Cranberry Apple Hand Pies

This easy recipe is the perfect Covid-friendly thanksgiving dessert! Everybody gets their own pie (or two). The cranberry and apple combination brings a little variation to the typical holiday dessert. The tart cranberries balance with the sweet apples and cinnamon to bring you a pie that tastes like the holiday season. You could also use this same method with other fillings or use the filling to make a whole 9-inch pie if you wanted!

**note that when I made this recipe I got a little ahead of myself and ended up making enough for 30 hand pies. Therefore, some of the pictures (like of the peeled apples) might not exactly match the numbers in the text. I have cut the recipe I used in half for a more reasonable number of pies.**

Ingredients:

Pre-made pie crust (2-4 – depends on how thin you roll it – I recommend the Aldi pie crust – its delicious and cheap)
2 cups of peeled and diced apples (about 2-4 apples depending on size)
1 cup of rinsed cranberries
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
Coarse sugar

As usual, the first thing you’re going to do is peel, core, and slice your apples. My Apples were smaller so I cut 4. You will want about 2-3 cups of apples.

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Transfer your apples to a bowl and add 1 cup of rinsed cranberries. Then, add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla to the bowl. Stir to make sure the fruit is full coated in the sugar mixture. (Ironically, I definitely needed a bigger bowl for this)

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Now, roll out your pie crust. I unrolled my pre-made pie crust and used a rolling pin to roll it out just a bit thinner, but that isn’t necessary. Take a circle cutter (at least 3 inches in diameter) and cut out as many circles as you can. If you wanted to get fancy, you could also use a fun shaped cookie cutter if you want, but it will probably make it more difficult to close the pies.

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I took the extra pie crust from around the cut circles and rolled it into a ball and then rolled flat with my rolling pin to cut more circles and kept repeating until I had no more dough or not enough to make a thick enough circle.

There are two ways you can close the pies. This mainly depends on how big of a cutter you have. If you have a larger one, you could fill one side of the circle and then fold the crust over and crimp the ends to seal the filling in. Because my cutter was about 3.5 inches in diameter, I felt the pies would be way too small if I used that method.

I took one circle of pie crust and put a spoonful or two of the pie filling in the center of the circle. Then, I took another pie crust circle and placed it on top. I then pressed the edges together. If you have trouble getting the edges to stick, you can rub the edges of the bottom crust with some water before pinching the top and bottom together.

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After the top and bottom crust are closed and the filling is secured, take a knife and cut 4 small lines in the top of the pie. Basically, you are making a plus sign (+) but with the center not cut. Initially, I had made the cuts to the top crust before putting it on top of the filling, but I found it to be easier to make the cuts after the crusts were crimped together.

Place the pies on a baking sheet lined with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Brush the pies with an eggwash (just 1 egg whisked) and sprinkle the top with some coarse sugar.

Bake the pies at 400 F for about 20 minutes or until the pies are golden brown. Allow to cool a bit and enjoy!

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