Heart-shaped Vanilla-Rose Apple Hand Pie with Wholly Gluten Free Pastry Dough
This hand apple pie makes me so happy. It continues my love affair with rose and features vanilla and (the classic) cinnamon. I found these heart shaped cutters at home goods and decided to transition the classic holiday pie into this valentines season. I love that assembling the hand pies requires brining two (pastry dough) hearts together. So if you’re not quite over apple pie, here’s a Valentine’s Day apple pie recipe.
A few notes: these don’t have to be heart shaped and it might be easier to use a ring cutter to cut circles, scoop filling and fold into half moons. Also, I do not eat gluten so the pie crust I use is gluten free, you can use your preferred crust but I actually recommend the Wholly GF Pie and Pastry dough because it is quite delicious. Keep in mind, apple pie crusts often crack when baking, especially on top. this usually happens because the dough loses moisture as it bakes and shrinks slightly, or because the filling bubbles and pushes against the crust from below. I don’t mind the cracks but if you do, making slits on top might help with ventilation. After the recipe below, I share my tips on how to use this dough as the box instructions didn’t work out for me.
Hope you enjoy !
Recipe:
Ingredients (prepped)
1 sheet thawed, but cold, store-bought pastry dough
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced small
2 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon rose powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Peeled and grated fresh ginger, to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Plant based milk for brushing(can use egg if you eat it.
Instructions
In a shallow saucepan over medium heat, combine the ghee, apples, coconut sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, rose powder, salt, lemon juice and the ginger
Cook until most of the liquid reduces, about 10-12 minutes, and the apples have softened. (There should still be some liquid in the saucepan)
Add in the cornstarch, stirring as you go. Allow to cook for 2 minutes to thicken the filling. Remove from heat and set aside to cool
Preheat over to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, line baking sheet with parchment paper
Roll out the wholly gf pastry dough, using a heart shaped cutter, cut out desired size hearts (I used a palm sized heart and cut out 26 hearts - see tips for how to use this dough below), store in the fridge until oven is ready (at least five minutes)
Scoop 1-2 heaping teaspoons of apple filling and lay in the center of the heart(as pictured below). Place another heart on top. Seal by pinching the edges together then pressing with a fork.
Brush the top of each hand pie with milk (or egg wash) Because I don’t eat eggs, I used almond milk with a heaping pinch or rose powder as my egg wash
Bake for 25 minutes, dough should be golden
Wait at least 10 minutes before enjoying
Working with the dough
I start working with the dough when it still feels hard (after an hour or so of thawing). I form a ball (it’s super crambly-don’t freak out) keep working with it until you make a ball. I then place it between the two pieces of poly sheet the dough comes with and only roll out to cover the surface area of the sheets - this keeps me from rolling the dough too thin.
Peel off the top poly sheet then place it back on without pressing. While covered on both sides, flip the dough and peel that layer - I do this because if you only peel the top layer, when you cut out shapes, the dough can stick to the bottom poly sheet. You can then begin cutting out the heart shapes. If the dough gets too soft, it becomes hard to work with so don’t thaw it for too long. If it is too sticky put it in the fridge for a bit.
Bon apetite 🌷
