Simple & Delicious Apple Hand Pies (+VIDEO)

Today, I am sharing how to make homemade apple hand pies that are so simple and easy to make.

You do not need to pre-cook the apple which is perfect when you do not want to spend too much time making special pies!

The soft apple pie filling and the flaky pie crust are truly magic. If you love apple pie, I bet you'll love this one too.

In this post, you'll learn crucial baking tips like:

Key steps to roll pie dough like a pro
Tips to assemble them neatly and make pretty-looking hand pies!
How to bake them to maximize the best taste.

... and so on!

Jump to:

📌 Commonly Asked Questions:
📌 Learn how to make it visually!
📌 Ingredients for the apple hand pies
📌 How to make the apple hand pies
📌 Pie Dough
📌 Apple Pie Filling
📌 Rolling The Pie Dough
📌 Assembling
📌 Baking Time
📌 How To Enjoy
📌 The Printable Recipe
Simple Apple Hand Pies

📌 Commonly Asked Questions:

How should I store apple hand pies?

Move them to an air-tight container and store them in a fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat before you eat as you like.

How should I reheat the hand pies?

To enjoy the crispy pie crust, baking it in an oven again is the best way. I usually reheat them at 350F (You can go higher or lower as you like.) for about 15-20 minutes or so. The crust stays very crispy that way even after days!

📌 Learn how to make it visually!

To learn how to make it visually and have a deeper understanding of all, watch this video.

Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it😉

📌 Ingredients for the apple hand pies

Pie Dough

Check out this post to see the list.

Filling

Apple (peeled, cored, and cut): 510g | 18oz or about 4 medium-small apples
- I recommend mixing 2-3 Granny Smith apples & 1-2 apple that is less tart, sweeter, and breaks down more with heat (such as golden delicious).
Lemon juice: 1-2 tsp
- Add more or less depending on how tart your apples are.

Granulated sugar: 75g | 2.6oz
- You can also use brown sugar instead.
Salt: A pinch
All-purpose flour: 2 tsp
Corn starch: 2 tsp
- You can use only all-purpose flour or cornstarch as well. All-purpose flour gives a slightly chunkier texture while cornstarch gives a gel texture like a jam.
Cinnamon: ½ teaspoon or more as you like
Nutmeg: ⅛ teaspoon (optional)
Lemon zest: from ¼ lemon (optional)
- It adds a refreshing flavor.

Assembling

Butter (cut into small pieces): About 1 Tbsp
Egg white: from 1 egg
- I only use egg white as the egg wash today so that the surface does not get too dark in the oven.
Cinnamon sugar: Mix 50g | 1.7oz (¼ cup) of granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon.

📌 How to make the apple hand pies

One batch of this recipe makes 10-12 hand pies.

Pie dough

Make pie dough. (Use one batch of my pie dough recipe.) I added shredded cheddar to it. It's optional. Chill in a fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours.

Filling

Cut apples into small pieces and toss with lemon juice. Set it aside. Mix all dried ingredients for the apple filling and set it aside (Do not mix with apples yet.)

Rolling the pie dough

Roll the pie dough very thin, about 1.5-2mm | 0.05-0.07". Cut out pieces for the mini apple decoration, one for each pie (optional)
Cut its circle with a 12cm | 4.7-inch cookie cutter or cake ring. You'll get about 20-22 circles which are enough to make 10-11 hand pies. Chill them in a fridge if they are getting too soft to assemble.

Assembling

Mix the apples and the dried ingredients for the filling. Divide it on the center of the circles evenly.
Place pieces of butter on top of the apples.
Apply egg wash all around the edge as glue.
Place the 2nd circle on top and press down the edge well and seal the filling.
Flip over the edge, push down and repeat it all around the edge.
Push the edge with a fork all around.
Adjust a shape with your hands.
Apply eggwash all around the surface. Attach the apple decoration and apply more egg wash on top of it.
Mix sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar all around the surface.
Make small cuts on the surface.

Bake

Chill them in a fridge completely before baking them.
Bake at 375F | 190C for about 35 minutes. Enjoy!

📍 The printable recipe with instructions is at the very end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

Check out below to see the steps with more detailed tips and images👇🏻

More tips with images

📌 Pie Dough

Today, I added cheddar cheese to my pie dough recipe. I sometimes like to add it to apple pies. It adds a very slight flavor and deeper color to the crust. But this is totally optional!

You can use plain pie dough and still taste amazing.

When you add cheddar cheese,

Shred it finely and freeze it.

Once it's frozen, break it down by hand to make the flakes.

Add it to the flour and butter and mix before adding water.

Do everything else the same as my original recipe!

📌 Apple Pie Filling

👩🏻‍🍳 When the dough is just made, it is too soft to roll. Always chill it in the fridge completely before rolling it. The gluten in flour gets rested by doing it and it'll be easier for you to roll it for that reason as well.

Granny smith apples are the most popular option as apple pie filling. It has nice tartness and does not break down with heat too much.

Just granny smith tastes good but I like to mix up granny smith and one more kind of apple that is sweeter and breaks down with heat a little bit more; such as golden delicious. I feel it adds more layers of flavor and texture. This is totally a preference, so mix up your favorite apple for an apple pie!

Also, the tartness and sweetness vary widely depending on the season or brands, etc. I recommend you taste it and adjust the amount of sugar and lemon if you like.

Add all the dried ingredients to a bowl.

Zest the lemon before squeezing the juice out.

Do not mix it with apples yet!

Once you mix the apple and dried ingredients, a lot of juice starts to come out from the apples quickly because of the sugar. I personally do not want to discard the juice for its flavor and sweetness.

📌 It'll be a kind of a pain to add the juice and seal the filling neatly without making a mess. That is why I mix the apple and dried ingredients right before I use them. Before you mix them, set up all the pie dough and check everything is ready to assemble!

📌 Rolling The Pie Dough

Bread flour: Apply bread flour to dust on the working surface and the dough as you roll so that they are not sticking to each other.

Bread flour does not get absorbed into the dough as much as cake flour or all-purpose flour. It is also the least lumpy and spread evenly easier. That is why it is often used for this purpose!

If your dough is just out from the fridge, don't vigorously start rolling it yet. It can easily start cracking from the edge.

Wait some time to soften it or, push gently and evenly and slowly "wake it up".

Once it's soft enough start rolling. Add the same pressures from both hands to make an even thickness.

Turn 90 degrees and repeat that.

If the edge is cracked a bit, pinch it with your fingers to fix it easily.

The hand pies taste so much better when the crust is not too thick. You'll feel a more delicate texture. Roll into about 1.5-2mm | 0.05-0.07".

Today, I cut with a 12cm | 4.7" ring. If you don't have it, you can also use a cookie cutter, tartlet pan, or even bowl and plate to cut the circles.

Attach the extra dough together to cut out more circles.

Use them at the bottom and save prettier ones for the top!

It is optional but you can cut out mini apples with the extra dough. I used a heart cookie cutter to make the apple shape.

Leaf

Stem

Collect all the pieces and roll them out again!

In total, you should be able to get 20-22 circles which is enough to make 10-12 hand pies.

If the dough feels too soft to assemble, chill it n a fridge again and come back.

📌 Assembling

For egg wash, use egg white instead of whole eggs. That is because I do not want to color the surface too dark. Since we sprinkle sugar on top and bake for a long time, the pie crust already colors pretty well.

To make cinnamon sugar, simply mix the sugar and cinnamon.

Divide the filling evenly on top of the circles. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, Mix the dried ingredients and apples right before this before the juice is coming out too much!

Scrape any juice left in a bowl and add it on top.

Place pieces of butter on top of the filling.

Apply egg wash all around the edge.

Dust bread flour on the working surface so that you can move your pie easier later.

Warm up the 2nd dough with your hands if it's not flexible enough.

Place it on top and press the edge really well to seal the filling.

Flip the edge and press well again so that the filling does not come out.

Press it down with a fork so that the filling is REALLY not coming out.

Now is the time to adjust the shape and make it look prettier.

Scoop it up with a dough scraper.

Apply egg white all around the surface.

Attach the apple decorations and apply more egg white on top of it.

Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon sugar all around the surface.

Make 4 cuts on the surface so that steam can get out from there. The filling is more likely to come out from the edge if you don't do this.

Chill in the fridge completely before you bake them! By doing this, the pies don't spread too much and can hold nice shapes.

📌 Baking Time

🔥 Bake at 375F | 190C for about 35 minutes until the surface and the bottom is caramelized evenly.

If you see caramelized filling around the crust, you can remove it easier while it is still hot or cut it with a scissor after it's cooled down.

To keep the bottom crust nice and crispy, cool them on a rack.

📌 How To Enjoy

Enjoy this simple pie for your special occasions such as thanksgiving and Christmas, or cute snacks for kids or home parties. This is also a great treat to bring in since it does not break so easily.

You can also shape differently into squares, rectangles, etc, and enjoy many versions!

This can easily turn into other types of hand pies such as blueberry, strawberry & rhubarb, cherry hand pies, etc!