What better way to welcome Autumn than with some Vegan Apple Hand Pies. Flakey puff pastry filled with a sweet apple pie filling, decorated with pastry lattice. I’m getting super hungry, keep reading to learn how to make them!
Vegan Apple Hand Pies
My recipe for homemade individual vegan apple hand pies is a really fun dessert for any time of year, but especially during Autumn and Winter. Hand pies are an easy ‘grab and go dessert’ which require little to no prep and take less than 20 minutes to make. There are no serving utensils, plates or special baking tools required- yippee! These hand pies can be served warm straight out of the oven, room temperature, or cold. To be honest, they taste amazing which ever way you serve them. They are a great dessert for young kids to get involved with making too as they’re super fun to make and decorate.
How to make a vegan apple pie hand pie
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Pastry : Roll out the pastry and cut out the desired shapes and lattice. Lay an apple shape of pastry on a lined baking tray.
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Filling : Mix all of the apple pie filling ingredients in a bowl. Add a teaspoon or two of the filling onto the apple shaped pastry, brush the edges with milk then lay a latticed apple shape pastry on top. Brush with milk and sugar then bake until golden.
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Serving : Serve at room temperature, or warm with dairy-free cream / ice-cream.
Puff pastry
For this recipe, you’ll want to use a vegan friendly puff pastry. Personally, I like to keep things super quick and easy when making pies so I have enough time for the preparation of the lattice. I use shop bought puff pastry which always does the job. I like to use Jus-Roll’s Puff Pastry.
They also have a gluten-free version which is the one I used for this specific recipe. Roll out the pastry on some grease proof paper, use an apple shaped cookie cutter to cut out some shapes and place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. To make the lattice, use a pizza roller to cut out lines of the pastry, lattice them then use the same apple cookie cutter to use out an apple shape. This way the lattice will fit perfectly on top of the pie filling and apple pastry base. Watch how I latticed these pies here.
Apple pie filling
This filling couldn’t be simpler. Chop up some apples, add them into a bowl with spices, flour, sugar and voilá… ready for adding into the pastry. What more could you want? It’s super delicious!
My only tip for the apple pie filling is that you chop the apples into small squares so that they fit snug in the pastry. If you have large chunks of apple, they might not fit in the pastry.
Alternative fillings and decorations
- Jam – Instead of the pie filling, add 1-2 teaspoons of berry jam into the middle of the pies.
- Berries – Swap out the apple for fresh or frozen berries.
- Brown sugar – Sprinkle light brown sugar over the pastry before baking for a richer flavour.
- Caramel – Drizzle store bought or homemade vegan caramel sauce over the pies when baked for a delicious ‘caramel apple dessert’.
Alternative shaped pies
You can shape the hand pies whatever shape you want. I use an apple cookie cutter. I don’t suggest anything smaller as you want enough room for the lattice and pie filling. Bake time will be more or less depending of the size– just bake until pastry is flakey and golden brown.
Can they be made gluten-free?
YES! I actually made this whole dessert gluten-free with the use of gluten-free puff pastry (I use Jus-Roll), and Bobs Redmill Oat Flour in the pie filling. The only wheat / gluten in the recipe is the pastry and the flour in the pie filling. For the pie filling, any flour will work – oat, rice, pea, GF plain flour etc.
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Vegan Apple Hand Pies
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Apple Hand Pies with a cinnamon sugar apple filling and flaky puff pastry make these apple hand pies a delicious and easy treat.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the apple pie filling
- 200g of apples (see method 1. for details)
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 50g of caster sugar
- 15g of gluten-free flour (I use oat flour)
Pastry
- 2 sheets of vegan / gluten-free puff pastry
- Sugar (for sprinkling)
- Dairy-free milk (glaze)
Instructions
Method (apple pie filling)
- Wash and chop the apples in to small squares / chunks and add into a medium sized mixing bowl along with the spices, sugar and flour. Stir to combine then set aside.
Method (pastry)
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C fan and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Unroll the pastry sheets leaving in the baking paper. Use a rolling pin to slightly flatten out any wrinkles in the pastry.
- Using an apple shaped cookie cutter, cut out apple shapes on one of the pastry sheets. Roll out the scraps to cut out a few more shapes.
- Transfer these pastry shapes to the refrigerator while you cut out the other sheet.
- Roll out the second sheet of pastry. Aim for about the same thickness as the first sheet. Cut lattice strips as desired (you want to make sure they are long enough to fit over the pie when the filling is in place).
- Line up a few of the strips and begin to lattice. See the video here on how to lattice pasty.
- Once you have latticed the pastry, use the apple shaped cookie cutter to cut out the apple shape in the lattice. Repeat until you’ve used up all the pastry and have enough apple lattices for the pies.
Assemble
- To assemble the apple hand pies, I find it is easiest to make one at a time. Take one of the apple pastry shapes and place it onto the lined baking tray. Add 1-2 teaspoons of the apple filling into the middle and brush some dairy-free milk around the edge of the pastry, this will help the lattice stick. Tip: Don’t add too much apple filling or it will ooze out when baking. It may also result in the apple pie loosing its apple shape.
- Lay one of the apple lattices on the top and press the edges down to stick the the pie filling and milk. Brush milk over the top of the pie and sprinkle with some course sugar. Repeat for all of the pies.
- It’s best to bake the pies a tray at a time as the pastry will puff up. I like to bake 5 on a tray at a time. Place into the middle of the pre-heated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden in colour and the pastry is flakey.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly on the tray then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve at room temperature or warm. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.
Notes
To store: Serve at room temperature or slightly warm. Store any leftovers lightly covered at room temperature. Best enjoy day of making.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15-18 minutes
- Category: Pies and pastry
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
