Make Ahead
Easy Apple Hand Pies with a Maple Glaze
- Makes 12 hand pies
Author Notes
Apple and pear hand pies with no refined sugar, paired with a vegan maple glaze. —Renee H. (SoulBeet)
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- Pie Crust
-
1 cup
spelt flour
-
1 cup
whole wheat pastry flour
-
6 tablespoons
unsalted, organic, grass-fed butter- chillled
-
6 tablespoons
olive oil, chilled in freezer
-
2 tablespoons
organic maple syrup
-
1 pinch
salt
-
2-4 tablespoons
ice water
- Filling and Maple Glaze
-
1
sweet apple (fuji, ambrosia, gala)
-
1
sweet pear (d'angou, bosch, comice, seckel)
-
1/2 teaspoon
dried ginger
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1 teaspoon
tapioca flour
-
6
large pitted dates
-
4 tablespoons
full-fat canned coconut milk
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
2-3 tablespoons
organic maple syrup
-
1 pinch
salt
-
1 tablespoon
melted coconut oil
-
3-6 tablespoons
warm water, for consistency
Directions
- Pre-heat oven 375°F or 190°C
- Pie Crust Dough In a large bowl, combine spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, briskly whisk together chilled olive oil, maple syrup, and 2 Tablespoons cold water.
- Add cold, cubed butter to flour and use a fork to incorporate. Texture will be crumbly. Alternatively, pulse a few times in a food processor.
- Add oil and maple syrup mix to flour and combine until it just comes together, either using a fork or food processor. You want the dough rough with visible chunks of butter. Add more water by Tablespoon as needed. This dough will be a little more moist than traditional dough but still be sure to NOT OVERWORK IT!
- Form dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge.
- Filling Coarsely grate apple and pear either on a box grater or in a food processor with the proper fitted disk.
- Sprinkle with ginger and tapioca flour and stir to combine. If your filling is super juicy, either pour off some of the juice and drink it-or-soak it up with some paper towels. The tapioca flour should help. Add a splash of lemon juice to avoid discoloration while you roll out the dough.
- Place chilled dough on a clean, dry, floured surface, and cover with a piece of parchment paper.
- With the parchment between the dough and the floured rolling pin, roll out dough as evenly as possible to 1/8 inch thick. Check frequently to see if the dough is sticking to your work surface or parchment. Add flour as necessary.
- Using a biscuit cutter, or large mason jar lid as I did (all I had..), cut as many circles as you can.
- Gather scraps, roll out again, and cut more circles. You don't want to gather the scraps more than one or two times as the dough will become tough.
- In the center of each dough circle, place about 1 Tablespoon of filling with about a 1/2 inch perimeter.Fold dough over filling. Because the filling is moist already, you will not need to add any additional water to the edges to form a seal. Crimp edges with a fork. Repeat for all 12 hand pies.
- Place hand pies on a parchment lined backing sheet. Puncture 2-3 little slits in pies to allow steam to escape.
- Optional-brush with egg wash (just a whisked egg). I like the golden color and sheen from the egg wash. Bake for 30-40 minutes, checking every 15 and rotating as needed. The apple hand pies are done when slightly golden.
- Maple Glaze Combine all glaze ingredients (last 7 ingredients) in a high speed blender or food processor. Drizzle in warm water as needed to thin out consistency.
- Remove pies from oven when done and drizzle with maple glaze (or dunk).
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