Eat, Pray, Love to Travel -

October 7, 2020

Spiced Apple Hand Pies With Maple Butter Drizzle

Happy Fall, y’all! I cannot believe it’s October…where in the world has this year gone? …Okay…never mind. Don’t even answer that question! We’re all happy it’s Fall and that we’ve made it to October! Let’s focus on the positives: the leaves are changing, the night time temperatures are cool enough for bonfires and puffy vests and everything in my kitchen is all about the flavors of fall – apples, pumpkins, gourds, cinnamon & spice! Speaking of apples – who has gone apple picking this year? We did last weekend and 52 pounds of Honeycrisp apples later…we came up with my newest, most delicious Fall treat that I just have to share —> Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle.

Lavalier’s Apple Orchard & Berry Patch

My boys after picking 52 pounds of Honeycrisp apples for our Apple Hand Pies! — My 3 boys at Lavalier’s Orchard after picking 52 pounds of apples!

So…I wasn’t kidding when I said 52 pounds of Honeycrisps apples. The kids and I really did pick 52 pounds of apples at Lavalier’s Orchard & Berry Patch. Sorry kids…mom blew the whole grocery budget on apples this week. Oooops! However, I have a feeling we’ll all be just fine 😉

A bit obnoxious? Yes, maybe…

SO. MUCH. FUN? Absolutely!

52 pounds of Honeycrisp apples ready to be made into Apple Hand Pies! — So. Many. Apples. – Lavalier’s Orchard in Grand Rapids, Minnesota

I have absolutely no control when it comes to U-Pick farms in northern Minnesota. I mean can we get real here for a moment? We picked strawberries and sour cherries in July, blueberries in August, apples in September and October. See what I’m talking about?! Absolutely no control, whatsoever.

Supporting local farmers who LOVE their land and crops is what I’m all about. I’m not sure there is a greater way to support the farm-to-table movement. And…to top it all off, the U-Pick farms in Itasca County boast some of the most beautiful produce in all of the Midwest! ALSO…the nicest people in the country own these farms. I can totally get on board with spending my life savings on apples if it means supporting these types of people and small businesses.

Apple Varieties

So…let’s talk apples for a moment.

The local apple orchards were open for apple picking in mid-September this year with many different early-ripening apple varieties. But, I’ll be real here, I was waiting to go until the Honeycrisp apples ripened. I thought that I only cared about the Honeycrisp apple – HA! I recently learned that I also care about Sweet Tango apples as well!

Honeycrisp apples are ready to be made into homemade apple cider in my Instant Pot. — Look at those gorgeous Honeycrisp apples!

Sweet Tango apples tastes very similar to Honeycrisp apples, however, the flesh is very bright white, the skin is a little darker red and they are really crisp. Absolutely divine!

Naturally with picking 52 pounds of Honeycrisp apples, it left us with lots of options for experimenting with new, fun Honeycrisp apple recipes. It also left us with lots of Honeycrisp apples just to enjoy!

Inspiration For Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle

The first fun recipe I had in mind was the one I’m bringing you today – Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle. Because…why not?

They’re like a personal, hand-held pie, but so much better!

Spiced Apple Hand Pies are all dressed up and ready to be shared with our neighbors. — Perfectly-portioned Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle ready to deliver to friends!

Does anyone else remember those little fast food restaurant hand-pies of the 80’s & 90’s? I do and that may be where I got the idea for these. But, news flash – these are a more sophisticated, fresher, I’d like to say healthier, updated version of those and they are SO good.

All-Butter Dough

I start with my favorite flaky dough recipe that I always use for any type of pie that I make. This is an all-butter pie dough recipe and it holds up BEAUTIFULLY to the spiced, slightly-sweet Honeycrisp apple filling inside.

I like making the flaky dough ahead of time and refrigerating it until I’m ready to roll it out. Just a simple high speed blender, such as the Blendtec Blender, or food processor will get the job done quickly.

Pulse the mixture a few times until the butter is pea-sized and sort of uniform throughout. Don’t get too hung up on it being perfectly uniform, though! If you over-process the dough mixture, it will quickly become tough. Once the mixture starts to comes together, take it out of the blender or processor bowl and turn it onto a clean countertop surface dusted with a little flour. Gather the mixture and form it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap or parchment paper, then refrigerate until ready to use. Voila! EZ-PZ!

Spiced Apple Filling

Next, start on the spiced apple pie filling.

My oldest 2 sons are helping me peel and core the apples for our Spiced Apple Hand Pies. — My oldest two sons LOVE to use this peeler tool to help me make these Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle!

I want you to think fresh apples in a slightly-sweet, but Fall-spice-inspired sauce here. This is where things start to feel a little more sophisticated with these hand pies. Please, do not for one moment, think this will be like canned apple pie filling with it’s gelatinous, gloppy, overly-sweet flavors and textures. The filling for these Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle is fresh, flavorful, and very Fall-like!

I like to peel, core and dice my apples into bite-sized pieces. Then, I add them to my sauté pan with the butter.

The Honeycrisp apples are diced and in the pan with the butter - Step 1. — Apples and butter in the sauté pan.

After you melt the butter and the Honeycrisp apples start to soften very slightly, add the brown sugar and spices. At this time, you may want to turn up the heat slightly, maybe from medium to medium-high. The moisture from the apples will evaporate and your sauce from the butter and brown sugar will get thicker and cling to the apple pieces.

The filling for our Spiced Apple Hand Pies is being made in the sauté pan. — Moisture is starting to release from the apples here.
Continue cooking for a bit until the butter-spice mixture clings to the apple pieces.

PRO TIP: The secret to my homemade apple pie is to cook some of the moisture out of the apples BEFORE it goes into the crust and into the oven just as I instruct above. I get asked ALL. THE. TIME. why my pies aren’t watery and the crust is firm…well, this is why! A lot of moisture is cooked out, leaving you with fresh tasting apples and a sauce that doesn’t water-down the crust!

The delicious filling for our Spiced Apple Hand Pies is finished! — Perfectly cooked Honeycrisp apple mixture with a nice, clingy sauce.

Once you’ve tasted your apple mixture for the proper ratio of Fall-inspired spices to Honeycrisp apples, pull the mixture off the heat and let it cool.

Creating the Spiced Apple Hand Pies

Rolling out the dough + filling the hand pies:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into rectangles as instructed in the directions. Then, place about 1/4 cup of the spiced apple filling onto half of the rectangles. Make sure to leave a border so you can properly pinch the upper and lower dough together without the filling seeping out.

The Honeycrisp apple filling for our Spiced Apple Hand Pies is being put onto the individual dough rectangles. — Spiced Apple Hand Pie filling is being placed onto the dough rectangles, leaving a nice border.

Getting the hand pies ready for the oven:

Place a few horizontal, or whatever shape you’d like, slits in the top of the Spiced Apple Hand Pies. This allows the steam from the filling to escape and the dough to remain flaky and delicious!

The first Spiced Apple Hand Pie is now constructed. — Pinched edges secure the upper and lower dough rectangles. A few horizontal slits on top allow steam to escape.

Repeat this process until all of the rectangles of dough are used. Place these rectangles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes while the oven heats up. This allows the dough to firm up before it goes into the oven.

Pro Tip:

The freezer is my secret weapon when it comes to firming up any type of baked good before putting it into the oven. Dough – whether it’s pie or cookie dough – has been warmed and worked by the touch of our hands and it changes texture because of the warmth. Freezing the baked goods slightly before placing them in the oven restores the butter or fat to its original condition. This allows for more even cooking and a much better overall texture.

Brushing our Spiced Apple Hand Pies with an egg white wash. — Brushing the tops of the dough with an egg wash ensures a lovely lightly golden brown finish on top!

Oven Time!

Once the oven is heated up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, remove the baking sheets from the freezer. Using the egg whites and a little water, brush the tops of the Spiced Apple Hand Pies with the egg wash. Next, sprinkle with a little raw sugar, or Turbinado Sugar, if desired. Last, place them in the oven, rotate, and reduce the oven temp when noted below in the recipe instructions. Bake until the Spiced Apple Hand Pies are light golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Maple Butter Drizzle

Last…that Maple Butter Drizzle.

For the love of all things Fall and delicious…do not skip the Maple Butter Drizzle.

Biting into that first Spiced Apple Hand Pie - SO good! — Look at those flaky layers & that spiced apple filling – YUM!

This is a simple little glaze that I make with powdered sugar, pure maple syrup and a little very soft butter. It adds a creamy-dreamy mouth-feel to the top of these Spiced Apple Hand Pies.

It’s A Great Day With Spiced Apple Hand Pies With Maple Butter Drizzle!

These Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle are being delivered to friends. — I can’t wait to deliver a few of these Spiced Apple Hand Pies with Maple Butter Drizzle to friends!

Now…go and enjoy these with a big mug of hot coffee or apple cider! This is the yummiest, dreamiest apple treat around.

After you’re done, hop back over to the blog and get a hold of these Fall-inspired recipes:

Bacon Pecan Pie Squares

Indian-Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Once you’ve made these, leave a comment or post a picture…I love to see what my readers are making these days!

And until next time…Eat Well. Travel Often. Love Much.

XOXO

Apple Hand Pies

October 7, 2020

Servings: 10

Difficulty: Moderate

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The fast food mini apple pies of our youth get a fresh, well-deserved update. These are made with amazing, flaky pie dough and filled with an apple filling scented with all the flavors of fall!

By: Tara Hallie

Ingredients

Hand Pie Dough:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 sticks cold salted butter
1 T. Apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup cold water, preferably ice-cold
Apple Filling:
1/2 cup salted butter
6 cups peeled, cored & diced apples (I use Honeycrisp or Sweet Tango in this recipe)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. -3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (start with 1/2 tsp. and add a little more if you prefer a stronger flavor)
2 dashes of ground allspice
2 dashes of ground cloves
*The amount of spices you add will be dependent on your desire for their flavors. Start with the amounts above, taste and add a little more if desired*
Maple Butter Drizzle:
2 egg whites + 1 T. water, whisked
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 T. - 4 T. pure maple syrup
2 T. salted butter, very soft but not melted

Directions

Step 1 Hand Pie Dough: Pulse the flour, sugar, salt in a blender or food processor a few times until just combined. Add 1 diced stick of cold butter, pulse. Add the remaining 2 diced sticks of cold butter and process just until the mixture resembles coarse meal or until the butter is the size of peas. Gradually add the cider vinegar and the ice water. Pulse a few times until the mixture is just combined and starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a clean, slightly floured surface and press into a disk without overworking the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or even overnight if needed, before rolling out.
Step 2 Apple Pie Filling: In a sauté pan over medium heat, combine the butter and diced apples. Sauté for about 1-2 minutes until the butter is melted. Add the brown sugar , cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves and sauté for about 3-5 minutes until the apples start to soften and the moisture from the apples evaporates. You will have a nice thick, rich, clingy sauce that sticks to the slightly-softened apple pieces. NOTE: This will not be the canned, gelatinous apple pie filling of our youth. Rather a fresh, flavorful pie filling!
Step 3 Roll out the dough: Cut the dough disk in half. Using one half of the dough, roll out into a large rectangle and cut out 10 rectangles, about 3 inches x 4 inches in size. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup or large spoon, add about 1/4 cup apple pie filling onto 5 rectangles, keeping a 1 inch border around the edge so the filling doesn’t seep out.
Step 4 Using the other 5 rectangles, top the pie-filled rectangles and crimp the edges down with a fork to secure the top dough and bottom dough together. Make 3 horizontal slits in the tops of the hand pies. This allows for steam from the filling to escape so the dough doesn’t become soggy. Place the completed hand pies on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and place them in the freezer until the oven is pre-heated.
Step 5 Repeat the rolling and filling step (last step) with the other disk of dough. You should end up with about 10 hand pies, but of course, maybe a few more or less depending on the size of your individual hand pies.
Step 6 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Step 7 While the oven is preheating and the hand pies are in the freezer being firmed up, combine 2 egg whites + 1 T. water and whisk together lightly.
Step 8 Once the oven is heated and hand pies have firmed up in the freezer for about 15 minutes, remove the hand pies on the baking sheet from the freezer. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the hand pies with the egg wash mixture and dust them with Turbinado sugar, if desired.
Step 9 Place the baking sheet with hand pies into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of baking, rotate the baking sheets and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for an additional 12-15 minutes until the tops of the hand pies are a beautiful light golden brown and the filling is bubbly and hot.
Step 10 Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool on racks.
Step 11 While the hand pies are cooling, make the Maple Butter Drizzle if you are using (such a great addition! I wouldn’t skip it!). Combine the powdered sugar, pure maple syrup and the very soft butter in a small mixing bowl and gently whisk until just combined.
Step 12 Once the pastries are completely cooled, use a fork and dip it into the Maple Butter mixture and gently swing your hand back and forth over the hand pies to drizzle on the topping.
Step 13 Enjoy! Preferably with a mug of hot coffee or cider! Happy Fall, Y’all!