Description
These spiced apple and blackberry hand pies are a delightful treat featuring tender cooked apples combined with juicy blackberries, cinnamon, and honey encased in a crisp shortcrust pastry. Perfect as a snack or dessert, they are baked to golden perfection and can be served with cream or custard for extra indulgence.
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 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pastry and Topping
- 2 sheets 320 g shortcrust pastry sheets
- 1 small egg beaten
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Instructions
- Cook Apples: Place the chopped apples in a small saucepan with the golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 8 minutes until the apples become soft and tender. Transfer to a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.
- Prepare Fruit Filling: In a small bowl, mix the cornflour, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth. Gently fold in the blackberries and the cooled cooked apples, mixing carefully to combine without crushing the berries.
- Cut Pastry Circles: Unroll the pastry sheets on a clean surface. Using a 10 cm pastry cutter (or a similar sized ramekin or glass), cut out 12 circles from the pastry.
- Assemble Pies: Place about 1 tablespoon of the fruit filling onto half of the pastry circles, leaving a 1 cm border around the edges. Brush the edges with beaten egg to help seal. Place a plain pastry circle over each filled circle, pressing gently to encase the filling. Create small dents at the top and bottom to resemble an apple shape.
- Seal and Decorate: Use the tines of a fork to crimp and seal the edges of each pie. Brush the top of each pie with egg wash. Use any leftover pastry to cut out small leaves and stalks; attach them to the pies with egg wash. Poke a small steam hole in the top of each pie using a skewer.
- Chill Pies: Transfer the pies to a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight. At this stage, pies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- Bake Pies: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan). Bake the pies for 20 minutes until golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the steam holes. If baking from frozen, increase baking time by 10 minutes.
- Serve: Remove the pies from the oven and sprinkle the tops with caster sugar. Serve warm with a dollop of cream or custard for extra richness.
Notes
- Use cooking apples like Bramley for the best texture after cooking.
- Fresh or frozen blackberries can be used; frozen berries should be thawed and drained if very watery.
- Make sure to chill the pies before baking to help keep their shape and create a flaky crust.
- These pies freeze well before baking; simply add extra baking time when cooking from frozen.
- Try serving with vanilla custard or whipped cream for a comforting dessert.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 195 g
- Calories: 109 kcal
- Sugar: 21 g
- Sodium: 12 mg
- Fat: 1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 24 mg
