Air Fryer Apple Hand Pies
Flaky hand pies made with refrigerated pie crust and a quick cinnamon apple filling, air fried golden and drizzled with a simple vanilla glaze.
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 8. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Filling
- 2 apples, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, peeled, cored, diced small
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
Pies
- 1 package refrigerated pie crusts, 2 crusts, 14.1 oz box
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp coarse sugar, optional
Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Gear
- Air fryer
- Skillet
- 4.5-inch round cutter or bowl
- Parchment liners
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Steps
Step 1: FILLING: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium. Add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. Cook 5 to 6 minutes until the apples soften.
Step 2: Stir the cornstarch into the water, add it to the pan and cook 1 minute until thick and glossy. Cool completely (spread on a plate to speed it up).
Step 3: Unroll the pie crusts. Cut into 8 circles with a 4.5-inch cutter or a bowl (re-roll scraps as needed).
Step 4: Put about 1.5 tablespoons of filling on one half of each circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Brush the edge with egg wash, fold over and crimp with a fork.
Step 5: Brush the tops with egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sugar, and cut a small slit in each.
Step 6: Line the air fryer basket with parchment. Arrange the pies in a single layer, not touching. Air fry at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes, until deep golden.
Step 7: Cool 10 minutes. Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and drizzle over the pies.
Swaps
- Filling: Canned cherry or peach pie filling (chopped) instead of the apples.
- Dough: Puff pastry squares instead of pie crust.
- Topping: Skip the glaze and toss warm pies in cinnamon sugar.
Tips
- Don’t overfill. A small amount of filling seals better.
- The slit on top lets steam escape so the pies don’t burst open.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Hand pies are apple pie for people with places to be. You get flaky crust, warm cinnamon apples and a sweet glaze, and you can eat it walking around. No fork, no plate, no witnesses.
A short cook on the stovetop is the key to great filling. Cooking the apples first softens them so they don’t stay crunchy inside the pastry, and a little cornstarch thickens their juice into a glossy filling that won’t run out the sides. Letting it cool completely before filling is important, because warm filling melts the butter in the dough, and then the pies leak and won’t seal.
In the air fryer, the hot circulating air puffs and browns the crust quickly, and a brush of egg wash makes it shiny and golden like a bakery pie. They’re best warm, but they’re pretty great cold the next morning, too. Not that I’d know.
HAM out.
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