These Baked Apple Hand Pies pack all of the sweet, nostalgic fried pie flavors you love into one buttery, flaky (and slightly healthier) treat! These easy-to-make pies feature a cinnamon and dried apple filling and are topped with a smooth and silky powdered sugar glaze.
One of the classics of Southern cooking is fried fruit pies. Usually either apple or peach, these small, individual pies are a treat that, once tasted, is never forgotten. Although my Baked Apple Hand Pies aren’t exactly the same, they’re a deliciously updated alternative.
I think the best fried pie maker in our family was my Aunt Bernice. She was a fantastic cook who could make the most out of simple ingredients of anyone I ever knew. Tall, light red-haired, and gentle is what I remember about her. An unassuming woman with extraordinary talents in the kitchen, she was as much a mother to my father as was my grandmother.
I can remember her working in her kitchen in the little house on the farm that she and my Uncle Clayton owned. And if I close my eyes and imagine, I can almost smell her fried pies.
She made mostly peach fried pies, but sometimes she’d use apples. Just for a change, you know. Of course, hers were always fried. Probably in peanut oil. It was plentiful and inexpensive back then.
I can still see her cutting out the little circles of dough with a tea glass, spooning in the filling, folding each one over, and crimping the edges with a dinner fork. Then she’d slip each little pie into hot oil in a black cast iron frying pan.
After exactly the right amount of time, she’d flip each pie over, revealing a perfect golden brown crust. After another few minutes in the hot oil, out the pies would come and onto some brown paper, probably a frugally saved grocery bag, to drain and cool. If you could wait long enough for them to cool, that is.
I was thinking about Aunt Bernice and her famous fried pies a while back. I really wanted to make some for me and BeeBop but I wanted to test whether I could make baked fried apple pies instead.
Not that I have anything against fried food. I don’t. But we do try to only have it in moderation these days.
So I followed a typical recipe up to the frying point. Instead of slipping them into my old black frying pan filled with hot oil, I just brushed them with an egg wash and popped them in the oven. They don’t taste exactly like a fried pie, but they sure are a decent substitute.
— This post was originally published on April 26, 2011. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Recipe Snapshot
Cuisine: Southern Vintage
Cooking Method: Oven
Total Time: 55 Minutes
Servings: 9
Primary Ingredient(s): Dried apples, sugar, butter, pie crust, egg
Skill Level: Easy
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Oh, what great, wonderful memories you bring back.“
— Colleen B.~TX
What You’ll Like About This Recipe
- Quick and easy 30-minute dessert
- Better for you than traditional fried hand pies
- A great, budget-friendly way to use up extra pantry goods
Ingredient Notes
Premade pie dough, dried apples, cinnamon, and a few staple ingredients are all you’ll need to make this 30-minute dessert.
This post may contain affiliate links. Lana’s Cooking is reader-supported and earns a tiny commission at no extra cost to you when you shop from our links.
- Dried Apples – Traditionally, dried fruit, most often apple or peach, is cooked for the filling used in hand pies. Sunrise brand makes excellent dried fruit.
- Pie Crust – If you have a recipe you like, feel free to use it. If purchasing refrigerated pie crust, I recommend Pillsbury brand.
- Sugar – Plain, white granulated sugar is all you need.
- Cinnamon – Ground cinnamon is used in the apple filling.
- Butter – Salted or unsalted, whatever you have on hand.
- Egg – An egg wash brushed over the pies gives them a golden brown and crispy exterior.
- Water – To reconstitute the dried apples.
- Glaze – A smooth and sweet mixture of powdered sugar and water or milk.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You’ll find the recipe for Baked Apple Hand Pies on page 291 in my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
How to Make Baked Apple Hand Pies
Cook the Filling
- Place the dried apples, sugar, water, butter, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the fruit is tender and the syrup is thick.
- Remove the filling from the heat and lightly crush the fruit with either a potato masher or a fork. Set the filling aside to cool.
- When the apple filling has cooled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the Pie Crust
- Roll out the pie crust and cut small circles using a round cutter. You can also use a cup or glass if you don’t have a cutter.
Fill and Seal the Pies
- Place a generous tablespoon of filling on each circle.
- Wet the edges of the dough and fold over to completely enclose the filling.
- Crimp around the cut sides of the dough with a fork.
Want to save this?
I'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Bake the Hand Pies
Note: If we were making the old-fashioned fried pies, at this point, we’d begin adding each of these into a pan of hot oil.
- Place the filled pies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Beat the egg together with the water or milk.
- Brush each prepared pie with the egg wash. You can also sprinkle lightly with sugar if you like.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
- When the pies are completely cooled, mix together the powdered sugar and water or milk.
- Drizzle the tops of the pies with the sugar glaze.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream. Why not. You’ve given up the frying :-)
Recipe Success Tip
Want your pies to look especially pretty and golden brown? Follow the egg wash with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. It’ll give the finished pies a nice crunch and some sparkle. You can also flip the pies halfway through baking and egg wash the other side to ensure that it browns to golden perfection.
Recipe Variations
- Not a big fan of apple? Feel free to try some other dried fruit fillings! Reconstituted blueberries, peaches, apricots, and cherries all make excellent hand pies.
- Looking for a way to make these healthy hand pies even crispier? Try air frying them instead of baking! Simply pop a few pies in the basket of your air fryer, spritz with oil, and cook at 350°F for 10 minutes or until flaky and golden brown.
- Try using canned biscuit dough instead of pie dough! They’re even easier to work with than pie pastry. Roll each biscuit out on a floured surface until it’s quite thin, fill with cooked fruit, and bake.
How to Store and Reheat
Allow any leftovers to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat in an air fryer, a 350°F oven, or the microwave until warmed through. Serve with a fresh batch of powdered sugar glaze or other garnish.
How to Make Ahead
To make the recipe in advance, cook the filling and store it separately in the fridge. Allow about 40 minutes to assemble and bake when ready to serve.
Serving Suggestions
Use your imagination for creative garnishing ideas. Among my favorite toppings are homemade caramel sauce, candied pecans, a cinnamon sugar blend, and scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Questions About Apple Hand Pies
Work quickly so that the filled pies don’t sit at room temperature any longer than necessary. Get them into the hot oven as soon as they’re all filled and ready.
You do. Dried apples have had the moisture removed through the dehydration and drying process. Cooking restores that and returns them to a soft texture.
There are several options other than pie crust for this recipe. Try using puff pastry, Pillsbury crescent roll dough, biscuit dough, or dinner roll dough.
More Dessert Recipes You’ll Like
Classic Southern Banana Pudding with Homemade Custard
Old Fashioned Southern Caramel Layer Cake
Blueberry Pie Cookies
Homemade Southern Pecan Pralines
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
Thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have you here.
Do More With ChatGPT
Recipe
Baked Apple Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 5 ounces dried apples Sunrise brand recommended
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 purchased pie crust
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons water or milk
Instructions
- Place the dried apples, sugar, water, butter, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the fruit is tender and the syrup is thick.5 ounces dried apples, ½ cup sugar, 1 ½ cups water, 1 tablespoon butter, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Remove the filling from the heat and lightly crush the fruit with either a potato masher or a fork. Set the filling aside to cool.
- When the apple filling has cooled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out the pie crust and cut small circles using a cup or glass as a guide.1 purchased pie crust
- Place a generous tablespoon of filling on each circle.
- Wet the edges of the dough and fold over to completely enclose the filling.
- Crimp around the cut sides of the dough with a fork.
- Place the filled pies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Beat the egg together with the water.1 egg, 1 tablespoon water
- Brush each prepared pie with the egg wash. You can also sprinkle lightly with sugar if you like.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
- When the pies are completely cooled, mix together the powdered sugar and water or milk.4 tablespoons powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons water or milk
- Drizzle the tops of the pies with the sugar glaze.
Notes
- To create a pretty golden brown finish, follow the egg wash with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. You can also flip the pies halfway through baking and egg wash the other side to ensure that it browns to golden perfection.
- Allow any leftovers to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat in an air fryer, a 350°F oven, or the microwave until warmed through. Serve with a fresh batch of powdered sugar glaze or other garnish.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
These are quite good. I baked them to take along as a dessert for a meal we were taking to a friend recovering from surgery. Just a quick question: it took about 30 minutes to get the sauce where I felt it needed to be. Is this normal? I followed the recipe proportions and did use dried apples.
Thanks so much and cheers!
I assume by “sauce,” you mean the pie filling? Yes, it can take some time for it to cook down to the right consistency.
Are you cutting 9 circles out of the pie crust? Could you use a fresh apple(s)?
Yes, nine circles. For fresh apples, you’d need to use a recipe to make apple pie filling with fresh apples, cook that down until it’s thick, and then use it in the hand pies.