Apple Hand Pies with Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe are so much fun to eat and delicious.

Handheld pies are stuffed with homemade apple pie filling. The filling is simmered with traditional spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla extract, sugar, and butter. Then, it's thickened with an organic cornstarch slurry to make a thick, luscious sauce. I use a simple gluten-free pie crust recipe (like I used for my Chocolate Pudding Pie) to make the crust for the hand pie. Although, you can use a regular pie crust recipe if not gluten-free. Lastly, these hand pies are finished with a sweet hardening glaze.

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Is Homemade Apple Pie Filling Better Than Store-bought?

Yes, in every way possible. It has so much more flavor and tastes fresh. It's healthier for you. And it can work out to be cheaper if you buy apples on sale, or maybe even pick them from your own backyard or local farm.

My Apple Pie Filling Recipe uses fresh apples, spices, organic cornstarch, and contains very little added sugar. Store-bought canned apple pie fillings often contain preservatives, a lot of added sugars, and sometimes even food coloring or high-fructose corn syrup.

One of the great things about making your own homemade pie filling is that you can control the quality of the ingredients. For instance, you could use only organic apples or switch out white sugar for coconut sugar or pure cane sugar.

Can I Use Regular Pie Crust?

Yes! If you don't have to eat gluten-free, you can just use my apple pie filling recipe and the same methods of making the hand pies.

What Is the Best Way to Make Pie Crust Brown?

The best way to make pie crust brown is to make an egg wash of one egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp. of water. Brush the outside of the hand pies or pie with the egg wash to encourage browning. If making a regular pie, you should also brush the bottom of the pie crust (the inside part) with an egg wash to seal any cracks and prevent a soggy bottom. Note: Egg yolks produce a deeper brown than egg whites. If using normal flour, you would be fine to use an egg wash made of one egg white beaten with 1 tbsp. of water.

Unfortunately, my eggs literally expired the day before I made this recipe, and so I just brushed my hand pies with melted butter. It didn't really do much to aid with browning, so I wouldn't recommend it. Gluten free pie crust is often on the paler side, however.

How to Make Gluten Free Pie Crust for the Apple Hand Pies:

This gluten free pie crust turns out flaky and holds its shape really well. It’s super easy and only takes four ingredients to make. It also requires no chilling time – hurray!

Preheat oven to 425 F. Prepare a large non-stick cookie sheet by greasing it with butter.
Combine flour, sugar and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Cut butter into flour mixture until the butter resembles small peas. I like to use my hands, but if you have a dough cutter tool you can use that.
Add the milk in intervals, a few tablespoons at a time. I prefer to measure out the milk into a bowl beforehand so that I don’t have to pick up the milk jug with dough hands if I need more. Work the milk into the flour and butter mixture until it forms a ball. If the flour is too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon more of milk at a time.
Once the dough has formed a ball, cut two large pieces of parchment or wax paper. Here I’m using aluminum foil because it’s all I had on hand at the time. Good news; it works well. Lay the first piece of parchment paper on the countertop, and place the dough ball on top of it. Cut the dough ball into 4 equal sections (makes 4 large hand pies) or 6 equal sections (makes 6 smaller hand pies). Optional: You can weigh each dough ball to ensure they are of equal size.
Roll all dough sections into balls.

Rolling Out the Dough:

Set aside three (or five) of the balls, leaving one in the center of the parchment paper. Then, lay the second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough ball. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it’s about 5-6 inches across, length and width. You want it to be about ¼ of an inch in thickness. If you roll the dough too thin, it will be hard to shape the hand pie without it ripping. If you leave the dough too thick, your hand pie might have more crust to filling ratio. Take your time. If the dough rips on the first or second try, you can shape it back into a ball. It's a very forgiving dough.

I highly recommend using a French rolling pin (the kind that has tapered ends and does not have handles). It works super well for gluten-free dough because it’s lightweight and you don’t have to worry about the handles creating any unwanted impressions. French rolling pins sometimes stick to dough when used by themselves, but since we use parchment paper overtop of the gf dough that isn’t a problem.

Once you have it rolled out to the right thickness, you can pick off parts that are oblong and press them to areas that don't have enough dough. Also, use your palms or fingertips to pat the dough along all edges, smoothing over them until it resembles an even circle.
Spoon cooled apple pie filling into the middle of the pie crust. I used about 4 tbsps. of pie filling per my four hand pies, but that mainly depends upon how big the circle shape is. Be careful to not overfill the pie crust, or else it won't seal closed. Aim for 2-3 inches of pie crust on every side from the filling to ensure you don't overfill it.

Shaping the Apple Hand Pies:

Starting from one side, carefully peel up the pie crust from the parchment paper and fold it over itself in a half-moon shape, or like a taco. Gently pinch the edges closed to seal in the pie filling. Smooth over any cracks with your fingers.
Use a fork to impress lines along the edges of the hand pie. This is decorative, but it also further seals the hand pie. Then, cut several slits on the top of each pie to allow a place for steam to escape.
Place sealed hand pie on the prepared cookie sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough balls until all are filled and shaped.

Make an egg wash by combining one egg yolk with 1 tbsp. of water. Then, thoroughly brush egg wash onto all of the hand pies.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and light brown. If your crust is having trouble browning, you can try brushing the hand pies with the egg wash again at the 10 minute mark.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Glazing the Apple Hand Pies:

Once hand pies are cool, make the glaze and drizzle over top. Allow to harden 5 minutes, and then re-apply the glaze. You can apply the glaze up to three or four times if you want a thicker, crackly glaze. Keep in mind that the pie crust itself has almost no sugar and the apple filling has mostly natural sugar, so a double or triple glaze adds needed sweetness to the pie crust exterior. In other words, don't feel bad about it.
Serve at room temperature or chilled. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and eat within 3 days. We enjoyed these at room temperature the first night and then ate chilled the next day. They were delicious both ways. If you want to eat it only at room temperature, get it out of the fridge 30-45 minutes before planning to eat.

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Apple Hand Pies with Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe

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Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1 30

Yield: hand pies

Handheld pies are stuffed with homemade apple pie filling. The filling is simmered with traditional spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla extract, sugar, and butter. Then, it's thickened with an organic cornstarch slurry to make a thick, luscious sauce. I use a simple gluten-free pie crust recipe to make the crust for the hand pie. Lastly, these hand pies are finished off with a sweet hardening glaze.

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Equipment

Ingredients

Gluten Free Pie Crust:

3 cups high quality gluten-free all purpose flour containing xanthan gum I used King Arthur Measure for Measure
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
8-10 tablespoon cold milk
(egg wash: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp. water)

Homemade Apple Pie Filling:

4 medium apples I used Gala
⅓ cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. filtered water
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
cornstarch slurry: 2 tbsp. organic cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. filtered water

Glaze:

2½ cups organic powdered sugar
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Homemade Apple Pie Filling:

Wash, dry, peel and slice apples. Set apples aside in a medium-sized mixing bowl with the lemon juice.
In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger.)
Add in apples, sugar, vanilla extract, and water. Stir until the butter/spice mixture evenly coats the apples. Cover with a lid and cook 4-6 minutes, or until the apples have become slightly softened. Mixture should come to a slight simmer.
Meanwhile, make the cornstarch slurry by adding the ingredients to a small bowl and mixing until well-combined.
Once apples are slightly tender and simmering, stir in cornstarch slurry. Allow to simmer another 1-2 minutes until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

For the Gluten Free Pie Crust:

Preheat oven to 425 F. Prepare a large non-stick cookie sheet by greasing it with butter.
Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until the butter resembles small peas. I like to use my hands, but if you have a dough cutter tool you can use that. Add the milk in intervals, a few tablespoons at a time. Work the milk into the flour and butter mixture until it forms a ball. If the flour is too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon more of milk at a time.
Once the dough has formed a ball, cut two large pieces of parchment or wax paper. Lay the first piece of parchment paper on the countertop, and place the dough ball on top of it. Cut the dough ball into 4 equal sections (makes 4 large hand pies) or 6 equal sections (makes 6 smaller hand pies). Roll all dough sections into balls.
Set aside three (or five) of the balls, leaving one in the center of the parchment paper. Then, lay the second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough ball. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it’s about 5-6 inches across, length and width. You want it to be about ¼ of an inch in thickness. If you roll the dough too thin, it will be hard to shape the hand pie without it ripping. If you leave the dough too thick, your hand pie might have more crust to filling ratio. Take your time. If the dough rips on the first or second try, you can shape it back into a ball. It's a very forgiving dough.
Once you have it rolled out to the right thickness, pick off parts that are oblong and press them to areas that don't have enough dough. Also, use your palms or fingertips to pat the dough along all edges, smoothing over them until it resembles an even circle.
Spoon cooled apple pie filling into the middle of the pie crust. I used about 4 tablespoon of pie filling per my four hand pies. Be careful to not overfill the pie crust, or else it won't seal closed. Aim for 2-3 inches of pie crust on every side from the filling to ensure you don't overfill it.
Starting from one side, carefully peel up the pie crust from the parchment paper and fold it over itself in a half-moon shape, or like a taco. Gently pinch the edges closed to seal in the pie filling. Smooth over any cracks with your fingers. Use a fork to impress lines along the edges of the hand pie. Then, cut several slits on the top of each pie to allow a place for steam to escape. Place sealed hand pie on the prepared cookie sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough balls until all are filled and shaped.
Make the egg wash by combining one egg yolk with 1 tbsp. of water. Then, thoroughly brush egg wash onto all of the hand pies.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and light brown. If your crust is having trouble browning, you can try brushing the hand pies with the egg wash again at the 10 minute mark. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Once hand pies are cool, whisk together ingredients for the glaze until smooth and drizzle over top. Allow to harden 5 minutes, and then re-apply the glaze. You can apply the glaze up to three or four times if you want a thicker, crackly glaze.
Serve at room temperature or chilled. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and eat within 3 days.

Notes

We enjoyed these at room temperature the first night and then ate chilled the next day. They were delicious both ways. If you want to eat it only at room temperature, get it out of the fridge 30-45 minutes before planning to eat.

Keep in mind that the pie crust itself has almost no sugar and the apple filling has mostly natural sugar, so a double or triple glaze adds needed sweetness to the pie crust exterior. In other words, don't feel bad about it.

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