Description
Delight in these spiced apple and blackberry hand pies, featuring tender cooked apples mingled with juicy blackberries and a hint of cinnamon and honey, all encased in crisp shortcrust pastry. Perfectly portable and bursting with autumnal flavors, these hand pies are great for dessert or a sweet snack.
Ingredients
Scale
Fruit Filling
- 2 medium cooking apples (peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces)
- 50 g golden caster sugar
- 150 g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pastry
- 2 sheets 320 g shortcrust pastry
Finishing
- 1 small egg (beaten)
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Instructions
- Cook Apples: Place the peeled, cored, and chopped apples in a small saucepan with the golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook for 8 minutes until the apples are soft. Transfer to a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.
- Prepare Filling: In a small bowl, mix the cornflour, honey, and ground cinnamon to form a smooth paste. Add blackberries to the cooled apple chunks, then drizzle the cinnamon and honey paste over them. Gently mix to combine the fruit and spices evenly.
- Cut Pastry Circles: Unroll the shortcrust pastry sheets. Using a 10 cm pastry cutter, cut out 12 circles. These will form the fronts and backs of the hand pies.
- Assemble Pies: Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the fruit filling onto half of the pastry circles, leaving a 1 cm border. Brush the edges of these circles with the beaten egg wash and place a plain pastry circle on top. Press your fingers to create small dents at the top and bottom of each pie to shape them like apples.
- Seal and Decorate: Seal the edges tightly using the prongs of a fork all around each pie. Brush the tops with egg wash. Use any leftover pastry to cut out small leaves and stalk shapes, attach them to the pies using more egg wash, and poke a small steam hole in the center of each pie with a skewer.
- Chill Pies: Place the assembled pies on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight. At this stage, the pies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- Bake Pies: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan). Bake the pies for 20 minutes until golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the steam holes. If baking from frozen, add an extra 10 minutes to the cooking time.
- Finish and Serve: Once baked, sprinkle the pies with caster sugar. Serve warm with a dollop of cream or custard for an extra indulgent treat.
Notes
- Use cooking apples like Bramley for a soft filling that holds its shape well.
- If blackberries are frozen, thaw before mixing to avoid excess moisture.
- Chilling the pies before baking helps prevent the pastry from shrinking or losing shape.
- Leftover pies can be frozen and reheated in the oven to enjoy later.
- For a vegan version, replace egg wash with plant-based milk or aquafaba and use a vegan pastry.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 195 g
- Calories: 109 kcal
- Sugar: 21 g
- Sodium: 12 mg
- Fat: 1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 24 mg
