I LOVE pie. My favorite pie is apple. It's comforting, warm, flaky, spiced, and perfect with a scoop of ice cream of course! These hand pies remind me of the pies we used to ask my mom to buy from the grocery store that were packaged in wax paper and tasted the best when warmed up in the microwave for 30 seconds. You know what I'm talking about right? There was apple, cherry, chocolate, pineapple, etc. I haven't had one of those probably since high school and now that I stay away from processed food as much as possible, I figured I can make my own version!
As mentioned in a previous post, I find making my own pie crust very intimidating and have never attempted, so naturally I thought I would maybe just go buy a pie crust and make these little pies for dessert. But I left work, the temperature had dropped like 20 degrees and there was that super annoying misty rain and I just wanted to go home. No stops. So, finally, I ended up attempting pie crust from scratch, and for a first try, I think it went well! Please don't let making pie crust be intimidating! It was actually quite easy and I thought fried up well for this recipe. If I can do it, you can do it.
Feel free to change up the filling as you wish! As I said, apple is my personal favorite, but you can do cherry, peach, strawberry, whatever your heart desires! I'm sure savory fillings would be great and handy for a lunch or breakfast on the go.
I hope that you try this recipe and it brings with it warm feelings of childhood.
Pie Crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, cold
2 eggs, beaten in separate bowls
1 cup buttermilk
Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour with your hands until the flour is coarse and resembles sand. Add 1 beaten egg and stir gently with a fork. Add buttermilk and gently stir until combined and comes together into a soft dough. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least a hour.
As the pie crust sits, make the pie filling.
Apple Pie Filling: for two
1 apple, peeled and chopped
3 tbs. brown sugar
cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
In a small pot, over medium heat, toss together the apple chunks, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Take off heat and add vanilla.
Hand Pie Assembly:
Beat the 2nd egg in a small bowl. Take dough out of the refrigerator and pull off a 1/4 of the dough and place the rest back in the refrigerator, or freeze. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a thin rectangle. Take a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut out a large rectangle and then cut the rectangle in half to make 2 thinner rectangles. Set aside the scraps so you are only left with the 2 rectangles.
Add a generous dollop of filling to the end of each rectangle leaving the edges free. Brush on the egg around all 4 edges. Fold over the top of each rectangle over the pie filling and to the opposite edge. Gently press the edges down to seal the pies. Dip a fork into some flour and press it along the edges of the pies to extra seal.
Place the pies in the refrigerator for about 15 min to set.
Heat enough oil in a pot to deep fry the pies. Add a pinch of dough to the oil and if it immediately begins to sizzle and float to the top, the oil is ready. Or wait until it reaches 350 degrees on a thermometer. Carefully add one or both hand pies (depending on how much room there is in the pot) and cook until golden brown, 3-4 minutes, turning halfway.
Drain the pies on paper towels and sprinkle with lots of powdered sugar and ENJOY!
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