Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

I am really excited to share this recipe with you. I love autumn baking and have been baking non stop with apples. There's something so comforting about apples and cinnamon and it's even better when paired with pastry. I love a good apple pie and I have to confess that I occasionally crave a McDonald's apple pie! I saw these salted caramel apple pies on Kelly's blog and have been wanting to bake them for weeks. I finally got a chance and they were well worth the wait. I used a different recipe for the pastry which has a high proportion of butter to flour and it tasted amazing! It is the best pastry I've made as it's so buttery and flaky almost like a puff pastry. I loved the cinnamon, caramel apple filling but was not a fan of the sea salt which I will omit next time. The pies were not as difficult to make as I originally thought and I will definitely be baking these again. We had them warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was absolutely divine. It was equally good the next day cold for breakfast! I am now thinking of different fruit variations for these pies - apple and raisin, apple and berries, pear and ginger.... any other ideas? 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. 

The Pastry Challenge hosted by Lisa from United Cakedom and Jen from Jen's Food. The theme this month is pies and tarts. 

Perfecting Patisserie Challenge hosted by Lucy from Baking Queen 74.  

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too. 

Bake of the Week hosted by Helen from Casa Costello.

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart fromCakeyboi. The theme this month is Autumn.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins.

 I found some salted caramel sweets in France

 Make sure you chop the apples into little pieces so they cook properly

 I'm really proud of my pastry :) 

 

 Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the centre of a pastry circle

 add chopped caramels and sea salt flakes 

 Wet the edges of the pastry and place a pastry circle on top

 Press down gently and crimp with a fork 

 Brush with egg wash then cut some air vents and add a sprinkling of demerera sugar (I didn't have any granulated sugar) 

 You can see the soft, flaky pastry here - it resembles puff pastry!! 

Makes 12 mini pies

For the pastry
315g plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
285g butter, cubed and cold
6-10 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into little pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar
2 teaspoons plain flour
12 caramel sweets, roughly chopped
sea salt flakes

For the egg wash
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Note: I used a food processor to make my pastry but you can of course make it by hand.

• Place the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor and mix briefly.
• Add in the chopped cold butter and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs.
• Add in a tablespoon of water at a time and continue mixing until a soft dough forms. I used 8 tablespoons of water. 
• Knead the dough gently and wrap in cling film.
• Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but preferably a few hours. 
• Next make the filling by mixing the chopped apple, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and flour in a bowl. 
• Roughly chop the caramel sweets - I used 1 sweet per apple pie. 
• Remove the dough from the fridge. Tear off a small piece and place the rest back in the fridge - the dough is best when chilled so work with a small bit at a time.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
• Cut out circles using a round cutter - you need 2 pieces per pie. 
• Place the circles on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Place 1 tablespoon of apple filling in the centre of each circle, keeping the edges free.
• Add the chopped caramels and a sprinkling of sea salt flakes (optional).
• Dip your finger into a bowl of water and lightly run your finger around the edge of each pastry circle.
• Add a circle of dough on top of the apple pie and press down the edges gently.
• Crimp the edges using a fork.
• Brush the pies with eggwash.
• Cut a few air vents in each pie and sprinkle with granulated or demerera sugar (optional). 
• Bake in a pre heated oven of 200C for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.