Apple & Sultana Hand Pies
These spiced-apple and sultana pastry parcels are quick and easy if you use pre-rolled frozen shortcrust pastry. Hand pies bake in convenient individual portions. Cardamon and plump verjuice-soaked sultanas are my secret ingredients.
Equipment
- Citrus juicer
- 2 litre jug for microwave (or small pan)
- Large wide bottomed soup pot or casserole
- Sieve
- Small pan
- Three baking trays (see notes)
- Pastry wheel or paring knife
- Ruler
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 2 boxes Carême Sour Cream Short Crust Pastry Sheets (defrost in the fridge the night before)
- 100 g sultanas
- 275 ml verjuice (optional)
- 1.2 kg baking apples (6 to 7 medium)
- 1 medium lemon
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 20 g white sugar
- 35 g white all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon ground cardamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons verjuice syrup (optional)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Assembly:
- Extra flour for dusting
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons coffee sugar see notes
Instructions
Apple pie filling:
- Bring verjuice to boil in small pot or in a microwave safe 2 litre jug (see notes). Add sultanas and set aside.
- Juice lemon and set aside.
- Peel, core and slice apples (about 5 to 7mm thick). Add to large wide bottomed pot as you go.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over apples as you work to prevent browning.
- Mix in brown sugar and set aside for 30 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix combine white sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon and salt.
- In a small pan boil verjuice until reduced to a thick syrup and set aside.
- Once the sultanas have plumped up, drain and reserve verjuice liquid. Set sultanas aside.
- Set apples over a medium heat and sprinkle with flour mixture, stirring well after each addition.
- Cook and stir continuously until the apple juices have thickened and start to catch on the bottom. Remove from heat and add sultanas, verjuice syrup, butter, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Cool filling and refrigerate until needed.
Prepare pie crusts:
- Assemble equipment needed to create the pastry crusts and bake the hand pies: three baking trays, ruler, small paring knife or pastry wheel, and baking paper.
- Using one box at a time prepare pie crusts (keep the rest in the fridge).
Four top crusts (9cm x 13cm):
- Roll out one box of defrosted pastry and leave it on its wrapper. Each sheet is 36cm x 27 cm (see notes if using another brand of pastry).
- Dust the top of the cold pastry with a little flour.
- Using a ruler and a pastry cutter or paring knife, cut the pastry sheet in half lengthwise (two 13cm x 27 cm lengths).
- Finish cutting across the length of the pastry in 9cm intervals to form eight 9cm x 13cm rectangles.
- Dust the pastry with flour and gently roll up the cut pastry in its wrapping and return to the fridge until needed.
Four bottom crusts (7cm x 11cm):
- Roll out the second box of defrosted pastry and leave it on its wrapper.
- This time cut the pastry sheet lengthwise into three 7cm strips.
- Finish cutting across the length of the pastry sheet in 11cm intervals to form 7cm x 11cm rectangles. You will have nine rectangles but only need eight, keep extra pastry for décor.
- Place eight of the pastry bottoms on baking paper lined baking trays, ensuring you leave 4 to 5cm between each base.
- Refrigerate until the pastry is firm.
When you’re done you should have eight 7cm x 11cm bottom crusts and eight 9cm x 13cm top crusts.
Assembling hand pies:
- Place 1/4 to 1/3 cup of apple pie filling in the centre of the bottom crust. Form into a mound but leave a 5 to 7mm border of pastry around the mound.
- Take the top crust pastry from the fridge, cut some vents into each top crust.
- Using your finger run some water around the exposed pastry on the bottom crusts to help seal the top crust.
- Gently place the top crust over the mound of filling trying to match corners and edges. Smooth into place.
- Return pies to the fridge to firm up again.
- Seal the pies by trimming the edges the pastry wheel or knife. The pastry wheel will press the layers together. If using a knife you may need to use a fork to seal the pastry layers.
- Beat the egg and water to make an egg wash.
- Create some pastry décor from pastry scraps (optional). Glue the décor to the top crust with egg wash.
- Return the assembled hand pies to the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C fan forced oven (210°C not fan forced).
Baking hand pies:
- Egg wash hand pies and sprinkle with coffee sugar.
- Bake on the lowest rack of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the apple pie filling is hot and the bottom of the pies are golden brown.
- If the top of the pies start to brown too much before the bottoms are golden, loosely place some aluminium foil over the pies until the bottom crusts are baked to your liking.
Just before you cook with abandon…
Apple varieties: Make sure you pick apples that will hold their shape well when baked. Braeburn apples are great for baking but can be hard to source in Australia. I like to use a mix of Granny Smith and Pink Lady in my baking but it’s fine to use just one variety.
Can’t find verjuice: Most groceries stores carry verjuice today and my favourite is Maggie Beer’s brand. It’s acidic and made from grapes but it is not as acidic as vinegar. It’s fine if you can’t source it or don’t have any on hand. You can use boiling water for soaking the sultanas. And you can either omit the syrup entirely or experiment with some other sticky acidic flavours. One tablespoon of a balsamic glaze/condiment would work well.
Batch baking: Don’t worry if you don’t have enough baking trays to bake all the hand pies at once. You can assemble and bake four at a time, leaving the other components in the fridge until needed.
Coffee sugar: In Australia, coffee sugar is a large crystal sugar that is less refined than white sugar. It gets its golden colour from being made with sugar cane juice that retains some molasses. You can substitute other forms of sugar such as demerara or granulated white sugar.
Where do I bake pies in my oven? The goal, as always, is no soggy bottoms! And you can achieve this by baking on the lowest rack in your oven or on a pizza stone if you have one. Make sure you heat the stone well in advance of the bake. Some people bake their pies on the bottom of their ovens and not on a rack. You may need to experiment to see what works best for you. But you can be guaranteed that the top of the pie will look nice and golden and the bottom will need a little longer.
Kitchen scale: If you are going to bake, you need a kitchen scale. It’s really in the necessity column not the optional column. You don’t need to spend a fortune on them, decent ones can be bought for about $70. The expensive ones break down just as quickly as the cheaper version. But I would recommend you go for a known brand from a reputable kitchen shop.