Apple Cinnamon Caramel Hand Pies
Golden, grain-free half-moon hand pies filled with butter-stewed apples, warm spices, and a maple-pecan-date "caramel," finished with an optional vanilla drizzle.
Yield: 10 hand pies · Active: 1 hour · Total: 2 hours · Best in North America in fall, during apple season · Best eaten: midday or early afternoon
Ingredients
Pastry
1½ cups blanched almond flour
½ cup cassava flour
2 tbsp arrowroot
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
4 tbsp cold grass-fed butter (or coconut oil), cubed
1 pasture-raised egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
2–4 tbsp ice water, as needed
Apple-caramel filling
4 medium firm baking apples (like Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and finely diced
2 tbsp grass-fed butter (or coconut oil)
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cardamom
⅓ cup pecans
4 Medjool dates, pitted (soaked 10 minutes in warm water, if they're dry)
2 tbsp maple syrup
To finish: 1 pasture-raised egg, beaten with 1 tsp water
Optional vanilla drizzle
2 tbsp coconut butter, softened
1 tbsp maple syrup
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
Method
Make the pastry. Pulse the almond flour, cassava flour, arrowroot, and salt in a food processor. Add the cold butter, and pulse until it's in pea-sized pieces. Add the egg and maple syrup, and pulse to combine, then drizzle in ice water 1 tbsp at a time, just until the dough comes together.
Chill. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap it, and chill 30 minutes.
Stew the apples. Cook the apples in the butter over medium heat with the cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom for 10 minutes, stirring often, until tender and most of the liquid has cooked off. Let them cool.
Make the caramel. Pulse the pecans and dates in a food processor until coarsely chopped, then stir them into the cooled apples with the maple syrup.
Shape. Heat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment. Divide the dough into 10 portions, roll each into a ball, and flatten it between two sheets of parchment into a 4-inch round.
Fill. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on one half of each round. Use the parchment to fold the dough over into a half-moon, then press the edges with a fork to seal.
Bake. Brush the pies with egg wash, and bake 22–25 minutes, until golden.
Cool at least 10 minutes before serving, since the filling stays hot longer than the pastry.
Drizzle (optional). Whisk the coconut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla, and drizzle it over the cooled pies.
Storage
Refrigerated up to 4 days; reheat at 300°F for 10 minutes. Or freeze the unbaked pies up to 2 months, and bake them from frozen, adding 5 minutes (brush with egg wash just before baking).
Nourishment Notes
Stewing the apples before filling the pies is the small step that keeps them from splitting and leaking. Cooking the apples first drives off their excess water, concentrates their natural pectin, and lets the spices bloom in the butter. It's the same idea as a French apple compote or German Apfelmus.
The caramel here needs no stovetop cooking, and there's no risk of scorching. Pecans, dates, and maple syrup do the work of a conventional caramel: pecans bring richness and a gentle bitterness, dates bring their fiber and minerals along with their natural sweetness, and maple syrup brings the deep, toasty flavor we taste as caramel.
The grain-free pastry is inspired by a classic buttery French shortcrust. The arrowroot does the job wheat starch would do in a conventional dough: it absorbs moisture as it bakes and helps the pastry fold without cracking. Without it, the almond and cassava dough tends to split.
Apples — pectin, quercetin, and vitamin C.
Pecans — vitamin E, manganese, zinc, and monounsaturated fats.
Medjool dates — potassium, magnesium, and fiber.
Almond flour — vitamin E, magnesium, and monounsaturated fats.
Pasture-raised eggs — choline and vitamins A, D, E, and K2.
Grass-fed butter — vitamins A and K2, CLA, and butyrate.
Ceylon cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom — warming spices traditionally used to support digestion, and cinnamon helps moderate blood sugar.
For your cycle: The warming spices and the pecans' and dates' minerals make these a comforting treat in the luteal phase, when cravings for something sweet and cozy often rise.
Sourcing
Apples — organic, from a local orchard or farmers' market in fall
Almond flour and cassava flour — organic and finely ground (keep the almond flour in the fridge); Otto's Naturals makes cassava flour
Arrowroot — organic
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised
Grass-fed butter and coconut oil — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows; organic, virgin coconut oil
Pecans — organic and raw, kept in the fridge
Medjool dates — organic, soft, and plump
Maple syrup — organic Grade A dark
Coconut butter (optional) — organic
Ceylon cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom — organic and non-irradiated
Vanilla — organic pure vanilla extract
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall