Description
These spiced apple and blackberry hand pies are a delightful dessert featuring a flaky shortcrust pastry filled with a sweet and aromatic mixture of tender cooked apples, juicy blackberries, cinnamon, and honey. Perfectly portioned as individual hand pies, they are easy to make and ideal for serving warm with cream or custard.
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 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pastry and Assembly
- 2 sheets (320 g each) shortcrust pastry
- 1 small egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
Instructions
- Cook the Apples: Place the chopped apples in a small saucepan with 50 g golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until the apples are soft. Transfer the cooked apples to a shallow dish, spread out, and allow to cool.
- Prepare the Filling: In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon cornflour, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon until smooth. Add the blackberries to the cooled apple pieces and drizzle the cinnamon and honey paste over the fruit. Gently mix the filling until combined.
- Cut Pastry Circles: Unroll the pastry sheets. Using a 10 cm round pastry cutter, ramekin, or similarly sized glass, cut out 12 circles from the pastry.
- Fill and Seal Pies: Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the fruit filling onto half of the pastry circles, leaving a 1 cm border around the edges. Brush the edges with beaten egg wash. Place a plain pastry circle on top to encase the filling. Use your fingers to create small dents on the top and bottom to shape the pies like apples. Seal the edges by pressing with the prongs of a fork.
- Decorate and Vent: Brush each pie with the beaten egg wash. Using any pastry off-cuts, cut out small leaves and stalk shapes and adhere them onto the pies with egg wash. Poke a small steam hole in the top of each pie with a skewer.
- Chill the Pies: Place the assembled pies on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or overnight. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months at this stage.
- Bake the Pies: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan). Bake the pies for 20 minutes or until golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the steam holes. If baking from frozen, add 5 to 10 extra minutes to the baking time.
- Serve: Once baked, sprinkle the pies with 1 tablespoon caster sugar and serve warm with a dollop of cream or custard.
Notes
- If you don’t have a 10 cm round pastry cutter, use an upside-down ramekin or a glass with a similar diameter.
- For making ahead: prepare the pies up to step 5, then store in the fridge for up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 3 months before baking.
- Using digital scales for accuracy is recommended, as the recipe is developed with metric grams for best results.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pie
- Calories: 320 kcal
- Sugar: 18 g
- Sodium: 100 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 44 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg
