Korean Pear and Apple Hand Pies

November 18, 2021 Corinn Blackwell

Not too sweet and super flavorful, these apple hand pies are perfect for the holiday season.

Korean Pear and Apple Hand Pies

Makes 12 - 14 pies

For years I’ve been on a mission to make the perfect apple pie. Many times I’ve come close, but these hand pies are by far everything I’ve been striving for. They are in fact, the perfect apple pie (at least too me) and best of all, they are hand-held. The secret is the jujube or red date which is added into the jam, it is what gives depth to the whole dessert. To make a traditional pie see Recipe Tip 2 below.

We like to eat these on their own but dressed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a bourbon hard sauce for the holidays would be sublime!

Recipe Tips: 1. Do not be afraid to bake the hand pies until the edges and bottoms are a deep brown. Most recipes instruct baking pies for far less time than necessary. This results in pies with soggy crusts and underdeveloped flaky layers. These hand pies are baked far longer than most recipes to avoid that problem. 2. To make a traditional 9-inch apple pie follow these steps. 1) Triple the apple ingredients and cook as per the instructions listed using a large pot instead of a large saute pan. 2) In a small bowl, mix 2.5 T of cornstarch with 2 T apple jack or apple cider and 2 T water. Add to the apples after they have wilted. Cook 1 - 2 minutes longer or until the juices begin to thicken. Cool completely. 3) Line a metal pie pan with half of the rolled out pie dough. 4) Spread the pear jam on the bottom of the lined pie pan. Top with the cooled apple mixture. Cover with the top crust, crimp. Egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Cut 3 - 4 vent holes on the top of the pie. Freeze for 20 mins or refrigerate for 45 mins. 5) Bake for 30 mins at 190 C or 375 F. Reduce temperature to 180 C / 350 F and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour longer or until the juices from the pie are bubbling and thickened. 3. The paprika is a secret ingredient I learned to add to my pie dough from my great aunt. It helps to enhance browning in the pie dough while cooking. When making the pie dough, do not accidentally grab your smoked paprika!!!! 4. For frozen hand pies bake at 190 C / 375 F for 30 minutes and 180 C / 350 F for 10 minutes. Because the pies are frozen, it will be difficult to cut slits into the top, I suggest cutting the slits into the top after 5 minutes of baking and continuing to bake as directed for frozen hand pies. 5. The pie dough makes a little more than a typical 2- crust pie dough recipe. Bring the scraps together and freeze whatever is leftover for another use.

Ingredients

Pie dough

390g (3 c) AP flour

6g (1.5 t) kosher salt

6g (1.5 t) sugar

2g (0.50 t) sweet paprika

240 (16 T) unsalted butter, cubed and kept cold until needed

100ml (0.50 c) cold water

Sauteed Apples

790g (1.75 lbs) apples, peeled, cored and sliced .25 in thick

3 T sugar

4 t butter

1 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla extract

0.25 t slightly heaped kosher salt

0.25 t slightly heaped ground nutmeg

0.25 t ground allspice

0.25 t ground cardamom

Pear and Jujube Jam

910g (2 lbs) Korean pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1 in chunks

40g (10 medium) jujube, seeds removed and finely minced

7g (1.5 t) ginger, grated

3 strips of orange zest

1 whole star anise

1 bay leaf

2 T Korean rice syrup or maple syrup

4 t water

4 t maesil or honey

0.25 t kosher salt

Finishing

1 large egg, beaten well

4 T sugar

Recipe Know-how

Pie dough

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar and paprika mixing well to combine.

Toss half of the butter in the flour mixture.
Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal.
Add the remaining butter and toss with the flour mixture.
Using your fingers, flatten each of the cubes of butter into ”sheets”.
Using a fork, toss the mixture with half of the flour. Add additional water to the mixture 1 T at a time until a rough dough begins to form.

All of the flour may not be hydrated yet, this is okay.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface.

Work quickly here so the butter does not begin to melt too much.

Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle.
Fold half of the dough over itself.
Flatten again adding any dry flour or unincorporated dough on top.
Fold in half again.
Repeat twice more.
Divide dough in half wrapping each half in plastic wrap and flattening.

2. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Sauteed Apples

3. In a large saute pan.

Using a heat-safe spatula, melt the butter with the sugar over medium-high.
Stir continually until the sugar melts completely and begins to caramelize.
Add the apples and cook 3 – 4 minutes or until any hardened sugar has begun to dissolve.
Add the remaining apple ingredients.
Cook 5 – 7 minutes longer or until the apples have wilted and all liquid has evaporated.

4. Cool completely.

Pear Jam

5. Place all pear jam ingredients into a medium sized pot.

If your pears are not very ripe, you may want to add an additional tablespoon of syrup to make the jam a little sweeter.

Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Cook on medium for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to low and cook 40 minutes stirring occasionally.

The pears are ready when they are very soft. If not soft yet, continue to cook a few minutes longer.

Remove the pot from the heat.
Remove and discard the bay leaf, star anise and orange zest.
Using a potato masher, mash the pears until they are the consistency of apple sauce.
Return the pot to medium-low heat.
Cook for 20 – 35 minutes uncovered stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced and the jam has thickened.

Add any accumulating liquid from the cooling apples to the jam to cook down.

6. Cool completely.

Assembly, finishing and baking

7. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Set aside.

8. On a lightly floured board roll out half of the pie dough into a rectangle approximately 40 cm x 33 cm (16 in x 13 in) and between 0.25 and 1/3 in thick.

Make 10 cm (4 in) indentations horizontally across the dough.
Make 7.5 cm (3 in) indentations vertically across the dough.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into rectangles using your indentations as guides.
Match rectangles together into pairs that will become tops and bottoms.
Gently press any scraps together, rewrap in plastic and refrigerate.

9. Place 1 T of the pear jam on half of the rectangles of dough, gently spread out leaving at least .25 in border on all sides.

These rectangles will be the bottoms of your hand pies.

Place 3 - 4 overlapping slices of the apples directly on top of the jam ensuring that the border remains.
Gently roll out the remaining dough rectangles to be slightly larger than their original size.

These are the tops of your hand pies.

Brush a little beaten egg along the border on the pie bottoms.
Top each pie with one of the tops pressing gently along each side with your fingers to seal the edges.
Using a fork press along all of the edges to crimp closed.
Gently tap the sides of the pie with your hands or the back of a knife to neaten the edges.
Place the finished pies on the prepared cookie sheet.
Repeat with the second half of dough and again with any dough scraps until all dough and filling has been used.
Refrigerate pies for 3 hours or freeze 1 hour before baking.

After freezing, the pies can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

See the Recipe Tips section above for how to bake pies that have been frozen for longer than 1 hour.

Do not throw away any remaining egg, reserve for finishing pies.

10. Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.

Brush pies with beaten egg and sprinkle each with 0.50 t sugar.
Using a sharp knife, cut three small slits along the top of each pie.
Place the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180 C / 350 F.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes longer or until the pies are deeply golden brown on top and bottom.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

11. Serve.