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Apple & Caramel Hand Pies


  • Author: Elyse Villa
  • Yield: 5 hand pies 1x

Description

These flaky hand pies are fun to make and full of apples and caramel, making them the perfect, portable fall treat!


Ingredients

Scale

For the whole wheat pie dough:

  • 100g whole wheat flour
  • 130g all purpose flour
  • 3T granulated sugar
  • 1t baking powder
  • 1 1/4t kosher salt
  • 220g unsalted butter, cold and cut in 1/2″ cubes
  • 1/4C ice-cold water

For the salted caramel:

  • 3/4C granulated sugar
  • 4T unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2C heavy cream, room temperature
  • 3/4t kosher salt

For the apple filling:

  • 3/4C apple chips (I use these but feel free to use freeze-dried apples)
  • 1/4C granulated sugar
  • 1t ground cinnamon
  • 1.52 medium apples (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp), cubed into 1/2″ pieces totaling 7oz
  • 2T unsalted butter, melted
  • 2t apple cider vinegar
  • 1 egg beaten for egg wash
  • Turbino sugar for finishing

Instructions

Make the pie dough:

  1. Add both flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine.
  2. Add your butter and gently toss to make sure every piece is coated in flour before going in with your hands and breaking up the butter pieces. Working quickly, break up the cubes between your fingers until you have achieved a healthy mix of pea-sized pieces and cornflake pieces. 
  3. Add the water and toss to combine before dumping the mixture onto a clean work surface. Pile up the dough into a mountain, squeezing it together. Then, flatten it, re-pile, and squeeze again. Do this just until your dough is a shaggy mass that can hold its shape. Work it into a 3/4″ thick circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour. (But can absolutely be done the day before.)

Make the caramel:

  1. Place the granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Now, we’re pretty much going to leave it alone. If you absolutely must, you can give it a gentle swirl here and there, but the more movement, the more opportunity for crystallization (not what we want).
  2. We are waiting for the sugar to melt and caramelize. Once you notice the sugar liquefy and turn a beautiful amber, take off the heat and stir in the butter. Don’t worry if it splutters a bit, that’s completely normal. 
  3. Next, add the cream and salt. Stir together and allow to cool fully before storing in the refrigerator until needed.

Assemble:

  1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough into an 11×13″ rectangle. Cut off the scraggly bits and set aside. Now, cut as many 3×5″ rectangles out of your dough as possible. Put your wee rectangles on a floured baking sheet.
  2. Pile together all of your scraps and quickly reroll. (If it is starting to feel too soft, pop it in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and try again.)  Again, get as many 3×5″ rectangles out of it as possible for a total of 10. Once all of the rectangles are on a baking sheet, pop the sheets in the oven while you make the filling.
  3. Make the apple filling: In a blender or food processor, combine the apple chips, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Blitz until it forms a sandy, homogenous texture. Set aside.
  4. To a large bowl, add the cubed apples, apple chip mixture, melted butter, and apple cider vinegar. Using a rubber spatula, stir to combine until there are no dry pieces left. 
  5. Take your dough out of the refrigerator and using a 3T cookie scoop, place the apple filling on 5 of the pieces. Follow that with a drizzle of your salted caramel.
  6. Place a clean dough piece ontop of a filled one and press the edges down to seal. Follow this by using a floured fork to crimp all around the border of the hand pie. Do this to all 5 pies. Once done, cut 3 slits into the center of each pie and put them back in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
  7. Preheat the oven to 400F. Before putting the hand pies in the oven, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with Turbino sugar.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until deeply golden brown, rotating halfway through. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 – 15 minutes before serving.