Friday, August 24, 2012

Baking: Apple Hand Pies

Apple handpies for the birthday girl!!

They'll be served with salted caramel sauce and homemade whipped cream... drool.

Cheater tip: You can makes the pie crusts from empanada shells.  They taste yummy and work great if you don't have a lot of time and or don't feel like making crust from scratch. You can usually find them in the "ethnic" section of your grocery store if your grocery store carries Goya products.


Apple Hand Pies

Crust:
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Shortening
4-8 tbsp Cold Water

Filling
4 Apples, peeled, cored & chopped
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/8 cup Granulated Sugar
1/8 cup Flour
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
A pinch of Salt

For Golden Crust:
1/8th cup heavy cream
Sugar for sprinkling on top

Pre-heat oven to 350.


If you're not using the cheater crusts, mix together the flours and salt and then cut in the shortening using a pastry cutter if you have one (or forks).  Slowly add the water, only adding enough until you can form a ball with the dough.  Let the dough chill for about 20 minutes in the fridge and then come back to it.

Prepare apple filling by chopping up apples into small pieces. I usually aim for roughly 1 cm squared pieces, that way they’ll get soft, but not turn to mush while baking.  Toss in apples, throw other filling ingredients on top, and mix together.

Non-cheater crusts: Remove your dough from the fridge, throw some flour on the counter and roll out the dough.  Using a bowl cut out your circles. I recommend circles 5-6 inches in diameter.


Depending on the size of your crusts fill with as much apple filling as you can fit in the crust while still being able to close it. For me this was about 3 Tbs.  You can use some water around the edge of the crust to help seal it, but I don’t always do this step.  To do this dip your finger in water and drag around the edge of the pie crust, then pinch the crust closed with a fork.  Once the pies are ready for the oven brush them with heavy cream and sprinkle sugar on top.

If you’re using 5-6 inch circles the filling will fill about 14 hand pies.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pies are golden brown.  Set them on a cooling rack.  If you're serving them later don't cover with cling wrap until they're completely cool. 

If you have extra filling, have no fear, just throw it in a small casserole dish, make some streusel apple pie topping and revel in the leftovers. Breakfast of champions. 



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