Description
These spiced apple and blackberry hand pies are a delightful dessert featuring tender apples and juicy blackberries wrapped in flaky shortcrust pastry. Perfectly spiced with cinnamon and lightly sweetened with honey and golden caster sugar, these hand pies are easy to make and best served 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 Topping
- 2 sheets (320 g total) shortcrust pastry
- 1 small egg beaten (for egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar (for sprinkling)
Instructions
- Cook the Apples: Place the chopped apples in a small saucepan with the golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 8 minutes until the apples are soft. Transfer the cooked apples to a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.
- Prepare the Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the cornflour, honey, and ground cinnamon until you have a smooth paste. Add the blackberries to the cooled apple mixture and drizzle with the cinnamon and honey paste. Gently combine the filling ingredients without breaking up the blackberries too much.
- Cut the Pastry Circles: Unroll the shortcrust pastry sheets. Using a 10 cm round pastry cutter (or a similar-sized ramekin or glass), cut out 12 circles from the pastry.
- Assemble the Pies: Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the fruit filling onto half of the pastry circles, leaving about a 1 cm border around the edge. Brush the edges of these circles with the beaten egg wash. Place a plain pastry circle on top of the filling to encase it. Form an apple shape by creating small dents at the top and bottom of each pie with your fingers.
- Seal and Decorate: Seal the edges of the pies by pressing them with the prongs of a fork all around. Brush the tops of the pies with egg wash. Use any leftover pastry to cut out small leaf and stalk shapes, stick them on top of the pies with more egg wash, and poke a small steam hole in each pie’s top using a skewer.
- Chill the Pies: Place the assembled pies on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight. The pies can also be frozen at this point for up to 3 months.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan). Bake the pies for 20 minutes until golden and bubbling through the steam holes. If baking from frozen, increase the baking time by 10 minutes.
- Serve: Remove the pies from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar. 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 of similar size as a substitute.
- For make-ahead convenience, prepare the pies through assembling (step 5), then store in the fridge for up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 3 months before baking.
- Using digital kitchen scales is recommended for accuracy when measuring ingredients.
- Ensure the filling is adequately cooled before assembling to prevent soggy pastry.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pie
- Calories: 280 kcal
- Sugar: 18 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 35 mg
