuffed with tender, sweet cinnamon apples, and wrapped in crispy, flakey, buttery crust.
How to Make Apple Hand Pies
To make these little hand pies, you will need to gather the following refrigerator and pantry staple ingredients:
- pastry dough - made with flour, sugar, butter, salt, ice water
- apples
- butter
- cinnamon
- brown sugar
- flour
- egg
- salt
How to Fold Hand Pies
The most complicated part of this recipe is figuring out how to roll out the dough and fold it into little hand pies. But once you figure out the first one, the rest will be much faster and easier. Here is what you need to do:
- Place apple filling at centre of dough.
- Fold over dough, leaving ½-inch overlap. Push down to seal the filling. Fold over the overlap and press down to seal.
- Crimp the edges using your fingers (or a fork).
What else is so great about this recipe? Well, you can make this ahead of time. Just prepare the hand pie crust and the apple filling and store them in the refrigerator. When you are ready to make and bake, you assemble the hand pies and bake!
Storing Apple Hand Pies
Baked apple hand pies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. It can be stored for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container stored in the refrigerator.
You can also wrap them tightly with aluminum foil and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw and re-bake at 350 F for 5-10 minutes.
Serve these warm apple apple hand pies as is, or with a scoop of your favourite flavour of ice cream on the side. I just can’t wait to make these again… and again!
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Easy Homemade Apple Hand Pies
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 hand pies
Description
Easy homemade apple hand pies are the perfect fall treat -- stuffed with tender, sweet and cinnamon apples and wrapped in crispy, flakey, buttery crust.
Ingredients
Pastry Dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- ⅓ cup water, very cold (ice cold)
Apple Filling:
- 2 large apples
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (+ more for topping, optional)
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
Instructions
Pastry Dough:
- Add flour, sugar, salt and butter into a food processor. Pulse on and off until flour mixture forms into small pieces of dough, approximately 1 minute.
- Drizzle ice water into the mixture (ice water is the key). Close the lid and continue to pulse on and off for another 1 minute, until the dough turns into a breadcrumb consistency.
- Transfer dough (breadcrumbs consistency) on a work surface. Use your hands to squeeze all the pieces together until it forms into a dough. Shape it into a smooth disc. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Apple Filling:
- Peel, core and cut the apples into ½-inch cubes. Place apples into a large bowl filled with water (to prevent browning).
- In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in apples, sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt. Cover and stir occasionally for 5 minutes or until apples are slightly softened. Stir in flour and continue to cook until apples are soft and tender (but not mushy), and the filling has thickened. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Assembling and Baking Apple Turnovers:
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ⅛-inch thickness (or the thickness of a cardboard box). Cut out dough into 6-inch circles.
- Place ⅓ cup of apple filling at the centre of each circle. Fold over the dough, leaving ½-inch overlap. Push down to seal the filling. Fold over the overlap and press down to seal the edge.
- Crimp the edges using a your fingers or a fork (see photos above in post). Transfer turnovers onto a parchment-lined baking tray.
- Brush egg generously on the top surface and sprinkle some sugar on top (optional). Cut out three small ventilation holes on top of the turnover. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastry is lightly browned.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes + 1 hour refrigeration time
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Pie
Keywords: apple hand pies, hand pies, apple pie
Delana says
This recipe is 1 of my favorites I wonder if you can do it with blueberry's?
★★★★★
Olivia says
Will these work if I swapped the apple for cherry pie filling?
Sam Hu | Ahead of Thyme says
Absolutely!
Prepping for Thanksgiving says
Ice water.....you don't put the cubes in...correct? just mean for the water to be made cold with ice?
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Correct, just very cold water. I should update that to make it more clear. Thank you!
May-lee says
can we make the pastry dough in advance?
Sam Hu | Ahead of Thyme says
Absolutely, you can make it advance and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Rebecca Blackwell says
I love that you call these Apple Pie Calzones! Who doesn't want an apple pie calzone??? I'm wondering if you've ever frozen these? I'm baking for a large group in a few weeks and would love to make these ahead of time, freezing them so they are ready to bake the day of the event. Do you think that would work?
★★★★★
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Haha, I know, right? Yes you can absolutely freeze these. Just wrap them tightly with aluminum foil and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, you thaw and re-bake at 350 F for 5-10 minutes.
Bernice Hill says
Lucky you! I would LOVE to have an excess of apples to play with. We do have two pear trees but they certainly didn't produce much this year. Maybe next year I will be able to use this recipe to make pear turnovers?
★★★★★
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Oh for sure! Pear turnovers sound pretty amazing!