Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies
Flaky hand pies wrap cinnamon apples in brown butter pastry for a cozy dessert with no slicing required.
Prep: 20 · Cook: 15 · Total: 35 · Serves: 8 · Difficulty: Easy · Rating: 4.8/5 (118 reviews)
INSPIRED BY
An original small-batch dessert that turns brown butter apples and refrigerated crust into crisp personal pies.
Story
Casey made these for the kind of dessert night where nobody wants to share a single big slice. Brown butter gives the apple filling a toasty depth, and the little folded crusts are easy to pass around. They are cozy, portable, and just messy enough to feel like a treat.
By Casey
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium Honeycrisp apples, peeled and finely diced
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 package (14 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon coarse turbinado sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the milk solids turn amber and smell nutty.
- Add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, lemon juice, and salt and cook for 4 minutes until glossy and just tender; cool for 5 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Unroll the pie crusts and cut eight 5-inch rounds, rerolling scraps once if needed.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of apple filling on each round, fold the dough over, crimp the edges, and cut a small vent in each pie.
- Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with turbinado sugar, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes until deeply golden.
Chef Tips
- Dice apples small so the filling fits neatly inside each pie.
- Cool the filling before assembling to avoid soft pastry.
- A fork crimp seals the edges and adds a diner-style finish.
- Bake one test pie first if your rounds are different sizes.
Cook's Notes
- Cool filling before shaping.
- Vent each pie.
- Bake until the crust is deep golden.