Apple Hand Pies

In the echelon of pies, hand pies rank at the very top for me. They’re the portable, shareable, adorable cousins of traditional fruit pies, plus they maximize the ratio of flaky pastry to juicy flavor-packed filling, packing more buttery pastry into each bite than a traditional pie. Hand pies are equally at home next to a cup of coffee for breakfast, tucked into a lunchbox as a snack, or served alongside a scoop of ice cream for dessert. 

So when the first chill of fall is in the air, making juicy apple hand pies full of fragrant warm spices is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the season. Because there’s only a small pocket of filling inside a hand pie, it really needs to pack a punch. When I was creating this recipe, I wanted my filling to deliver deep apple flavor with lots of warm spices, and to be tender without being mushy or messy. I wanted the pastry encasing the filling to be buttery and crispy, not soggy or overly thick. I'm happy to say that after rounds and rounds of testing, I've landed on an apple hand pie recipe that delivers on all of those directives. Here’s how to make them.

Tips for Perfectly Baked Apple Hand Pies

Select a combination of apples. As Kenji discusses in his guide for picking the best apples for apple pie, the apples you pick greatly affect both the flavor and texture of the filling. To get a filling with tender but still intact chunks of apples and a bright fruity flavor, I settled on a mix of tart Granny Smiths and sweet Golden Delicious, both of which hold their shape nicely during baking—no mushy filling here!

Precook the filling. I knew that these small pies would bake much faster than a full-sized traditional apple pie. To ensure the apples are softened at the same time the pastry is golden and flaky, the filling needs to be cooked before you assemble the individual pies. Pre-cooking the apples on the stovetop allowed me to tenderize them, concentrate the flavors of the filling, and also drive off excess moisture from the fruit. When the pliable cooked apple pieces are spooned into each hand pie, they nestle nicely together into a cohesive filling, which ensures there are no air gaps inside the baked pies. And since excess moisture has been removed by pre-cooking, there’s also no need to cut any vents in the top crust to allow steam to escape. 

Build the flavors. I start the apples in butter for nutty richness, cook them until caramelized, then deglaze the pan with apple cider to double down on the deep apple flavor. Brown sugar and warm spices, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, amp up the classic apple pie flavors, and a splash of lemon juice keeps things tasting bright. (In a pinch, you can substitute two teaspoons of apple pie spice for the blend of spices in this recipe. Note that various brands use different kinds and quantities of warm spices in their apple pie spice blends, so each will be a bit different.)

Thicken with cornstarch. The filling for hand pies should be juicy but not so wet that it makes the pies messy to assemble or to eat. A good dose of cornstarch absorbs the juices from the apples and the cider, making the filling shiny and smooth and firm enough to easily fill and shape the pies.

Take the time to make your own pie dough. I adore the ease of Stella Parks’s Buttery, Flaky Pie Crust (made by hand in a bowl!), and it proved to be a wonderful base for these hand pies. But you can substitute your favorite double-crust homemade pie dough recipe if you prefer. You may get a yield of one to two more or fewer pies, depending on the amount of dough your recipe makes. Store-bought refrigerated pie dough, such as Pillsbury, can work in a pinch, but is more prone to bursting and won’t be nearly as flaky or flavorful as homemade pie dough.

Go round. While you can shape hand pies in any number of ways—half-moons, rectangles, and squares are common—I prefer a circle. I found that pressing the two rounds of dough together kept the filling neatly enclosed (versus squishing or tumbling out if folding the dough over itself) and maximized the amount of buttery crust all the way around the edges.

Cutting the dough into four-inch rounds allowed me to squeeze in about a quarter cup of filling to each pie while still ensuring the pies were easy to close and shape without leaking. I like to use a fluted pastry wheel to trim the edges of the dough for a neat appearance (though a paring knife or 3 ½-inch circle cutter work, too). 

Refrigerate before baking. Chilling the assembled pies in the fridge while the oven preheats ensures they bake up extra flaky. Cold butter creates pockets of steam in the hot oven, giving the pie dough flaky layers rather than a mushy or crumbly texture. The resting time in the fridge also allows the gluten in the dough to relax, helping the pies keep their intended shape rather than shrinking. 

Finish with egg wash and sugar. A brush of egg wash and sprinkle of turbinado sugar gives the exteriors of the pies an attractive sheen and delicious crunch. Buttery, flaky, and perfectly apple-y inside, these impressive hand pies are a dessert you’ll want to make and share all autumn long.