The Best Apple Hand Pies and Pumpkin Pasties Recipe

Pasties, hand-pies, turnovers. Whatever you call them, this is the best apple hand pies and pumpkin pasties recipe! They make the perfect personal-sized dessert and are great to bring to parties or serve at the end of a family meal. Easy to make and a true crowd pleaser, you can’t go wrong with these two delicious and cozy pastry desserts.

A little back story…

I started making these pumpkin pasties and apple hand pies several years ago after my husband and I got on a major Harry Potter kick!

After we got married, we traveled a lot together. We tried to make the most out of our time together before we had kids. So we visited all over Northern California, drove up the coast to Washington to visit family, and even spent a few months in Sicily, Italy.

Somewhere during all of that traveling, we started listening to the audiobook recordings of Harry Potter. We listened to every single one together! (Just an FYI if you don’t know, there are 7 books in the series!) So it was a lot of listening!

By the time fall and winter hit..

we had finished the books and were on to watching the movies. If you have seen the movies, you know the food always looks so delicious, you wish you could eat it right off the screen! In book one, Harry buys pumpkin pasties that are being sold on the Hogwarts Express Train to Hogwarts.

Pasties are basically the same thing as Cornish Pasties, except they are filled with pumpkin instead of meat, veggie, potato combo.

My introduction to pasties did not stop with the Harry Potter books. Where we were living at the time was close to Grass Valley, CA, which is basically a little Hallmark town.. NBD. We loved that little town so dearly! Every December, Grass Valley had Cornish Christmas downtown, which was the cutest little Christmas festival. Since the town is known for major growth during the California Gold Rush, the Cornish roots from it’s settlers are still deep and Cornish Pasties are served at multiple shops!

It was all just so charming and my husband and I look back on our time there with the best memories.

So back to apple hand pies and pumpkin pasties recipe…

After reading about pumpkin pasties and tasting Cornish pasties in real life, I decided to try making my own! I have worked on these recipes for years now and they are seriously one of our favorite desserts! We look forward to them every year.

Every fall and winter, we will make these pumpkin pasties and apple hand pies to have while we rewatch a Harry Potter movie by a cozy fire! Now, my kids get to help make them and it is such a sweet family tradition we all enjoy.

Tools you may need for these apple hand pies and pumpkin pasties recipe:

• 4.5″ Biscuit Cutter or Wide Mouth Mason Jar lid (I used these and just made the circles slightly larger than the circumference of the lid)
• Dough Blender or Stand Mixer
• Rolling Pin
• Measuring Cups & Spoons
• Small Mixing bowl
• Sauce Pan
• Whisk
• Baking Sheets
• Parchment Paper
• Basting Brush
• Cooling Rack

How to Make these Apple Hand Pies and Pumpkin Pasties Recipe

First we make the dough…

This dough recipe is what I use to make all of my pies. It is fool-proof and turns out delicious, flakey and buttery every single time. It works for any recipe that calls for pie dough and it works perfectly for these pasties and hand pies!

To make the dough making part super simple, I use my kitchenaid stand mixer. It is completely possible to make this without a stand mixer, and I have done that with it turning out great. It just makes things easier to just use the mixer though, in my opinion!

Chop up cold unsalted butter into small cubes and incorporate that with the flour, salt, and sugar either using a dough cutter or the stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed. The dough will be dry and clumpy and the butter should be finely broken down with the flour.

This is an excellent step to get your kids involved! My 3 year old loves using *his* knife to chop up the butter!

Next, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of ice cold water to combine with the flour/butter mixture. If using the stand mixer, switch to the dough attachment and mix the water in until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Once the dough is mixed together, place it on a clean work surface and divide the dough in two. Roll dough into a ball and flatten out a bit, then wrap it in plastic wrap. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out to use for the pies.

Pumpkin Pasty Filling

The thing I love about the pumpkin pasties is that it is SO easy and quick to put together. For the filling, all you do is mix together room temperature pumpkin puree and butter, brown sugar, pumpkin spice and allspice. Whisk it together in one bowl and it is ready to go! So simple!

Apple Hand Pie Filling

Choose an apple that is a bit tart, like Granny Smith, for the apple hand pies. Peel the apples and then dice them into 1/4″-1/2″ cubes. To a saucepan, add the butter, cubed apples, brown sugar, pumpkin spice, nutmeg and ground cloves. Heat over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes until the apples begin to soften. Careful not to cook them too long that they begin to get mushy!

Assemble the Pumpkin Pasties and Apple Hand Pies plus a few notes

• Roll out the dough fairly thin (around 1/8″) on lightly floured surface and cut into 4″-4.5″ circles. You can use a biscuit cutter or a wide mouth mason jar lid, you will just need to make the circle slightly larger than the circumference of the lid.
• The dough recipe will yield around 16 pasties/hand pies. The fillings will fill 8 individual hand pies. You can make both the pumpkin pasties and apple hand pies, or double one of the filling recipes and just make one kind of hand pie.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cut dough on it.
• Fill the dough with about 1 – 1.5 Tablespoon of the filling of choice on one side of the dough, leaving about a half inch space between the filling and the edge of the dough
• Fold the other half of the dough over the pie filling and begin to close the edges.
• To close the edges, fold the bottom piece of the dough over the top, pressing the dough together as you work from the middle of the hand pie to the outside corners. Pinch together as you go and then press the crust with a fork (optional, but it’s a fun step!)
• Brush the dough with egg and milk wash to get that golden-y crust!
• Bake in 400℉ oven for 20 minutes until dough is golden and crisp. Let rest on cooling rack for 15 minutes and serve warm and fresh!

Can I make these ahead?

You can definitely make the pie dough and filling the day before and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake. However, I would wait to assemble and bake the pies until you are ready to serve them. Enjoy them freshly baked for the best pies!

You can absolutely eat these on the 2nd or 3rd day after they have been baked, the dough just won’t be quite as crisp and flakey as it is the day you bake it. If you do want to serve them again, you can reheat them in a 350℉ oven to crisp them up again!

How many pumpkin pasties and apple hand pies does this recipe make?

This recipe yields 8 pumpkin pasties and 8 apple hand pies. You can omit one of the fillings and double the other to make 16 of the same kind of pie. I have also made 8 of one kind and then used the rest of the pie dough for something else, like a quiche.

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You might also enjoy these from scratch pumpkin recipes!

• Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
• Pumpkin Spice Granola
• Pumpkin Spice Bagels with Pumpkin Cream Cheese
• Pumpkin Sourdough Pancakes

Or check out this DIY Floral Arrangement tutorial to add to your table this season!