Monday, March 25, 2013

Apple Hand Pies – Crimping is Easy

I’ve been playing around with a new pastry dough, and figured I’d use it as an excuse for a little demo on turnovers, or “hand pies” as the hipsters are calling them.

I’ll unveil the new “buttercrust” dough next week, but this particular video is not about the pastry, or the filling, it’s about the fairly basic method for folding and crimping one of these up.

As you’ll see, it’s not exactly a complicated procedure. In fact, I can’t imagine your aunt is going to be too thrilled to know that you’ll be able to now match her crimp for crimp. Once you have the outside down, what goes inside should be the least of your worries.

I went for a very soft, apple-saucy, jam-like filling, which turned out very well, but literally any of your favorite pie fillings, both sweet and savory, will work. If you do make an apple version, and want to really blow some minds, top your filling with a thin slice of sharp cheddar. It’s special. I hope you give this easy technique a try soon. Enjoy!


For 4 Apple Hand Pies:
about 1 pound pie dough, divided into 4
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 tsp milk)
granulated sugar as needed
For the apple filling:
2 tbsp butter, browned
2 or 3 green apples
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or to taste
1 or 2 tsp of water if needed