Caramel Apple Hand Pie

These Caramel Apple Hand Pie are most certainly the cutest dessert I make.  I tried this apple hand pie version because I find whole pies a little difficult to make and serve.  I recently hosted a Fall soups and pies collaboration with some of my friends on Instagram and made these caramel hand pies for the occasion.  At that time, it was just an experiment, and I was wonderfully surprised with how well they turned out.  My kids and I couldn’t wait to eat it once I was done taking pictures! And then we couldn’t just stop at one 😊  

And did I mention that these dainty hand pies are filled with caramel.  Apples and caramel are such a classic and magical combination and it just made sense to include caramel in the filling.  But wait till you see my easy hack for the caramel filling that does not include the tricky process of making caramel at home. 

Components of the Caramel Apple Hand Pie:

The crust: The crust is the most important part of this dessert in my opinion.  I use the same recipe for the pie crust as my Curried Vegetable Pot Pie recipe.  The difference is that this is not a vegan recipe and I used regular butter here.  All other components of the pie crust are the same and using regular or vegan butter does not make any difference in the final product for me.  The crust is light and flaky and just to die for.  Below I have provided some useful tips to keep in mind when making the pie crust.  You can of course buy a store-bought crust if you are short on time.  Just keep in mind that most of the pie crust brands available in grocery stores contain lard and are not vegan and vegetarian friendly. 

The filling: The filling contains chopped up apples with sugar, flour for binding the juices and cinnamon.  The hack we are using for easy caramel is soft caramel candies (not the hard ones).  The soft candies are also chopped in 6-8 pieces for easy melting and distribution in the filling.  The filling is so easy that its ready when the pie crust is resting in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

As far as apples are concerned, I have used Granny Smith variety of apples for this recipe.  But other good baking variety of apples are Honey Crisp, Jonagold and Pink Lady and you can easily use those. 

1. Ingredients for the Pie crust
2. Ingredients mixed in by hand
3. Formed dough
4. Chilled dough in plastic wrap

5. Rolled out dough

6. Cut out dough

7. Filling

8. Baked Apple pies

Tips for making and rolling home-made pie crust:

Using a food processor makes it a bit easier for me, but you can mix the dough by hand. 

Use fridge cold butter and ice-cold water will make the dough flaky. 

Put the dough ball wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before you roll it. 

This is something I tried while making this recipe and it has made the rolling process so much simpler. Roll the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and no more sticking!

Serving and Storing Caramel Apple Hand pie

I personally like to eat the hand pies slightly warm but they are perfectly delicious at room temperature.  The caramel apple hand pies taste delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you are craving some extra indulgence!

Once completely cooled, the hand pies can be stored in an airtight container for a day or in the refrigerator for a week.  To re-heat it, pop it in a 350 degree F oven for 3-5 minutes. 

Key Features of this recipe:

Easy Fall dessert to take to picnics and potlucks.  Individual servings makes it easy to serve and eat; no plates needed!

This recipe can be made completely Vegan by using Vegan butter for the crust.  The soft caramel candies in the filling are not vegan but you can leave them out or use vegan candy if you can find it.

You can use any filling of your choice.  In the summers, blueberries would make a lovely filling.  This recipe is very versatile and you can fill the pie crust with anything you like.

My recipe of the Vegan Curried Pot Pie also uses the same pie crust. Check it out!

Caramel Apple Hand Pie

Portable version of the classic apple pie

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Recipe by Divya Jhaveri

5 from 4 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

45

minutes

Cooking time

23

minutes

Ingredients

• Caramel Apple Filling

• 1 large Granny Smith Apple (See Note)

• 2 tablespoons Sugar

• 1 tablespoon All purpose Flour

• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon powder

• 5-6 soft caramel candies

• Pie Crust

• 1 3/4 cups All purpose flour

• 1/2 cup butter, cold, cut in pieces (See note)

• 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

• 3-5 tablespoons ice cold water

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Vegan Egg wash

• 1 tablespoon Milk of choice (regular or any nut milk if vegan)

• 1 teaspoon Maple syrup (or honey if not vegan)

• pinch of turmeric

• Topping

• Coarse sugar (optional)

Method

• To make the crust- Add flour, sugar, salt, butter and oil to a food processor.  Pulse a few times for the butter pieces to break up and combine with the flour.  With the food processor running, add 3 tablespoons of ice cold water.  Add additional 2 tablespoons if the dough does not come together.  Do not over mix.  Stop immediately as the dough comes together. 
  Alternatively, you can do this step by hand. Add flour, sugar, salt, butter and oil to a mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender or fork or even just your hands, cut the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Then, using your hands, rub the mixture together so the butter is absorbed in the flour.  Gradually drizzle ice water into the bowl, mixing with your hands until the dough just comes together.
   
  Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes while you make the filling. 
• To make the filling– To make the filling, peel the apple and remove the core. Cut the apple is small pieces, about ¼ inch dice.  Put it in a bowl and add sugar, flour and cinnamon and mix well.  Chop the caramel candies in 6-8 pieces.  Set aside.
• Prepare the Vegan egg wash by mixing the ingredients well.
• After the pie crust dough has rested in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, unwrap it. Take 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Flatten the dough with your hands and put it on one piece of parchment. Put the other piece on the dough and gently roll it with a rolling pin. Move the parchment paper around to roll all the sides of the dough evenly. Roll to dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Using a 3 inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the rolled out pie crust. Cut it as closely as possible to get minimal wastage. You can re- roll the scraps and cut some more circles. You should have 16 circles by the end.
  
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lay half of the circles on the cookie sheet. Add 1 ½ tablespoons of the apple filling to the center of the pie crusts. Also add 5-6 pieces of the caramel pieces all around the apple filling. Lay the second pie crust on top of the apple filling. Stretch the sides slightly to cover the ends. Using a fork, make a design and pinch and seal the pie crust. Using a small pairing knife, make a small X on top of the pie crust. This will create to vent to release steam when cooking. Once all the hand pies are filled and shaped, put it in the refrigerator till the oven heats up.
  
• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the hand pies from the refrigerator and brush them with the vegan egg wash. Optional: you can sprinkle coarse sugar on it. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 23-25 minutes till golden brown at top.
  
• Remove from the oven and cool slightly before biting in! You can serve it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Tips

• Granny Smith variety of apples works best but you can also use Pink Lady, Honeycrisp or Jonagold
• If Vegan, you can substitute Vegan butter. I have made this pie crust with both types of butters and it works great.