These apple spice dreidel hand pies are sure to get you in the Hanukkah spirit. Adorable mini pies stuffed with apples and winter spices make for the perfect impressive Hanukkah dessert, and a lighter accompaniment to all the fried latkes and sufganiyot.
Servings: 6 hand pies
Preparation Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Dough:
2 ¼ cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of cold butter, cubed
4-6 tbsp ice cold water
Filling:
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and small dice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp flour
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
Pinch of nutmeg
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
Directions:
1. First, we will make the dough. In the food processor fitted with the large blade, add in the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse once or twice until combined. Add in the cold butter. Pulse again until combined with the flour. With the food processor running, add in 1 tbsp of cold water at a time through the feeder tube. Keep adding the water until the dough starts to pull away from the sides and forms a ball. It should take 4-6 tbsp depending on the humidity. Remove dough from the food processor.
- Cut the dough in half. Roll out the dough in between 2 pieces of parchment paper until it forms a large rectangle. Repeat with second half of the dough. Set in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. In a saucepan, on medium heat, place all the filling ingredients. Mix well to combine. Continue to cook until apples are slightly soft and sugar mixture has thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Stir well and set aside to cool.
- Once the dough has chilled, remove one sheet of dough. Cut the dough into even ½ inch strips. Prepare a lattice directly on the parchment paper. To make a lattice you alternate the strips going over, under, over, under. Once you have the completed the rectangle, place back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- To assemble the pies. Remove both the plain and lattice sheets of dough out of the refrigerator. On the plain dough, lightly stamp the dreidel cookie cutter 6 times with enough space in between. Do not push the cutter all the way through the dough. We just want to be able to see where to place our filling.
- Place 1-2 tbsp of filling on top of each dreidel shape.
- Cut your prepared lattice sheet into 6 even rectangles, large enough to fit over the dreidel stamps we prepared on the other sheet of dough.
- One at a time, brush the area around the filling with egg wash. Take one of your prepared lattice pieces and place it over the filling. Using the dreidel cookie cuter, you are going to surround the filling area and cut right through the entire dough and filling layers creating your mini dreidel shaped hand pie.
- Once you have cut out all your pies, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the pies with more egg wash. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 20-30 minutes until dough is lightly browned and flaky. Enjoy!
Notes: You can skip the lattice and, using the same method, place the second plain sheet of dough on top of the other sheet of dough and cut out using the cookies cutter the same way. Then, using a fork, you can seal the edges of the pies. This will save time and give you an extra 2 hand pies out of the recipe.
Michelle, aka The Yummy Yenta, lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and 2 sons. Her goal is to share fabulous, traditional, kosher style recipes that can be tweaked to suit everyone’s personal family customs and traditions. She hopes to spread recipes of food worth gossiping about! Follow her food adventures on Instagram @the.yummy.yenta
