Fried Apple Pies

Feb 1

Written By Erin McDowell

MAKES

18 hand pies

TAKES

Prep time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Total: 1 hour 50 minutes

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✻ ABOUT THIS RECIPE

Fried apple pies are a beautiful thing: the crisp flakiness of buttery pie dough, just the right amount of caramel-y apple filling—basically, all the comfort of apple pie in a perfect handheld pouch. Whenever I make these, folks positively flip for them, and they disappear fast. They’re awesome to serve at a fall party, where the smell of them cooking encourages folks to grab and devour them while they’re still warm.

INGREDIENTS

Filling

28 g / 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

375 g / 3 medium apples, such as Honeycrisp, peeled and diced

15 g / 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

5 g / 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

107 g / ½ cup dark brown sugar

3 g / 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

> 1 g / ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 g / ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

37 g / 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

15 g / 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pies

3x recipe (975 g / 2 ¼ lbs) Extra Flaky All Buttah Pie Dough, mixed as one batch, divided in half, formed into disks, and well-chilled

neutral oil, as needed for frying (such as canola, vegetable, or safflower)

99 g / ½ cup granulated sugar

4 g / 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

pinch fine sea salt

Get the Flakiest Crust Ever:

METHOD

1. Make the filling: In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples, tossing to coat in the butter. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir to combine. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the apples start to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the granulated sugar and flour to combine. Add to the apple mixture and stir well to combine. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Let the filling cool completely (you can speed this process up by spreading it into an even layer on a baking sheet).

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch / 6 mm thick—the exact size doesn’t matter, because you’ll be cutting out circles from the dough. Use a 4 inch / 10 cm round cutter (or a plate or stencil of that size as a guide). You’ll get about 14 pieces (if you get less, that’s OK—you can reroll the scrap dough).

5. Spoon about 21 g / 2 tablespoons of the filling into the center of each circle. (Note: If the filling is wet or syrupy, you can sort of drain the apples out of the juice portion to get more solids than juice— reserve the juice for later). Brush the outside edge with cool water, then fold the circle in half to encase the filling. Press the edges firmly to seal, then crimp with a fork. Transfer to a parchmentlined baking sheet, and refrigerate, uncovered.

6. Repeat this process with the remaining dough and filling (you can save the scraps and reroll them once). You’ll end up with about 4 pieces (maybe a few more if you had more dough left after step 4). Refrigerate, uncovered, while you heat the oil.

7. Pour 3-4 inches / 8-10 cm of oil into a medium pot and begin to warm it over medium heat. When the oil reaches 350°F / 175°C, you’re ready to fry (you can also test the temperature with a scrap piece of dough—it should immediately rise to the surface and slowly begin to brown). Line a baking sheet with a few layers of absorbent paper towels (or a clean kitchen towel you don’t mind getting oily).

8. In a medium bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt to combine. Remove the pies from the refrigerator.

9. Fry 1 or 2 pies at a time until evenly golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Watch the temperature of the oil—you may need to adjust the heat as you work. When the hand pies are evenly browned, use a spider or slotted spoon to remove the pies from the oil and transfer them to the towel-lined baking sheet to drain.

10. After the pies have drained for about 1 minute, toss them in the cinnamon sugar to coat while they are still warm, then set on a serving platter.

11. Repeat the frying and coating process with the remaining pies. Serve immediately, warm. (If you saved any of the liquid from the filling, you can put it into a small pot on the stove and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until it thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes, then serve it alongside the pies for drizzling or dipping).

NOTES

You may have noticed the square pie in the photo that looks different than the cinnamon sugar coated apple pies! That’s my savory Fried Cheese Pie - snag the recipe here!