I love everything apple and will eat apples just about any way that you find them. I love to use wild and free apples when ever I can to make treats for the family but one treat I love more than most is hand pies. Some southern families make these small fried pies with biscuit dough others with smashed Wonder Bread and mine are made with frozen white bread dough. All of them have a freshly made filling, some sweet some savory, and all are fried to a deep golden brown on the stove top while the little ones watch. Hand pies have been made in the South for generations and no one ever turns one down. The pies are eaten hot and served as dessert, breakfast or as an after school snack. Often the fillings for the pies are whatever a southern mother had left over from a family dinner. Apple sauce, peaches, raisins, even savory pies would have left over roast and veggies.
My mother in law would often make then with white bread in a pie maker with home canned pie fillings. The neighbor kids could smell then 1/2 mile away and knew what she was making and pray she would make them one!
I personally have not invested in a pie maker of any kind although they seem to make great pies and bind the edges together very well… less of the filling leaking out is always a good thing.I just use my fingers to roll the bread dough together. The edges are a little more individual but they rarely leak.
Filled Apple Hand Pies
So to make my version of an Apple Hand Pie, I start with a frozen bread dough for dinner rolls and place them out to thaw. I also peal, core and dice two or three snake size apples. The apples in these photos are Gala but you can use just about any apple that will not turn to mush when cooked.
.
Frozen dinner roll dough
Fried diced apples with butter and brown sugar
I dice the apples into a skillet with two teaspoons of butter and cook over med heat for 3 or 4 minutes.Adding brown sugar, cinnamon , and a little water to the hot apples. I let the water cook down until the sauce is thick and sticky. With some apples no water is needed to soften the apples,they provide enough juice to cook down the apples with out scorching.I had to add water to cook them until they were soft around the edges. I let the filling cool while rolling out the dough. Each dinner roll makes about a 5 inch circle with a little tugging and rolling. I put about two table spoons filling on half the pie crust and fold over the warm apple filling. I squeeze the edges together then roll them upward and roll up the edge with a pinch at the end of the pie.
I then fry the pies in hot oil about 325 to 350 degrees just long enough for the pie to float and turn brown on both sides. The dough is thin and gets crispy fast. I make two pies at a time.
Cooling Apple Hand Pies with cinnamon sugar
Draining them on paper towels and topping with a dollop of butter and a pinch of cinnamon sugar. Let cool slightly before eating or cutting open to share.
Fried Apple Hand Pies with homemade filling
Recipe for Apple Hand Pies:
One bag of frozen dinner rolls.. I make two per person.
3 small snack size apples per 3 people Gala, Winesap, Red Delicious work well.
3 Tablespoons salted butter.One used to add to cinnoman topping.
2 Tablespoons brown sugar.
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.
1/4 cup or less water
Cooking oil for frying
a mixture of cinnamon and sugar for dusting tops of pies
West Virginia Mountain Mama 