This recipe for homemade Apple Hand Pies begins with a flaky pie crust and ends with a cinnamon apple pie filling. Baked in the oven until golden brown and bubbly, these hand held apple pies are topped with a delicious cinnamon icing.

Easy Apple Hand Pies

A classic apple pie is the quintessential fall dessert! Regardless of whether you consider apples and a warm apple pie recipe a personal favorite, the scent of apples and cinnamon evoke memories of comfort for most everyone. Memories of holidays past, spending time with loved ones over mugs of hot chocolate paired with a slice of apple pie, apple cobbler, or in this case, mini hand pies.

This recipe for mini apple hand pies is full of the classic apple flavors found in most traditional apple pie. It begins with my favorite flaky pie crust (made from scratch!), and each miniature pie is filled with a healthy dose of cinnamon apple pie filling.

Back in the day, the general store near our family cabin sold a variety of mini hand pies–always glazed, always sugary, always so full of nostalgia. For years, we couldn’t spend a summer vacation without stopping in for multiple ones. Our favorites were, as you can imagine, lemon hand pies, cherry hand pies, blueberry hand pies (when they had them!), and of course, mini apple pies.

While those store bought versions will forever hold a place in my heart, this homemade apple hand pie recipe is truly a better version. The crust is flakier, the filling is tastier, and the glaze is a little less sugary sweet.

All around, it’s the apple dessert of my dreams. And while I love a slice of apple pie with a buttery, flaky crust topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, there’s nothing like a mini dessert you can take with you anywhere.

To me, they are perfect.

What Makes These The Best Apple Hand Pies?

While there are plenty of handheld apple pie recipes, there are a few reasons why I firmly believe this recipe of the best:

Homemade Pie Crust: I am a firm believer that the crust makes or breaks a pie, and this homemade pie crust recipe is hands down the best I homemade dough I have ever had. Even if you think you’re not a crust person, a bland or undone crust will make even the best pie filling taste sub-par. Making a pie crust from scratch is easy, and it makes all of the difference in the world.
Homemade Apple Pie Filling: This easy apple pie filling is a mixture of honeycrisp apples, sugar, and spices. In my opinion the best kinds of apples for apple pie filling are sweeter, like honeycrisp, fuji, or gala, but you can certainly use a tart apple, like granny smith.
Cinnamon Glaze: Of course you can serve these with ice cream or whipped cream, but in true hand pie fashion, I wanted to give it a little extra something something and I opted for a cinnamon glaze that is to die for.
Easy: Yes, you make your own pie dough. Yes, you make the filling. However, making these mini apple pies from scratch is surprisingly easy. It takes a bit of time, but the process itself is very simple (and you don’t even have to peel the apples—I mean, come on, can it get any easier?!)

Ingredients:

Homemade Pie Dough:

All Purpose Flour
Salt
Unsalted Butter
Ice Water

Apple Filling:

Chopped Apples: As mentioned earlier, I prefer to use a sweet apple for apple pies, but you can use your favorite apple.
Granulated Sugar
Brown Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves
Vanilla Extract
Lemon Zest: This is optional, however lemon (and any citrus) brightens the overall flavor of the filling. It’s the little something extra that you can’t quite put your finger on, but it makes all the difference.
All Purpose Flour
Unsalted butter
Egg + Water: This is used to make the egg wash, which is what gives the crust a nice golden color while baking.
Raw Sugar: This is to sprinkle on top of the pies as they bake. This is optional.

Cinnamon Glaze:

Heavy Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Almond Extract
Vanilla Extract

How To Make These Cute Apple Hand Pies:

You can find the full recipe down below that includes a printable option by jumping to the recipe!

Crust: To begin, let’s make the pie crust. You mix flour and salt together. Next, you add in the cubed pieces of butter and work the butter into the flour mixture until the whole mixture resembles coarse crumbs (you can use a pastry cutter, a fork, your hands, or a standing mixer to make the pie crust). Next, you add in the ice water. Add just a little at a time, because you don’t want the dough to be overly wet (if the dough is too wet, it won’t be a tender pie crust; it’ll be dry and tough). Once it comes together, pat the dough into two balls, then flatten each into a disc (it just makes it easier to roll out), and refrigerate in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes.
Filling: Mix chopped apples, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, lemon zest, and flour together. Let the mixture sit while you roll out the crust.
Assembly: On a well floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the pie doughs into two large circles, about 1/8”-1/4” thick. Use a circular dough cutter (use one that is about 3.5 – 4 inches in diameter. Anything smaller can make it really tricky to add filling. Cut out as many circles as possible, then roll the scraps into a circle, and cut out more circles. This makes about 12 hand pies so you need 24 circles. Spoon in apple pie filling—a couple of Tbsp per pie—top with butter, then add the top pie crust. Use egg wash to brush the outsides of the pie (this helps the pie crusts to stick together), then crimp with a fork. Cut small slits for ventilation, then brush the tops with egg wash. Sprinkle coarse sugar on the tops of the pies. Move the assembled hand pies to a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake.
Topping: Once the pies are golden brown and the filling is sizzling inside, let them cool while you make the glaze. Whisk together heavy cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, almond extract and vanilla extract. Spoon the sweet glaze on the tops of each hand pie, and let it set. Serve!

Can I Use Store Bought Pie Dough?

Yes, you can. I suggest making your own pie dough because it tastes better and the pies will have a flakier texture and buttery crust, but you certainly can use store-bought pie dough. And, you can also use store-bought puff pastry. A puff pastry apple hand pie will taste a little more like an apple toaster strudel, but it will still make for delicious homemade hand pies!

How To Freeze Hand Pies:

Once the pies have cooled off, freeze them on a parchment-lined baking tray for a couple of hours. Then, put them in a freezer safe container and freeze until ready to use. Thaw in the fridge.

How To Store Baked Apple Hand Pies:

I would definitely store these in an airtight container in the fridge to help them last longer. If you prefer to eat your pie warm or at room temperature, you can warm them up in the microwave or let them come to room temperature on your counter.

Can I Make Ahead Of Time?

One of my favorite things about hand pies is that they can be made a day or two in advance. There are a few ways to make them ahead of time:

Option 1: Make the crust ahead of time. You can make pie dough 2-3 days in advance and let it sit in the fridge until you’re ready to use. So you can make the dough ahead of time and then the day you want to serve these, make the filling, bake, and top with the glaze.
Option 2: Follow the recipe exactly and store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve (I suggest only 1-2 days in advance).
Option 3: Follow the recipe exactly, but do not add the glaze. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve (again, only 1-2 days in advance). Warm them up in the oven, top with the glaze, then serve.

Other Apple Desserts To Try Next:

Final Quick and Easy Baking Tips:

Pie Crust: Make the homemade dough ahead of time and store in the fridge until you’re ready to use. Or, you can make these apple hand pies with puff pastry. These miniature pies would be more like apple turnovers, but you can never go wrong with apple pastries or apple desserts–no matter the type of pastry you use. And, as mentioned above, you can use store-bought crust.
Filling Spices: I use a mixture of cinnamon and cloves, but you can add in allspice, nutmeg, and ginger, if you’d like.
Egg Wash: Don’t forget to add the egg wash! It’s what helps seal the pie together (before crimping) and it adds that golden brown color while it bakes.
Pie Shape: Don’t have a biscuit cutter? No problem! Just cut into squares, like you would a puff pastry apple turnover or a pop-tart. Or, use different cookie cutters if you want to make fun shapes for the fall baking season.
- -Additionally, you could cut down on the filling and fold each pie crust over (again, think like an apple turnover) and crimp the edges. They would be smaller, but you could get about 24 hand pies if you did it this way (think like these Strawberry Hand Pies).
Glaze: The cinnamon icing is optional but *highly* recommended.
Apple Pie Spice: If you prefer, you can use apple pie spice instead of making your own.