Fried Apple Hand Pies
It's apple picking season and these fried apple hand pies are at the top of the list for treats to make in September. Flaky, soft and bursting with apple flavor, these hand pies will rival your local orchard's and are fun for the whole family to make and eat.
Ingredients
Pie Dough
- 2.5 cups all purpose flour plus more for rolling out/shaping
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup shortening, butter flavor regular
- ½ cup milk see recipe notes
- ½ cup heavy cream see recipe notes
- 2-3 cups vegetable oil for frying see recipe notes
Apple Pie Filling
- 4 cups chopped apples about 4 apples peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour reserved
Glaze
- 2.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4-1/3 cup milk more or less depending on how thin you want the glaze to be
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Apple Pie Filling
- Peel about 4 medium-sized apples (I love this apple peeler, affiliate link). Chop into small chunks.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the butter, apples, cinnamon nutmeg, sugar, water and salt. Simmer until the apples are softened, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook down a little more until a thick filling is formed.
- Allow the filling to cool to room temperature until ready to use in the hand pies (you can cool quickly in the freezer or fridge if needed). The filling will also last a day or two in the fridge or about 3 months in the freezer.
Hand Pie Dough
- Mix together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
- Add the butter and shortening to the bowl. Cut in with a pastry cutter (affiliate link) until it looks like a fine crumb.
- To a liquid measuring cup, mix the milk and heavy cream together. Add an egg and mix until combined.
- Add the liquid mixture to crumbled butter/flour mixture, a little at a time. Use a fork to fluff the mixture and combine together until it forms a dough. The dough will be a little sticky. Don’t worry!
- Liberally flour (about ½ cup or more of flour) a piece of parchment paper or workspace. Pour the dough out onto the counter and knead a few times until the dough comes together and is not overly sticky.
- Pat into a thick rectangle and wrap in parchment paper. Stick in the fridge for at least an hour to chill (you can leave it in the fridge up to 24 hours if you wish).
Hand Pie Assembly
- Take the chilled dough from the fridge. Liberally flour a counter and roll the dough out on the counter to about ⅛ an inch thick.
- Press out circles of dough with a large, circular cookie cutter or small bowl. I like to use a bowl around 5 inches wide, so the pie is of a decent size. Continue pressing out circles until you have 12 circles of dough. If you have extra pieces of dough, you can press them together and form a circle with your fingers.
- To each circle, add about 1-2 Tablespoons of apple pie filling, right in the center of the circle.
- Wet your finger and lightly rub your wet finger around half of the pie dough. Fold the other half of the dough over (to form a semi-circle) and seal by lightly pressing a fork down on the edges to crimp them closed.
- Continue with the rest of the dough circles until you have about 12 apple pies.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the glaze: powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
Frying
- Heat about 3 cups of vegetable oil in a large saucepan* over medium heat until hot (drop a little piece of dough in the oil and watch it to see if it’s ready. If it darkens and browns immediately, turn the heat down. If it stays light, up the heat a little. You want a medium brown color.
- Place about 3 apple pies at a time in the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes. Flip over to the other side and fry for an additional 2-3 minutes. If you notice your pies browning too quickly, reduce the temperature and flip over.
- Cool on a cooling rack.
- When they are cool enough for you to touch them, dip them in the glaze mixture, covering the entire pie. Put them back on the cooling rack for the icing to solidify.
- Eat warm, with a scoop of ice cream if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
*You can substitute 1 cup of half-and-half for the heavy cream/milk mixture in the pie dough.
To flash fry: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fry each side for about 20 seconds and then remove the pies and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 5-7 minutes until cooked all the way through. Top with glaze.
You could also use an air fryer or bake these pies. I haven't tried them that way, but I'm sure they would be delicious. Let me know in the comments if you choose to do this!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!