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–+ servings
Apple Hand Pies

Apple Hand Pies with Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 6 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:

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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