Description
These Spiced Apple and Blackberry Hand Pies offer a delightful combination of tender cooked apples and juicy blackberries mixed with cinnamon and honey, all encased in a buttery shortcrust pastry. Perfect as a comforting dessert, these hand pies are easy to prepare, can be made ahead, and deliver a warm, fruity treat with a crisp golden crust.
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 & Toppings
- 2 sheets (320 g total) shortcrust pastry
- 1 small egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
Instructions
- Cook Apples: Place the peeled, cored, and chopped apples in a small saucepan. Add golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes or until the apples are soft. Transfer to a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.
- Prepare Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the cornflour, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth to make a paste. Add blackberries to the cooled apples and drizzle the cinnamon-honey paste over the fruit. Gently fold the mixture together to combine evenly.
- Cut Pastry Circles: Unroll the shortcrust pastry sheets and using a 10 cm round pastry cutter (or similar sized ramekin or glass), cut out 12 circles. Place about 1 tablespoon of the fruit filling onto half of the circles, leaving a 1 cm border around the edge.
- Assemble Pies: Brush the edges of the filled circles with some beaten egg. Top each with a plain pastry circle and gently press edges to seal. Pinch the top and bottom edges to create an apple shape. Seal edges completely using the prongs of a fork. Brush the entire surface of each pie with the beaten egg.
- Decorate and Vent: Use any leftover pastry cutouts to create small leaves and stalks. Attach them to the pies with egg wash. Poke a small steam hole on top of each pie using a skewer.
- Chill Pies: Place the pies on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Alternatively, chill overnight or freeze for up to 3 months at this stage.
- Bake Pies: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan). Bake the chilled pies for 20 minutes or until golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the vents. If baking from frozen, add 5-10 extra minutes to the baking time.
- Finish and Serve: When baked, sprinkle the pies 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 similarly sized glass for cutting pastry circles.
- You can prepare the pies up to the chilling step ahead of time and store them in the fridge for up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Use digital scales for accurate measurement, especially for the pastry and sugar quantities.
- Allow the pies to cool slightly before serving to avoid burning from hot filling.
- For a vegan variation, substitute honey with maple syrup and use vegan pastry and egg replacer for brushing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pie
- Calories: 280 kcal
- Sugar: 22 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg
