Caramel Apple Hand Pies
If you want a fall-tastic dessert that doesn’t include pumpkin spice, keep on reading.
Let us introduce you to the fruit-filled hand pie. As the name suggests, it’s a portable pastry (that’s right - no plates or utensils needed unless you’re feeling fancy) filled with the fruit of your choice and baked until golden brown.
Since it’s fall, we went with the ubiquitous fruit of the season – apples – and mixed them with warm spices and creamy caramel sauce before filling the puff pastry dough and baking until a golden brown.
Pro Tip: While you can use any of your favorite baking apples in this recipe, we used Gala apples. They’re naturally sweet and crisp, but most importantly they stay firm while baking.
Caramel Apple Hand Pies
What you need
- 1 box puff pastry, thawed
- 3 large apples (Galas are great, or use your favorite baking apple), cored, halved, and sliced into ¼-inch slices
- 3 tbsp.unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Caramel for drizzling
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F. Unfold both sheets of puff pastry, and cut into 4 rectangles each. Stretch the shorter side to create a square and set aside.
In a cast-iron skillet or another high-sided frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add apples and stir to coat. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for three minutes. Add brown sugar and cinnamon and toss to combine again. Continue cooking for another five minutes, and remove from heat. Spread onto a cookie sheet to cool for 10 minutes.
To fill, take three to four apple slices and chop into small pieces. Place the apples in the center of one of the puff pastry squares and drizzle with caramel. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg, and fold over, creating a triangle. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat filling steps and finish the remaining seven hand pies. Brush tops of all pies with egg, and poke three times with a fork so steam can escape.
Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
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