This apple hand pie recipe creates mini apple pies in the shape of pumpkins for Halloween. Have some fun with the expressions you cut into the dough! They're filled with homemade apple pie filling that's spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
The filling comes together in minutes, and you can either make your own homemade pie crust, shown in the recipe card, or purchase your favorite frozen one at your market.
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- โค๏ธ Why you'll love these mini apple hand pies
- ๐ง Main Ingredients + Notes
- ๐ Best Apples for Homemade Apple Pie Filling
- ๐ช Recommended Equipment
- โฐ Tips to Simplify and Save Time
- ๐ฉโ๐ณ Preparation Tips
- ๐๏ธ Making This Recipe at High Altitude
- ๐กIdeas for Possible Variations
- ๐ง Best way to Store Apple Hand Pies
- ๐ More Apple Treats for Fall
- Homemade Apple Hand Pies Recipe for Halloween
If you're looking for a Halloween treat that will be a hit with both kids and adult, these adorable apple hand pies in the shape of pumpkins is what you need. I cut out happy and scary faces on mine, but you do you!
And if you want to do a whole meal with a Halloween theme, make these calzone mummies too.
โค๏ธ Why you'll love these mini apple hand pies
- Popular with adults and kids alike.
- Portable for pot luck parties.
- Flexible. Make your own crust or purchase one frozen to make this super fast and easy. Switch up the kinds of apples you use. Adjust for spices you prefer, or use apple pie spice already mixed up.
- Fun to make and look at ๐
๐ง Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minutes meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions for these homemade apple hand pies, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
Homemade Pie Crust
- All purpose flour
- Unsalted butter
- Sour Cream - either full-fat or light sour cream. (This makes the dough easier to work with.)
- Apple cider vinegar
Homemade Apple Pie Filling
- Apples - Braeburn, Honeycrisp and Fuji all work great. See the next section for more information.
- Sugar - I recommend granulated sugar, but you can use coconut sugar.
- Unsalted butter
- Apple pie spices - I use cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. But you can use other spices such as cardmom or allspice, or keep it simple and use a premixed Apple Pie Spice.
๐ Best Apples for Homemade Apple Pie Filling
Do you get overwhelmed by all the types of apples that show up in the markets in autumn?
- When it comes to baking, Braeburn, Honey Crisp and Fuji apples are at the top of my list. They bake up nice and juicy without losing their shape and becoming mush.
- If you like a more tart apple pie filling, use Granny Smith apples.
- And for added depth, you can use two different kinds of apples. Yes, it makes a difference.
What's your favorite apple for baking?
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
๐ช Recommended Equipment
Having the right equipment for recipes makes prepping soooo much easier. If you want more fuss-free prepping and cooking, check out my updated list ofย favorite kitchen tools and equipment.
- Kitchen scales - for weighing the flour if you make your own pastry.
- Food processor - for making your own pastry.
- Whisk - to mix the sour cream and apple cider vinegar for the pastry.
- Small bowl - for the sour cream and apple cider vinegar.
- Rolling pin - to roll out the dough
- Paring knife - for the apples
- Medium skillet - for the filling
- Pumpkin shaped cookie cutters - the size I use is 3.75 inches X 3.5 inches. This time of year, you may find them at cooking stores such as Sur la Table, Michaels, and Crate and Barrel.
- Baking sheet
- Pastry brush
โฐ Tips to Simplify and Save Time
- Purchase frozen pastry dough instead of making your own.
- Use a premixed Apple Pie Spice in place of the individual spices.
- Use canned apple pie filling instead of making fresh apple pie filling. (I haven't made them this way, but it's possible to do. The texture of the filling will be different with more liquid and less apple chunks.)
- Leave the apple hand pies in the shape of a pumpkin without cutting out pumpkin faces.
๐ฉโ๐ณ Preparation Tips
- If you make your own pastry dough, follow these step-by-step directions with photos for making your own pie crust at home.
- If using frozen pre-made pie crusts, thaw and roll out 2 pie crusts.
- Don't cut out the pumpkin faces until after the dough chills - otherwise they will tear, no matter how sharp a knife you use.
- Use a combination of apples to give the filling more depth. Honey Crisp and Braeburn apples worked great - but feel free to find your own combinations. If you want some ideas of which apples are best for baking, this is a great article from Bon Appetit.
- When filling the hand pies, do one pumpkin to begin with in order to gauge exactly how much filling you want, based on the size of your pumpkin shapes.
๐๏ธ Making This Recipe at High Altitude
- If the pie dough feels dry, add an additional 1 teaspoon sour cream.
- When baking these little apple hand pies in the moutains at 7100 feet, I find they need an additional 10 minutes baking time.
๐กIdeas for Possible Variations
- Add a pear to the mix with the apples.
- Use different spices, or simplify with Apple Pie Spice.
- Around Thanksgiving, leave the pumpkins plain, without cutting out faces, and add some cranberries to the filling.
- Go with a stronger ginger flavor in the filling, and use 1 tablespoon Gourmet Garden Lightly Dried Ginger plus โ teaspoon cinnamon and โ teaspoon cloves or cardamom.
๐ง Best way to Store Apple Hand Pies
These little apple hand pies can be completely made ahead, and easily kept in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 - 5 days.
- Freeze in a freezer safe container for 2 - 3 months.
๐ More Apple Treats for Fall
- Apple Galette with Cranberries
- Fluffy Apple Cheddar Muffins
- Hot Buttered Rum Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust
- Double Crusted Apple Pie Galette
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Homemade Apple Hand Pies Recipe for Halloween
This apple hand pie recipe creates mini apple pies in the shape of pumpkins for Halloween. Have some fun with the expressions you cut into the dough! They're filled with apples, and spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. The times quoted to make these assume you use frozen store bought pie crust. If you make your own homemade crust, allow for an additional 40 minutes for making, chilling and rolling out the pie crust dough.
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Servings: 12 (with some dough left over)
Calories: 313kcal
Equipment
- Paring knife
- Kitchen scales for homemade pie crust
- Food Processor for homemade pie crust
- small bowl
- rolling pin
- pumpkin shaped cookie cutter
- baking sheet
Ingredients
Homemade Pastry
- 13.5 ounces (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt, or ยผ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter chilled, cut into small pieces
- ยฝ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons ice water (or as needed to get the dough to come together)
Homemade Apple Pie Filling
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 ยฝ cups peeled and diced apples (3 apples) Honey Crisp, Braeburn and Fuji work well
- 2 ยฝ tablespoons granulated sugar or 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- ยฝ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ยผ teaspoon ground ginger
- ยผ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- โ teaspoon kosher salt or pinch of sea salt
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (optional coarse sugar topping)
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon whole milk or half & half
Instructions
Apple Hand Pies:
- Melt the butter in a small skillet pan over medium heat, and add all of the Apple Pie Filling ingredients except the turbinado sugar. Gently simmer for 10 minutes until the apple chunks soften. Cool to room temperature.
- Pro-tip: The apple filling should be at room temperature before filling the hand pies. This keeps the butter in the pie crust from beginning to melt before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 375หF, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the Homemade Pie Crust (see the below section), or thaw 2 frozen pie crusts if using ready-made pie crusts purchased at your market. When thawed, roll them out, following the package directions.Cut the dough into pumpkin shapes using a cookie cutter.
- Spoon 1 - 2 tablespoons of the Apple Pie Filling into the center of a cut out pumpkin, or however much fits while leaving the edges completely bare. Drape another cut out pumpkin over it. Gentle press the edges to seal using your fingers, and crimp with a fork. Repeat with the remaining pumpkin shapes.Pro-tip: Doing one pumpkin first will tell you if you need more or less filling, based on the size of your pumpkins.Pro-tip: It's important to leave the edges bare when filling the hand pies. Otherwise they won't stayed sealed as they bake.Chill for 20 minutes if you plan to cut out faces in the dough. Otherwise, go to the next step without chilling the dough.
- Arrange the apple hand pies on the prepared baking sheet. Whisk together the egg wash ingredients in a small bowl, and baste the hand pies with it. If cutting out faces, use a paring knife to create your jack-o-lanterns. Chilling the dough prevents the dough from stretching when you cut into it. ย Sprinkle a little turbinado sugar over the tops of each pumpkin (optional).
- Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until a golden brown.
Homemade Pie Crust:
- Weigh (or measure) the flour, and pulse it and the salt a few times. Then add the butter all at once. Pulse 10 times, remove the lid, and check the size of the butter pieces by dipping a fork into the flour. They should be around size of a pea. If there are large chunks still in the flour, pulse another couple times. Whisk together the sour cream and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl, and add to the flour mixture all at once. Pulse a few times. The sour cream adds moisture to the dough. So, before adding any ice water, pinch some of the flour mixture between your fingers. When it's ready, it will hold together without falling apart. If it crumbles easily add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time. For more details with photos, click on this link >> a step-by-step process for making your own pie crust with pictures.ย It also shows how to get a flaky crust using fraisage technique.
- When the dough is ready, gather it into 2 balls, flatten into round discs using only your fingers, and wrap in wax paper. Chill for 30 minutes before rolling out.
- Roll out the dough, working with 1 disc at a time, and cut into pumpkin shapes using a cookie cutter. If you consider yourself a novice in rolling out dough, follow the directions in this post. It shows the easiest way I've ever found to roll out dough, and I consider myself something of an expert at working with pie dough.
Nutrition
Calories: 313kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.2g | Protein: 3.8g | Fat: 19.6g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.7g | Cholesterol: 51.8mg | Sodium: 110mg | Potassium: 78.7mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 5.3g | Vitamin A: 607.9IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 22.7mg | Iron: 1.5mg
Liz
These are adorable, Susan! I struggle with apples when I'm baking---I usually use a mixture of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious, but I need to branch out. Thanks for your recommendations!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Granny Smith were my #1 apple for years, and I still love them. I need to try working with Golden Delicious. So I need to branch out too ๐
Ansh
These hand pies are making me smile!! Really! They make me sooo happy! Thank you for joining in and doing such a wonderful job with the theme! And these are high altitude to boot!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
It was such a fun theme, Ansh! Thanks for thinking it up and hosting us this month!!
Jenni
How cute and festive! I love a good hand pie--love the addition of the sour cream and vinegar in the crust too. Nom. And welcome back!! xo
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I have to use lots of ways of getting moisture into baked goods up here at 7000 feet! The sour cream worked great! And it's great to be back!!
Rita
Your apple choices are the same as mine. I often wonder if the same ones are available in the Midwest and east coast too. And for quite a few years now, I don't peel apples for crisps, pies etc.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Good question, Rita. I've lived in both areas, but just don't remember what kinds were available there. We're so close to great apple country, it gives us a broad selection. And I agree, I don't usually peel my apples either, but because there's only a tablespoon of filling, I wanted to maximize the apples. Maybe that was unnecessary. I think I should make them again with the apple peels for research...:-)
Barbara | Creative Culinary
Hey Wimp! I'm so glad you're back in the saddle with us. I love these little guys and I'm with you on the apples. I tend to go Honey Crisp because they work both ways; fresh and for baking, but I'll try to find some Braeburn and give them a try too.
Craving one; would you please bring one over? ๐
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Coming right up! And I'll have a few of your meringue ghosts and a tall smoking glass of Ansh's martini! Seriously, it's really nice to be back. Thanks so much!
Laura@motherwouldknow
These hand pies look so adorable with the jack o'lantern cut-outs. Perfect fall treats in this area (mid-Atlantic), where apples abound. Like you, I love to mix apple types in my baking. Find that pies, hand pies and all manner of apple tarts taste so much more interesting when the apples are varied. I love all the types you mentioned and I'm always looking for new varieties.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Do you get Braeburn apples in your area? And Honey Crisp too?
Christie
I'm going to make this recipe tomorrow but I do not have a cookie-cutter. Can I use a knife to cut the pumpkin shapes out of the dough? how big should I cut them?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
You can definitely use a knife to cut them out. Or a biscuit cutter for making biscuits. If you cut them by hand, I recommend you cutting out a template using parchment paper, wax paper, or even foil (although foil tears easily). Then place it over the dough to cut it. This will allow you to get even shapes that will bake evenly. The size of my pumpkins are 3 3/4" across X 3" high, not including the stem.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Also, make sure the dough is chilled before cutting it with a knife. Otherwise the dough may stretch and / or tear.
Christie
Thank you so much for your recommendations coming back so soon! they will definitely help me today! Again thanks so much!!! Happy Halloween!!!!!!!
Allyssa
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious and really tasty recipe! So easy to make as well! Highly recommended! Will surely have this again!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much for letting me know!!! This makes me so happy!
Liz
These are adorable! My kids will love these!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thank you so much! My grandkids LOVE them. I hope your kids do too!