Apple Hand Pies are fried mini apple pies with a homemade pie crust loaded with apple pie filling and topped with a sweet glaze. They are a fun and easy way to enjoy individual apple pies. Try my Apple Turnovers for another fun and delicious way to get all the taste from a traditional apple pie with a flaky pastry crust.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Pie Crust: Apple Hand Pies If you want to add your own touch to the dessert, you can make your own homemade pie crust. Or, use 2 storebought pie crusts.
Apple Pie Filling: For the tastiest results, use homemade apple pie filling. However, the store-bought filling would also work in this recipe.
Baking Hand Pies in the Oven
To bake the hand pies in the oven, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the assembled hand pies onto the lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-17 minutes at 400°F. And then, don’t forget about the glaze!
Air Fryer Apple Hand Pies
To save on the mess and extra calories, these apple hand pies can surely be made in an air fryer! To make them, follow the instructions to make the hand pies. But, instead of heating up the oil, spray the basket of an air fryer with nonstick cooking spray.
Place a few of the apple hand pies into the basket, spraying the tops with cooking spray. Air fry for about 5 minutes at 360°F. Flip them over and air fry them for another 4 minutes. Repeat with any remaining hand pies. They will be golden brown when done. Don’t forget to add the glaze!
If you have an air fryer, be sure to check out my Air Fryer Apple Pie Bombs next! This is the Air Fryer I use, and we love it! (affiliate link)
Can I Make Other Flavors of Hand Pies?
Absolutely! We have made (and loved) cherry hand pies with my cherry pie filling. Blueberry (the filling used in this blueberry pie) would also be amazing! Folks have really enjoyed Pumpkin Hand Pies as well as Glazed Pumpkin Cream Cheese Hand Pies.
How to Store Apple Hand Pies
Store the cooked hand pies in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for 2-3 days.
More Apple Recipes
Apple Hand Pies
Ingredients
Apple Hand Pies
- 1 homemade pie crust recipe, or 2 boxes of store-bought pie crust dough
- 2 cups apple pie filling, or 1 can (21 ounces) store-bought apple pie filling
- vegetable oil, for frying
Glaze
- 4 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar
- 5-7 tablespoons whole milk, or more or less until glaze reaches your desired consistency, room temperature
Instructions
Apple Hand Pies
- Roll out the pie crusts to ⅛-inch thick and use a cookie cutter to cut the crust into 4-5-inch rounds. (You should get 26-28 pie crust rounds.)
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of apple pie filling to each round. (If you made your own apple pie filling, let it cool before adding to the crust.)
- Fold each mini pie crust (half-moon shape), rubbing water around to edge to help seal it. Crimp with a fork.
Glaze
- Mix confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons milk in a bowl until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add in another tablespoon milk. Set aside.
Frying Apple Hand Pies
- Fill a frying pan 2-3 inches with oil. Heat over medium heat until the oil reaches 375°F with a candy thermometer.
- Place 2-3 apple hand pies into the pan. Fry until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Transfer to a paper towel-lined cooling rack.
- While the hand pies are still warm, coat with the glaze. You can coat the pies by drizzling the glaze over each pie or dipping each pie into the bowl of glaze using a large fork. Serve immediately.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
I like Apple Hand Pies and these look delish but I am trying to stay away from fried foods (sad). Are these bake-able? If so, what temp would you recommend?
Hi Mike! You can bake them: put them on a parchment-lined (or prepared) baking sheet at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. We didn’t love the texture of this method, but after coating them in the glaze, it was pretty good. 🙂
I made it and it came out soooooooooooooooooooooooo good I love it so much my husband was Amazed 💕💕
Can I make these a head of time and keep in fridge until I’m ready to fry them!?
Could these be frozen?
I tried several times to copy the receipts offered on your site but-all that shows is misc. details about something other than what I wanted. I am very disappointed with the site.
It really couldn’t be easier, Penny. Maybe ask a trusted friend or family member to show you how to hit a PRINT button or use Pinterest. If that still fails, a good ole pen and paper is still useful.
No need to be snarky
Sometimes there really is. I have deleted no less than 15 comments from here, all being incredibly aggressive and vile. People lose their minds over the smallest things and I really don’t need to take their crap.
I certainly know about keyboard jerks… I Love your recipes and thank you so much for publishing them.
Filling is fantastic, even better once cooled.
Crust is delicious however did not work for me for these empanadas. I make meat empanadas at least 3 times a month.. unsure what I did wrong with this crust as it wouldn’t hold shape.. ended up making a beautiful and delicious dutch apple pie instead! Less work too so win win!
Hi Monica – I don’t understand “wouldn’t hold it’s shape”. Can you elaborate so I can help troubleshoot? I’ve never heard of that issue with the No-Fail Pie Crust before.
It would crack, break apart when folding.. I thought maybe the dough was too wet, added a tad more flour and that seemed to work a little better..but even with chilling.. ultimately kept cracking. I will try again– I am positive it was user error!
So sorry that has happened. 🙁 Sounds like you made the right choice and added a bit more flour. Sorry there was still some cracking though!
Amanda, I used to make apple hand pies all the time. At some point, I lost my recipe! I assumed it was your recipe but I don’t think this is it?? It called for adding a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon to a can of apple pie filling but they were baked not fried. I liked this only because it saved some calories. What did you not like about the texture of the baked hand pies? Any way I could make the texture better?
Made this Apple Hand Pie with Amanda’s recipe for homemade pie crust. It was super easy and oh my goodness, so great! I used canned sweet pie filling because I had some on hand that needed used. I also used my KitchenAid stand mixer. This recipe is heavenly. So much better than any store bought! Thanks Amanda
Can these be prepared a few days in advance if feeding a crowd? Left out at room temperature or necessary to refrigerate overnight?