Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

Apple Hand Pies with a difference; A flaky, puff pastry shell and some Salted Caramel to add that sweet/salty combination that everyone loves! You’ll definitely make these again and again!

Is it just me or come 1st November, did we all wake up and find Christmas adverts/gift guides/songs (delete as appropriate) had taken over the world?

I adore Christmas, I really do. But, it’s a little early even for me. Maybe I’m just in denial as I’m suddenly thinking “AGHHH, I haven’t bought a thing”, but literally Halloween is barely over and suddenly every website you go on, there’s a HUGE advert for Christmas shopping.

I admit, I had a little look yesterday, but I ended up shutting the laptop and putting it in another room as I was so deflated. I looked at 4 sites, couldn’t think of anything to search for, so tried to look through their ideas for what people *should* like and then got annoyed as I couldn’t find anything remotely decent.

That’s another thing; they try and put people into categories. I understand they try and make it easier, but no-one I know is part of one of their categories. Say a sport lover, or gadget lover. I mean, Mr Annie’s Noms likes computers, but any gifts in the gadget sections of sites would be met with a sullen face come Christmas morning.

My dad? He loves music, but he probably doesn’t want a guitar pluck.

It dawned on me last night that I’m probably going to have to plan a day out to a huge shopping centre and try and attack my Christmas shopping head on.

And that was enough to give me a headache and make me run to the kitchen for one of these Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies.

Can we make a pinkie promise to not share Christmas recipes until at least the third week of November?

Because right now… I’m still all about apples and pumpkin.

I don’t know why I don’t make hand pies more. As you all know, I love mini things. I don’t know why, but mini things are so much cuter than normal sized things.

Take the other day; we were shopping in Le Creuset and I bought a few things and they needed a big bag. Mr Annie’s Noms bought me their cute little preserve jar for my stocking and they brought out this little orange bag and I about died.

I was like “AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW that is SO cute!!!!”. Luckily, the server agreed that mini things are cute too, so I didn’t look completely crazy.

Back to hand pies. I was going to make these Apple and ginger… then Apple pie and then I thought about how much I love salted caramel and decided that needed to happen.

There are two ways you can make the filling, depending on the amount of time you have. You can either place the apples and caramel into a small saucepan and cook for a few minutes, which will thicken up the sauce, or you can mix the filling and bake straight away.

I do buy a thick salted caramel sauce, but I was still a little worried that the sauce would spill out. But, if you get a sauce that really clings to the apples, then making these without pre cooking the filling will be just perfect.

I really would advise either making your own sauce or buying a proper caramel sauce (In the UK, they sell them in Sainsbury’s and Tesco and is normally down the sugar/jelly/dessert aisle) not a thin ice cream topping sauce. With them, you will have problems with the sauce running out of the pies.

To make these little pies, I took a sheet of my old faithful, puff pastry and used a 3 inch round cutter to cut rounds of dough, then placed 1tbsp of filling into the centre of half of the rounds, before topping with another piece of pastry and crimping with a fork.

I gave them a quick egg wash and into the oven they went. They’ll be a glorious golden brown and be puffy and flaky once baked. Now the hard part; waiting for them to cool enough that you don’t skin yourself with molten salted caramel.

These babies are great warm or cold. We served them warm with extra filling and custard. It definitely made us fee cosy on a cold, Autumn night!

Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

Apple Hand Pies with a difference; A flaky, puff pastry shell and some Salted Caramel to add that sweet/salty combination that everyone loves! You'll definitely make these again and again!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 22 minutes mins

Servings 8 -10 hand pies

Ingredients

  

• One 13oz/375g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 1/2 or 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch chunks (I used Jazz apples)
• Pinch of ground all spice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup + 1tbsp (80g) salted caramel sauce
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray. Place your sheet of puff pastry directly onto the baking tray and use a 3 inch round cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can. I got 12 on the first go and then re rolled my pastry out on a silicone pastry sheet and got another 4; this meant I had 16 rounds, enough for 8 pies. Discard any excess pastry.
• Method one for filling: Place apples, all spice, cinnamon, cornflour, lemon juice and caramel sauce into a small saucepan and place on a low-medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is thick and clinging to the apples. Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
• Method two for filling: Place apples, all spice, cinnamon and cornflour into a medium sized bowl and toss to coat all of the apple in the spices. Add in the lemon juice and stir until combined, then add in the caramel sauce and stir to coat the apples.
• Place a scant 1tbsp of filling into the centre of 8 of your pastry rounds, if you used method two, make sure you don't put a ton of sauce in as it may run.
• Take your beaten egg and lightly brush it around the edges of the filling.
• Take the remaining 8 pieces of pastry and place over the top of the filling, press lightly to ensure the filling is in the middle and then use a fork to crimp the edges of the two bits of pastry together.
• Slice 2 lines in the top (in the centre) of each hand pie (just to let out some steam) and then brush each pie with the egg wash.
• Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until risen, puffy and golden on top.
• Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. They're also great cold and can be reheated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
• Hand pies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for 3 days.

Notes

Note 1: You may have some leftover filling, serve it with the hand pies or just eat it! Note 2: You need a thick caramel sauce, not a thin ice cream topping sauce. In the UK we get a thick salted caramel sauce which is down the sugar/dessert aisle. It's very similar to the consistency of homemade caramel sauce. Recipe by Annie of Annie's Noms