Apple Butter Sourdough Hand Pies

It's that time of year. The days are becoming shorter, the air is crisper, leaves are changing colors and apple season is in full swing. This year our apple tree is over abundant which means I found myself coming up with all sorts of ways to preserve our harvest. Last year I made a lot of apple sauce. This year I found myself canning apple butter (don't worry, the recipe is below). For this reason I came up with the idea to make pop tarts using homemade apple butter and it turned out to be a fun project to include my kids on too!

This recipe uses apple butter as a filling to make a scrumptious sourdough pop tart (aka jam hand pie) dusted with cane sugar but really, any fruit butter will do! It also features a sourdough pie crust that I have highlighted before (see post on tea, pie and eggs). Of course if you are in a pinch you can just use store bought pie dough in place of the homemade kind. Same is true for the fruit butter.

INGREDIENTS:

For the sourdough pie dough:

• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or flour of choice)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 2 sticks butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes and chilled*
• 1 cup sourdough starter

For the hand pie:

• ⅓ cup apple butter (see recipe below)

For the hand pie topping:

• 1 egg, whisked
• Cane sugar for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

For the pie dough:

1. Using 2 pastry blenders blend together the flours, salt and sugar.
2. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal, with some chunks of butter remaining.
3. Gradually stir in the starter and fold in with a spatula until it starts to come together.
4. Gather the dough into two equal balls, wrap with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge for 7 hours or overnight.

To make hand pie:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit. 
2. Working with half the dough, roll it out and using a round cookie cutter cut out 14 equal sized circles.
3. Fill seven circles with a dollop of apple butter (about 1 heaping tablespoon) each. Top each with another circle of pie dough and press the edges with a fork to seal them.
4. Transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet, prick the ropes of each tart to make air holes and brush with egg wash and sprinkle with cane sugar.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown.
6. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. 

And if you'd like making your own apple butter 

Apple Butter

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 lbs apples
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Core and cut the apples into quarters, without peeling them.
2. Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Purée apple mixture using blender a blender or fine mesh sieve.
4. Return puréed Apple mixture to large pot and add sugar, spices and lemon rind and juice.
5. Cook uncovered on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot. Cook until thick and smooth.
6. Sterilize canning jars.
7. Pour Apple butter into hot, sterilized jars and seal. 
8. You can of course just put in the refrigerator to keep or if you plan to store the apple butter un-refrigerated, make sure to follow proper canning procedures. I use a hot water bath for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.

Enjoy your fall! Emma

Photos by Brittany Smith