Apple Cinnamon Hand Pies

Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach.  I just could not help but reading the Huckleberry Cookbook again and again and getting excited about baking.  This was quite the project but yummy.  I made the Whole-Wheat Flaky Dough a few days in advance which was a smart move.  I also made the filling a day or so in advance too.  That way I only had to assemble the day we planned on eating them.

Whole Wheat Flaky Dough:

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp brown sugar

1 cup unsalted butter cubed

1/4 cup cold water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a food process.  Add the butter to this bowl and pulse until the butter looks like pea size pieces.  Pour the water over this and pulse until the dough starts to come together.  The dough should be dry and clumpy.

Wrap this up into a ball, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate.  It needs to refrigerate for at least an hour before you use it.

Apple Butter ( which is the most amazing apple sauce )

8 apples (anything but Fuji)

2 cups water

6 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 vanilla bean

juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 350.  Peel core and cut the apples into eights.

Combine the apples, water, sugar, salt, vanilla bean and lemon juice in an oven proof saute pan and cook, covered,  over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until soft.

Transfer this to a food processor and blend until smooth.  Then pour into the same pan and bake.  Stir every 10 minutes or so to make sure it does not burn.  It should get thicker.  Bake for about an hour.

Making the pies (preheat the oven to 350)

Take the dough out and let it soften a bit.  Then roll it out into a large equal square.  About 1/4 inch thick.  Measure an even 9″ across and 9″ down for the hand pie.  I had some leftovers here and there and just kept making as many as I could.

Brush the squares with an egg wash (2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp. heavy cream, a pinch of kosher salt).  Put about 1-3 tbsp of the apple butter about 2/3’s of the way down the pie crust.  Fold in half and then use a fork to pinch down the sides to close.  Apple butter will absolutely ooze out but that is ok.  Put these in a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush each assembled hand pie and brush with the egg wash on  top.  Take a sugar/cinnamon mixture (1/3 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon) and sprinkle on top.  Take for about 35/40 minutes or until crisp.

Cool and serve.  Fun, yum and lots of work!