It’s an easy apple hand pies recipe with store-bought puff pastry sheets. My apple pie is baking with pastry cream made from almond milk, placing under the diced apple. This almond pastry cream gives a rich and creamy taste into fruit flavor. So without topping with vanilla ice cream, it’s satisfying and super delicious as it is.
The apple pie which I grow up is always square shape rather than a whole round shape pie. My favorite was McDonald’s and my mother’s apple hand pies. Now I’m happy that my husband and daughter love my apple pie. Every time they found some apples left in the fridge, they ask me to make apple pies. Because they already knew I always keep a stock of puff pastry in my freezer. I’m busy. We are all busy. So let’s do this with store-bought puff pastry!
If you like the combination of flaky crust and pastry cream, then also check out my Crispy Sweet Potato Spring Rolls with Pastry Cream Dip.
Easy Apple Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 4 store-bought puff pastry sheet I used 180 mm x 100 mm for 1 sheet
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp water
Almond pastry cream
- 1 egg
- 4 plain white sugar
- 2 plain white flour
- 200 ml unsweetened almond milk
Apple filling
- 2-3 (400 g) apple
- 3 tbsp plain white sugar
- 1 tbsp unsweetened lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon Powder
Instructions
- Take out the puff pastry from freezer.
- Make the pastry cream: place the egg, the sugar and the plain white flour in a small saucepan and whisk until well blended. Then gradually add the milk while whisking constantly over medium heat. Keep whisking vigorously until thickened.
- Remove from the heat and pour the pastry cream into a shallow plate and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Let it cool down to room temperature.
- Make the apple filling: Cut peeled and cored apples into diced. Place the diced apple, the sugar and the lemon juice in a saucepan / frying pan.
- Cook the apple over medium heat until apples are tender and mostly apple liquid is evaporated, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix the cinnamon Powder. Then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Place the puff pastry sheets on a floured work surface and cut into 16 squares / rectangles. Poke the dough with a fork on half of the sheets (8 sheets for the bottom).
- Roll out the puff pastry sheets for the cover to be a little bit bigger than the sheets for the bottom. Make some slits in the middle of the sheets.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F / gas mark 7).
- Transfer the bottom sheets onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the pastry cream on the middle part of the bottom sheets. Then put the apple fillings in a mound. Cover the pies with the puff pastry sheet with slits. Press the edges with a fork.
- Beat egg yolk and 2 teaspoons water and brush with egg mixture on top of the pastry. Bake at 220°C (425°F / gas mark 7) for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C (350°F / gas mark 4) and bake an additional 20 minutes.
