Spiced Apple and Pumpkin Hand Pies

Name: Spiced Apple and Pumpkin Hand Pies
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 2 medium cooking apples ((peeled, cored and cut into small pieces)); 50 g golden caster sugar; 1/2 cup pumpkin puree; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 tbsp maple syrup; 1 tbsp cornflour; 2 sheets shortcrust pastry ((320 g)); 4 tbsp milk of choice; 50 g icing sugar; 1 tbsp white caster sugar

October 30, 2017 Anna 51 Comments

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Happy almost Halloween!

Because it’s the end of October and the scariest night of the year is almost here, I’ve got a fun, easy and delicious recipe for you today to celebrate with! Spiced apple and pumpkin hand pies, which also could double up as a Halloween treat!

I’m sure most of you have celebrated Halloween over the last weekend, but just in case if you are in need of the last minute recipe for easy treat, these apple hand pies with pumpkin will do the trick (see what I did there?)! Since trying them for the first time last month, I’ve made 4 separate batches, and each one of them disappeared within minutes. So just a bit of warning, they are very addictive!

As some of you may know, I was born and raised in Poland, where Halloween isn’t (or wasn’t back then!) really celebrated. And this is probably why I get so excited about it nowadays! Although, I must admit that it’s been a while since I went out fully dressed up in a scary costume and partied the night away. Nowadays, I’m more of a ‘let’s stay inn, watch scary movies, and eat comfort food’ kinda girl…

And speaking of comfort food, that is exactly what these spiced apple hand pies are. Delicious, buttery and flaky pastry, filled with sweet, cinnamon spiced apples and pumpkin. Sprinkled with some sugar, just for that extra sweetness. Add some vanilla flavoured whipped coconut cream on top, and you are on the staircase to heaven!

The idea for this recipe came to me after seeing something similar in a food magazine, but it was calling for blackberries. However, if you are following along, I’ve made a promise to myself earlier this month. And it was to make sure every recipe posted in October (apart from that first one with Apple Pie with Caramel Sauce) had pumpkin in it. So I have experimented with some ingredients, and settled for this version with pumpkin, which works wonderful with apple and cinnamon filling.

I absolutely love cooking with pumpkin, and this month has been a lot of fun, featuring all these recipes. Just to re-cap, and in case if you’ve missed them… I’ve made Pumpkin Scones with Cheese, Pumpkin and Roots Vegetables Goyoza and last but not least, Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Bread for #virtualpumpkinparty last week. And to be completely honest with you, I’ve got no intentions of stopping using pumpkin in my kitchen any time soon. So there may, or may not be some more pumpkin spam coming at ya!

Anyway, back to these incredibly tasty spiced apple and pumpkin hand pies!

They will be a great fun to make with kids, you can create your own stencils and go crazy with any shape you want. I have opted for pumpkin shape (obviously!), but you can go with apples, pears, leaves, or anything else you can think of. Simply draw the desired shape on a piece of paper, cut it out, and then use it as ‘stencil’ for your pies. You can use the off- cuts of any leftover pastry to add even further details to your hand pies. You can even cut them out in the ‘jack-o-lantern’ style, just take care when ‘craving’ into the pastry.

What’s also worth mentioning, is the fact that I’m using a ready, shop- bought pastry (I recommend Jus- Roll brand, which happens to be vegan too). You can of course made your own shortcrust pastry (see this post or this post for pastry recipe), however, for the ease and to keep this recipe simple, I have opted for a ready- made one.

As for the spiced apple and pumpkin filling, make sure not to use too much of it, as otherwise you may struggle with sealing the pies. One tablespoon should be enough, but feel free to experiment with it, to satisfy your own preference. I have also found that keeping apples in a slightly bigger chunks, and not cooking them for too long in step 1, will result in a better shape of the hand pies. When cooked longer, apples will turn into mushy texture, and you will end up with puree, resulting in your apple hand pies being flat. So to keep them nicely packed, have some chunky-ish pieces in there!

These spiced apple hand pies with pumpkin are best served warm, however, you can store them in air-tight container overnight and re-heat them gently the next day. Just in case, if by some miracle, you still have any left!

So that’s it for now, let me know how did you spent Halloween, I would love to know! And I really hope you will enjoy today’s recipe!

Until next time & have a good week!

Spiced Apple and pumpkin hand pies, perfect for Halloween treat! #vegan #halloween | via @annabanana.co

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