A warm, flakey, buttery crust and a gooey spice-filled apple filling makes these the perfect hand pies.

It's officially Valentines week! And love is in the air! Can't you just taste it? It tastes like these pies if you ask me.

Coated in egg wash and sprinkled with sugar....

Drooling yet?

Show the apple of your eye how you feel with an Apple Hand Pie.

These pies were such a hit! I don't know why I've never thought to make them before. If you've ever made an apple pie before, you know that they are not EASY. They take a lot of work, and can be very frustrating at times. The saying "easy as pie" is a lie. Actually, the phrase isn't about the act of making pie, but EATING pie! So it isn't really a lie, but I'm sure most people are mistaken about the meaning behind it. But, I digress.. These pies are much simpler than making an actual pie. You don't need to laboriously peel 6 apples, and a spend whole day slaving away to make them. Just one apple actually! And they're quite fun to make. I promise!

You start by making the pie crust. {I use a food processor, but you can use a pastry cutter, a knife, a fork, or the back of a spoon to cut the butter into the flour mixture when making the dough.} Once it is crumbly, form it into a disc on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap it up completely and refrigerating it for about an hour. While it's in the fridge, catch up on one of your Netflix shows or something. Gossip Girl may or may not have been what I was watching. {Insert smirk of guilty pleasure here}. After about 45 minutes, start making the filling. The filling consists of one large apple (peeled and diced into 1/3-1/2 inch cubes), brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and lemon juice. Toss them all together in a small bowl. Then take out the dough, and smash/roll the dough into a flat slab about 1/4 inch thick. Using a heart-shaped cookie-cutter, and using your resources efficiently, cut as many hearts out of the dough as you can fit. Take the scraps and smash down into another slab to roll out and cut hearts again. Continue until you have used all the dough (or most of it) and have an even amount of hearts. I got 11 pairs. Then spoon the filling onto the center of half of the hearts. About 1 Tb. is enough to fill. Make sure to leave a gap around the edge so you can seal the top pie crust to the bottom. Once you've filled half of the hearts, you can top them with the remaining hearts. After dipping your finger into the egg wash, run your finger along the outer edge of the heart, and place the top piece on it. {The egg wash works as a glue to seal the two pie crusts together} Go along the edge and gently press it down, to glue the two pieces together. Then poke some holes in the tops with a fork, for the air to escape when they bake. Paint with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Pop your beautiful creations into the oven for 15 minutes at 425, or until golden brown, and you're golden!

Apple Hand Pie Recipe:

Filling:

1 large apple peeled and diced (I use Granny Smith)

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tb. brown sugar

1/2 tea. cinnamon

1/8 tea. nutmeg

1 Tb. flour

1/2 tea. salt

1 tea. lemon juice

Pie Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tea. sugar

1/2 tea. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter chilled and cubed

1/4-1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

To make the pie crust, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Then mix in the cold butter cubes for about 30 seconds. Then, slowly pour in the cold water as it runs, adding just enough to make it crumbly, like cornmeal. It should stick together if you pinch it. Mold into a disc and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the filling, peel and dice one apple. Then pour in all the filling ingredients and toss.

Roll out the dough and cut into hearts with a cookie-cutter. Pour appx. 1 Tb. full of filling onto the middle of half the hearts.

Using egg wash {1 egg whisked with 1 Tb. water} or water, and your finger, run a line along the edge of the hearts. Place another heart on top and press the edges down to seal the crusts together.

Using a fork, poke holes in the tops for the air to escape. Also with the fork, crimp the edges together to further seal them.

Coat with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let cool for 15 minutes, then enjoy!